 

THESlS
1.

m lllllllllllll|||lllllllHIlllllll’llllllllllllllllllllllll

3 1293 01581 2773

This is to certify that the

dissertation entitled

The English Writing Process of Two Saudi Graduate
Students Before and After ESL Instruction

presented by
ABDULRAHMAN AL-JAMHOOR

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

Ph.D. degreein English

Olﬂc

Major professor

 

MS U i: an Afﬁrmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution 0- 12771

 

‘d‘v - q,- ‘

_———_~

‘——.
qr

 

LIBRARY

Michigan State
University

 

 

 

PLACE It RETURN BOX to romovo this checkout from your mood.
TO AVOID FINES rotum on or before date duo.

DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MSU lo An Afﬂn'natlvo Action/Equal Opportunity Institution
mama-m

 

The English Writing Process of Two Saudi Graduate Students Before and

After ESL Instruction

By

Abdulrahman Aljamhoor

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulﬁllment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of English

1 996

ABSTRACT

The English Writing Process of Two Saudi Graduate Students Before and
After ESL Instruction

By
Abdulrahman Abdullah Alj amhoor

Many studies of the writing process have focused on native speakers of
English and other languages to determine the causes of the writing difﬁculties and to
suggest the best way to resolve these difﬁculties when teaching English writing.
Few studies have focused on Arab students as their subjects, particularly the
difﬁculties that occur because of the interference of both L1 and L2. Furthermore,
little is known about how these difficulties occur in the writings of English-Arabic
bilingual writers and how instruction assists learners in overcoming these
difﬁculties. This qualitative study focused on the role of instruction and how it
affects the process of learning English writing.

Using the case-study methodology, three English essays (E1, E2 and El-R)
written by two Arabic native speakers (Saudi graduate students) were compared
with three Arabic essays (A1, A2 and Al-R) written by the same students and used
to locate the problems and sources of these problems in order to determine the best
solutions. Students were asked to rewrite their essays using the same Al and E1
topics for their Al-R and El-R essays, to identify the areas affected by instruction

and the areas not yet resolved during the ﬁfteen-week ESL training.

Using stimulated recall while viewing videos of themselves, the students
were asked why they paused, crossed out materials or the causes for any writing
behavior that occurred during their writing process. The subjects and their ESL
teachers were also interviewed to learn more about the writing difﬁculties the
subjects encountered.

The results of this study indicate that students encountered problems during the
stages of pre-writing, writing and revising. This study also found that problems faced
by most Saudi graduate students learning English for academic purposes may be
attributed to rhetorical and linguistic factors. In addition, this study helps us
understand why Saudi graduate students who learn English for academic purposes are
not considered "good" writers of English when they begin their graduate studies,
despite the fact that they have studied English as a foreign language for seven years in
their home country. The ﬁndings of this study suggest new ways of teaching English

composition and new applications to teach Arabic composition to Arabic-speaking

learners.

DEDICATION

The dissertation is dedicated to my mother -- I will be forever grateful to her to the
last moment of my life. The dissertation is also dedicated to my wife Hessa and my

children Nuha, Mohamed, Abdullah, Abdulelah, Assem, and Louj ane. I would like

also to dedicate this dissertation to my brothers and sisters.

iv

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I am most grateful to Dr. Charlene Polio, my dissertation director and
academic advisor, for her generous assistance, patience, prompt response and
encouragement throughout my doctoral program and this work. I also would like to
extend my sincere gratitude to the members of my doctoral guidance committee: Dr.
Kathleen Giessler, Dr. Susan F lorio-Ruanc and Dr. Mary Bresnahan. In addition, I
would like to thank my academic supervisor of the Saudi Education Mission Mr.
Ali Badi, for his cooperation and patient.

I would also like to thank my home-country college advisor, Dr.
Mohammed Alahidab for his encouragement and guidance through my graduate
program. This also gives me the opportunity to thank my colleagues Abdullah Al-
Melhi, Hamdan Alshalawi, Abdulaziz Alssomani, Bader Aloliwi, Saad Al-kahtani
and Dr. Naji Alarfaj for their encouragement and advice throughout this work. I
also offer my thanks to the students who participated in this study for their

cooperation.

TABLE OF THE CONTENTS

Chapter.an

1.1 Background and Statement of the Research Problem 1
1.2 Signiﬁcance of the Problem 4

1.3 Limitation of the Study 5

1.4 Research Questions 7

Charming

Literature Review 8

2.1 L1 Writing 8
2.1.1 The New Composing Model 8
2.2 L2 Writing 11
2.2.1 Teaching Strategies and Organization in Saudi Arabia 14
2.2.2 Teaching English Writing in Saudi Schools 14
2.2.3 Teaching Arabic Writing 16
2.3 L1 and L2 Writing 17
2.3.1 Arabic Rhetoric 21
2.4.1 Research Assumptions 24
2.4.2 Need for this Study 24
2.4.3 The Aim and Scope of the Study 25
2.4.4 Assertions 26

ChapteLIhme

Methodology and Procedure 29
3.1 Case Study Methodology 29
3.2 Subjects 31

3.2.1 First Subject 32

3.2.2 Second Subject 33
3.3 Data Collections 34

3.3.1 Writing Samples 34

3.3.2 Observation 37
3.3.3 Interview 38
3.4. Analytical Procedure 43

Analysis and Results 46
Research Question One 48
4.1.1 Prewriting 52
4.1.2 Drafting 58
4.1.3 Revising 61
Research Question Two 66
4.2. Linguistic Knowledge of Written English 67
4.2.1 Sentence Order 68
4.2.2 Tenses 71
4.2.3 Subject-and-verb Agreement 74
4.2.4 Vocabulary 78
4.2.5 Other Usage Problems 80

4.2.6 Punctuation 83
4.2.7 Articles 86
4.2.8 Spelling 90
Research Question Three 93
4.3.1 Audience 93
4.3.2 Rhetorical Knowledge of Written English 97
4.3.2.1 Introduction 99
4.3.2.2 Usage of Support 102
4.3.2.3 Cohesion 104
4.3.2.4 Conclusion 109
Research Question Four 112
4.4.1 Prewriting 113
4.4.2 Draﬁing 115
4.4.3 Revising 117

Chapter Five
Discussion and Conclusion 120
5.1 Introduction 120

5.2 Results ofAnalysis 120
5.2.1 The First Assertion 121
5.2.2 The Second Assertion 122
5.2.3 The Third Assertion 123
5.3 Conclusions Based on the Research Findings 124
5.3.1 Organizational 124
5.3.2 Rhetorical 126
5.3.3 Grammar 128

5.4 Teaching Implications 132

5.4.1 Syllabus Design 134
5.5 Recommendation for Further Research 145
Appendixes 147

Appendix A Behavior Chart 149

Appendix B Coding System 150

Appendix C Interview Question El 151
Appendix 01 Interview Question A1 152
Appendix C-2 Interview Question E2 153
Appendix 03 Interview Questions A2 154
Appendix D Teachers’ Interview 155

Appendix F Informed Consent Form 156
Appendix G Writing Interview and Stimulus Recall 157
Appendix H Subjects English Essays 158

Appendix L Subjects Arabic Essays 165
Appendix M-l Teachers’ Interview 178
Appendix N Ahmed’s Stimulus Recall 188
Appendix N-2 Ahmed’s Interviews 213
Appendix Q-l Suliman’s Stimulus Recall 238
Appendix Q-2 Suliman’s Interview 265
Appendix S Coding Writing Behavior Table 289

Bibliography 290

List of Tables

Table 1-1 First Sample Writing Tasks Distribution 35
Table 1 Subjects’ Writing Progress 51
Table 2 Instruction Affect on Students Writing 112

viii

Chapter One

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background and Statement of the Research Problem

Teachers of English as a second language (ESL) are often puzzled by the
inability of English learners who are otherwise quite ﬂuent in English to write the
logical prose of competent native English. speakers. One of the most prevalent
problems faced by many international students at American universities is their
inability to write acceptable English academic prose (Taber, 1990). When non-
native speakers write in English, they may use the English vocabulary correctly, but
the manner in which they arrange their ideas resembles those preferred by their
native language, particularly if they have not yet begun to express their thoughts like
native speakers of English (Zamel, 1983; Liebman-Kleine, 1986; Taher, 1990; Leki,
1991; Fletcher, 1993).

Researchers who have examined monolingual writers have learned more
about what transpires during the process of creating words from images. But when
studying ESL, it should be determined also whether or not the composition process
is different when a writer has more than one language at his/her disposal. Is the
process of ﬁrst-language (L1) writing different from second-language (L2) writing?

Although early second-language (L2) writing research found similarities
between native speakers’ and non-native speakers' composition processes (e.g.,
Chelala, 1981; Jacobs, 1982; Zamel, 1982, 1983), the overall processes of these two

groups were not the same. Many researchers argued that the problem underlying the

..|

 

 

differences was due, in part, to the fact that ESL writers express their ideas
differently than most competent English speakers (Kaplan, 1966; Zamel, 1983;
Liebman-Kleine, 1986; Hinds, 1987; and Soter, 1988). For example, Kaplan (1966)
claimed that when Arab students wrote, they employed the organizational strategies
of their Ll.

Numerous studies examined the writing problems that ESL/English as a
foreign language (EFL) writers face when communicating in English. For example,
Raimes (1985) examined the writing processes of unskilled ESL students and found
differences between L1 and L2 composing processes. Unskilled ESL writers do not
edit and rewrite as often as unskilled native speakers because the unskilled ESL
writers are not “so intimidated by the thought of error” (p. 247). When Martin-
Betancourt (1986) attempted to locate the inﬂuence of L1 literacy in L2 writing, she
found similarities between the two composition processes. Amdt (1987) examined
the composing activities of six Chinese postgraduate EFL writers and found her
ESL writers “revised for word-choice more in the L2 task than in the L1 task, but
rehearsed for word choice more in L1 than in L2. This suggests that they felt less
able to try out alternatives and less happy with their decisions in L2 than in L1” (p.
265).

Other studies investigated the writing problems that Arabic-speaking
students encounter when they communicate through writing in English. Dudley-
Evans and Swales (1980) attributed Arabic-speaking students’ writing difﬁculties to
linguistic factors such as the tense system and the generic use of the deﬁnite article

(p. 95); El-Hassan (1984) noted that graphological interference in the technical

writing tasks of Arab students was a cause of their difﬁculties. After Liebman-
Kleine (1986) examined forty-six essays by Arabic-speakers to better understand
their linguistic background, she declared that Arabs were taught a great deal of
grammar but few process techniques.

A systematic study focusing on the factors of writing problems students
encounter may suggest new ways of teaching English composition to ESL/EFL
learners. An examination of the writing problems of ESL/EFL writers may reveal
new dimensions of the ESL/EFL writers' composing process. This study addressed
the following issues: When ESL/EFL learners pursue graduate studies at American
universities, what problems do they encounter when they write in English? Where
do these problems occur? How frequently do these problems occur? As an addition
to the growing body of research on L2 writing, this study examined the writing
process and the ﬁnal product of Arabic-speaking students during the entire
composition process.

Many studies indicated that most Arabic-speaking students studied English
for at least seven years before they began their academic studies in America (Taber,
1990; El-daly, 1991; El-Sayed, 1982). Despite their efforts to improve the standard
and quality of English for Academic Purposes (BAP), it is the researcher’s suspicion
that most students are still unable to write a coherent, well-developed and properly
organized piece of writing in English, nor can they manipulate the rhetorical
features of EAP in their writing.

Considering this belief-- that most Arabic-speaking students are still unable

to write well-- the researcher decided to examine two students’ writing in Arabic as

the ﬁrst language (L1) to see how they organize their Arabic essays and to
determine if, when composing in English (L2), any rhetorical effect or transfer
exists ﬁ'om Ll (Arabic) to L2 (English as the second language) The researcher
hoped to discover more about the problems the students encountered when they
wrote in English.
1.2 Signiﬁcance of the Problem

In the 1970’s American researchers and educators realized that the
traditional paradigm of linear composition failed to produce skilled writers. Kuhan's
notion that "old methods cannot solve new problems" gave rise to the process-
centered theory of writing (Hairston, 1982: 76). For the new generation of writers
the emphasis in composition has shifted from product to process. Although in
America and other developed countries efforts are being directed towards de-
emphasizing the product approach, in many Arabic and other Third-World
countries-- Saudi Arabia in particular-- writing still focuses primarily on producing
a ﬁnished product (see Section 2.2.2. for more details). Since teaching composition
in Arabic countries focuses on the ﬁnished product, most studies using Arabic
students are error-analysis and contrastive-analysis based. This study focuses not
only on the writing products but also on the processes of Saudi students.

Most studies based on ESL students’ process writing were completed in
America. As mentioned earlier, studies based on Arabic students' writing, used
error analysis and contrastive analysis (Ostler, 1987a; Taher, 1990; Ayari, 1991).
ESL students' composition behaviors were investigated in America following the

emergence of the new paradigm, but no studies were organized to examine the

problematic factors Arabic-speaking students encounter during composition. With
this in mind, this study investigated Saudi graduate students’ compositions,
emphasizing the writing problems encountered when the students wrote in English,
particularly those pertaining to their use of the writing process.

The stimulated-recall method, was used as the main research instrument in
this study rather than protocol analysis. Protocol analysis is most frequently used in
studies performed in America with ESL students. However, some researchers
believe that protocol analysis adds a new burden for many students because they
must translate from L1 to L2 or vice versa during verbal protocol.

Many researchers, particularly in the ﬁeld of education, have used stimulated
recall as an alternative to protocol analysis because the instrument proved effective.
DiPardo (1994) found that stimulated recall enabled researchers to delve beneath the
surface of the problems they were studying, prompting subjects to discuss processes
and interactions they otherwise may have neglected. This study is unique in that it
used stimulated recall combined with other research tools to investigate the
composition process of some Saudi graduate students. This tool was chosen
speciﬁcally for this study to provide a more complete picture of the composing
process that the study subjects experienced.

1.3. Limitations of the Study

This qualitative study investigated the composing process of two Saudi

graduate students writing in English and the researcher acknowledges that they do

not represent the entire body of Saudi graduate students studying English.

Therefore, this study does not embrace the overall student population of Saudi
graduate students and is thus limited.

A second limitation of the study is that although it focuses on Saudi graduate
students, it does not adequately represent the Arab world. Graduate students in
Arab countries are exposed to English in varying degrees. For example, in Egypt,
Yemen and Libya, students come in contact with English only in classroom
situations. Saudi Arabians, however, often travel to many places, including English-
speaking countries such as the USA and Great Britain, have access to English
newspapers and magazines, and read English signs in their streets. Although their
written performance lags far behind their oral performance, Saudi graduate students
should be considered a distinct subcategory of students in the Arab world.

Unfortunately, little information is available on Arabic rhetoric either in
English or in Arabic. Comprehensive Arabic rhetoric studies are not available in
English in the United States; the few studies recently published in Arabic were
unavailable to the researcher.

Finally, male Saudi graduate students were chosen as subjects in the study
because female students’ participation in video sessions requiring a male
researcher to watch his subjects would severely contradict the religious, social and
cultural values of the Saudi society. Although the number of female graduate
students is considered relatively small, participation by female students in this
study was not possible because the interaction of female students with a male

researcher would have been severely criticized in the Arab culture.

1.4 Research Questions
This qualitative study examined English writing samples written by two

Saudi graduate students at American universities to determine the problems
encountered by many Saudi graduate students when they write in English. The study
will attempt to answer the following questions:

1. What writing process do the students use? Additionally, is there

anything in their writing process that causes problems for the ﬁnal

product?

2. What is the students’ linguistic knowledge about written English

before and after they start ESL learning?

3 . To what extent do subjects produce Arabic and English writing

While observing the audience and the rhetorical structure of Arabic and

English before and after they begin ESL learning?

4. How does instruction affect the students’ writing product and

Process aﬁer ESL training?

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW
The following four areas of research are closely related to the present study:
( 1) L1 writing, (2) L2 writing, (3) L1 and L2 rhetoric and (4) L1 and L2 transfer.
The literature review of these areas focused on issues related to my study.
2.1 L1 writing
In the 1970’s Ll composition research shifted from product to process.
Rohman (1965) was the ﬁrst to develop the notion of prewriting, but Emig (1971)
and Perl (1979) initiated the tradition of looking at how people write rather than
what they write (Parry, 1991). This paradigm shift provides insight into the
difficulties, strategies and behavior of writers; research based on the new paradigm
has revealed the complex, nonlinear and recursive nature of composing.

Many L2 studies are based on the new L1 composition theory; a number of

L2 Studies have used the research methods developed in L1 research. For example,
Zamel (1983) and Raimes (1988) carried this tradition into their work with ESL
Students.

2'1 - 1 The New Composing Model.

Rohman (1965) completed one of the ﬁrst L1 paradigm studies that developed
the notion of prewriting. The three iterative stages of the writing process deﬁned by
R0hinan are prewriting, writing and rewriting. This model reﬂects the previous
p a1‘adigm, based on the linear model of composition. However, Emig (1971), in

analYZing the composition behaviors of writers with protocol analysis, found

unobservable behavior in the writers, such as planning, which occurred before
writing and at any time during writing.

Kaufer, Hayes and Flower (1986) conducted four studies to investigate how
writers compose sentences. Focusing on observing people as they wrote and
constructed sentences from parts, the researchers found consistent grammar
structures in the students generated sentence parts and word choices used to
compose sentences. They found that writers constructed sentences from parts
marked by pauses in the verbal protocol; the researchers concluded that writers
made complete plans that were later modiﬁed during translation.

Perl (1979), who analyzed unskilled writers’ behavior during composing,
found that these writers underwent a recursive process during composing, but were
more concerned with mechanics and surface errors when they reread texts and
Pauses. “Premature and rigid attempts to correct and edit their work truncate the
ﬂow of composing” (Perl, 1979, p. 22). In a second study Perl (1980) found that
writers shuttled back and forth when composing in what Perl called retrospective
Stulcmring. Some writers, particularly unskilled writers, were so concerned with
rules and mechanics that they could not anticipate their readers’ needs.

Pianko (1979) examined the composing processes of seventeen college
freshlnan writers, each of whom wrote ﬁve essays for the study. Each subject was
obserVed and videotaped during at least one of the writing sessions. Following the
observation, immediately after the completion of a writing session, each student

Was questioned about behavior he/she exhibited during that composing experience

1 - . . . . . . .
0 ellcrt the student’s vrews on certam behavrors. Although Pranko dld not term thlS

method stimulated-recall, many of these techniques are used in the stimulated-recall
research design.

Pianko reported that most of the subjects wrote only one draft. When asked
about this, they answered that when writing must be done in class, they write only
one draft. Sometimes the subjects wrote more than one draft if they were allowed to
write at home. A few subjects wrote second drafts, but made only word changes

and mechanical corrections.

Pianko found that the subjects who participated in only a small amount of self-
initiated writing had little commitment to writing. The remedial writers’ slower
pace of writing was affected by their over-concem with mechanics, usage and
correct wording in their papers. Pianko (1979) emphasized, “During observations,
many of the remedial students hesitated while writing --they did not pause, they
were worried about their spelling” (p. 13). Skilled writers paused twice as often as
reInedial writers, but they were planning what to write next and checked to see
whether their plans met their goals. The less-skilled writers usually paused to check
for grammar and mechanics as their main concerns.

Pianko (1979) reported that unskilled writers took less time to plan and their
plans were less ﬂexible than those of skilled writers (Rose, 1980; Raimes, 1985).
RaiInes (1985: 230) further stressed that “unskilled writers re-scan large segments of
their Work less often than skilled writers do, and when they do re-scan, it is usually
More for the purpose of correcting surface-level errors than for assessing the ﬁt
betWeen their plans and the product.” Perl (1979) added that unskilled writers

e ‘ . . .
dlted more than they rev1sed, srnce the nature of then changes focused on form

11

rather than content.

It appears from the studies cited above that among native speakers of English,
skilled writers make use of certain writing strategies usually unknown to those who
are unskilled. The following section will examine studies of L2 writing.

2.2 L2 writing

A review of L2 composition literature revealed that many studies have
attempted to probe the writing process of normative speakers of English. Some of
this literature concerns Arab students learning English. The following section
reviews studies of normative speakers, followed by studies of Arabic-speaking
students’ writing.

Amdt (1987) oversaw a process-oriented study that attempted to investigate
the composing processes in L1 and L2. She examined the composing activities of
six Chinese postgraduate EFL writers as they produced written academic texts in
b01111 English and Chinese. The subjects were asked to think aloud as they composed
and were interviewed by the researcher to determine their feelings and perceptions
about writing. The study revealed that the composing behaviors of each writer
remained consistent across both languages.

Mohan and Lo (1985) investigated writing difﬁculties encountered by Chinese
Stud(Brits writing in English. They found that problems did not occur from the
iuﬂllence of Chinese rhetoric; rather, the students’ experience in English was
illsufﬁcient. Wu (1992) found that most of his Chinese college students faced
p r0blel'ns in English writing due to linguistic factors such as passive voice,

modiﬁers and some phrasal and sentence structures.

12

Pennington and So (1993) examined the process and product of six

Singaporean university students as they produced written texts in both Japanese and
their primary language (Chinese or English). Their main purpose was to examine
process and product data separately to determine if any relationship existed between
an individual writer’s process skill and product quality in two languages. The
subjects were asked to write essays in both languages. As they composed, a video
camera recorded their behavior. One of the researchers observed the students’
behavior and recorded it (see Chapter Three in this study). After the students
ﬁnished their composing, they were immediately interviewed to investigate their
explanations for their writing behaviors. Although the number of subjects
considered was small the researchers concluded that no relationship existed between
Process and product data in either language, nor between written products in the two
languages. The study did discover “the pattern of the writing process of an
individual was similar when composing in an L1 and an L2, and that writing quality
in an L2 was related to general proﬁciency” (Pennington and So, 1993: 58).

An example from research performed regarding the problems some Arab
Writers face showed that for these students the concept of writing is mainly product-
oriented. Dudley-Evans and Swales (1980: 95) discussed the problems of writing
for Arabic-speaking students from a linguistic point of view. They attributed these
problems to “purely syntactic differences” between Arabic and English realized in
the use of “the nominal sentence, tense system, the generic use of the deﬁnite
article, noun phrases, etc.” Beeston (1980) highlighted the problem of punctuation

use by Arab writers, while Kharma (1985) attributed the problems Arab writers face

13

to their inability to handle English relative clauses when they are involved in writing
tasks.

Salarna (1981) conducted a study based on contrastive Arabic and English
morphological differences to determine the most difficult problems Arab learners
encounter when writing in English. He concluded that morphological differences
between the Arabic and English languages were factors of difficulty.

El-Shimy (1982) attempted to identify the main sources of difﬁculties some
Arabic-speaking students encounter when writing in English. He concluded that
Arabic learners of English face difﬁculties in areas such as the proper use of tenses
and the use of copula, passive voice and negation.

El—Hassan (1984) investigated the graphological interference in technical
Writing tasks of six Arab students studying in the United Kingdom. He found that
their writing difﬁculties were attributed to differences in the graphological systems
0f English and Arabic. The former uses written Roman letters that are read from left
to l‘ight while Arabic uses a different alphabetical script and is written from right to
left.

These studies indicated that English writing was problematic for ESL students
because of the differences between the L1 and L2 rhetoric and/or syntax systems.
Arab students, in particular, encounter problems because of the differences between

the Arabic and English alphabetic systems, direction of writing and word order.

In the following section the teaching of English in Saudi schools, especially

the teaching of English writing to college students, will be reviewed.

14

2.2.1 Teaching strategies and organization in Saudi schools
Generally speaking, the teaching of English in Saudi schools is considered a
new ﬁeld. The special traditional status in a country like Saudi Arabia causes every
new subject to be suspect for a long time. English was not a favorite subject for
many students until the 19703, when people began utilizing many products that
came with English-language manuals (Al-nogamish, 1985).

In most Arab countries adult learners who have successfully learned English
grammar rules are unable to use them productively and communicatively because
they cannot utilize their intellectual understanding of the language in
communicative situations (El-daly, 1991). This problem exists in Saudi schools,
where teachers, who are the source of knowledge, teach grammar and vocabulary,
ignoring other essential writing techniques that learners must know besides
grainmar and vocabulary. El-daly (1991), in a study explaining the problem of
emphasizing grammar and vocabulary, stated "English was considered an academic
collrse like 'history', 'geography' or 'social studies.’ Our main task [as students] was
to memorize a lot of grammatical rules, a lot of vocabulary and structures with a
View to passing the course and moving ahead to the next level" (p. 3).

In the following sections a clear description of the teaching of Arabic and
English writing to Saudi students in Saudi schools will be discussed.
2‘2-2 Teaching English writing in Saudi Schools

Leki (1991) cited a work by Carson (1992) concerning literacy instruction in
Japan and the People's Republic of China, suggesting that reading and writing are

cornchx topics and variously inscribed in cultures. Simple descriptions of reading

15

and writing instruction in schools are probably inadequate. Many researchers who
examine how writing is taught in order to explain the difﬁculties that learners face
when they write have attempted to examine school instruction directly. However,
the results have proved inconclusive. Schools are the most important source of
acquisition for students' writing. Eggington (1984), Leki (1991) and others noted
that students from India, Japan and Korea received little or no direct writing
instruction in their L1.

Teaching English writing in Saudi schools is based on the belief that the
students who learn more vocabulary will be good writers. Therefore, students are
required to memorize a great deal of vocabulary in order to speak, read, listen and
Write in English, but little emphasis is placed on other important writing techniques,
such as planning, organization and support.

Taher (1990) stressed the fact that a lack of time was a factor in poor writing
quality. She felt that not enough time was allowed to implement strategies and
pr aCtice them when writing in English in the classrooms of most Arab countries at
all grade levels. Most Arab schools teach English twice a week for sixteen weeks
and during each period teachers are required to emphasize equally all learning skills
(writing, reading, speaking and listening).

Overall, teaching English writing has not received enough attention in Saudi
scho01s and the problems contributing to the poor quality of Arabic-speaking
Students English writing comes from many sources, one of which is the way the

teaching English writing is organized (El-sayed, 1933),

l6

El-sayed (1983) believed that some of his bilingual subjects adopted a
Western style in their Arabic writing. This style possibly occurred as a result of the
students’ English teaching instruction in their home countries. Reviewing
intermediate and secondary syllabi issued by Imam Mohammed Ben Saud Islamic
University, the following was noted: ﬁrst, English is taught twice a week during
fifty—minute period in grades seven to twelve. Second, little emphasis is placed on
writing skills and teachers highlighted hand-writing development and mastering
Roman script. Third, teachers were asked to follow textbooks without adding or
omitting anything from the text. Fourth, according to El-sayed, most instructors at
this pre- college level lacked academic qualiﬁcations in their ﬁeld.

These factors may have affected the skill levels of Saudi student writing and
contributed to the problems that Saudi learners of English have in an English
eIlVironment. When Saudi students begin studying at the university level, which
requires English competence, they must enroll in English programs to further
deveIOp their remedial reading and writing skills.

2.2.3 Teaching Arabic writing

By the same token, teaching Arabic composition in Saudi schools does not
emPhasize strategies that skilled writers normally employ when they write, such as
pr e\Nriting, planning and supporting their ideas by examples The syllabi for Arabic
Co111position (Ia'lzir) issued by Imam Mohammed Ben Saud Islamic University
(Appendix R) states that composition is taught once a week for ﬁfty minutes (an

lnsufﬁcient amount of time to review the current curriculum). Second, in the

intermediate class (grades seven through nine) the emphasis is on both oral1 and
written composition, and how students can write adequately what they need to say.
Third, secondary class (grades ten through twelve) teachers must teach students how
to write short stories, newspaper articles and summaries, and how to paraphrase a
poem in prose. The Arabic composition syllabus does not require instructors to
teach students how to plan, edit or revise. Their instruction emphasizes writing
(namely, writing short stories, poems, and summaries) by imitating models of
writing that were produced by famous writers rather than writing techniques.
2.3 L1 and L2 Rhetoric
Fox (1995) argued that with the increasing numbers of students on American
campuses from cultures that value different styles of teaching, learning,
Conununicating and understanding the world, it is important that nonnative students
understand how these differences affect the way they write. In this section research
dealing with rhetorical similarities and differences between Arabic and English will
be reviewed to determine the difﬁculties Arab students encounter when they write in
English.
Bizzell and Herzberg (1992) argued that “rhetoric has become in the 20th
centl‘ll'y a valuable interdisciplinary theory of language and meaning” (p. 899).
Many twentieth-century rhetoric theorists believe that rhetoric must be

c0“Ilarehensive and address all aspects of language (Bizzell and Herzberg, 1992).

This t)‘pe of composition instruction emphasizes methods for preparing and delivering a speech.

18

With writing, however, rhetoric has been associated with the rules of use
(Widdowson, 1985). It has also been used to refer to “the choice of linguistic and
structural aspects of discourse chosen to produce an effect on an audience” (Purves,
1988: 9). The rhetoric of story narration, for example, requires different rules than
those governing writing -- each type of writing has its own rhetoric (Conner and
Laure, 1988).

Taking English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing as an example will help
illustrate that writing is also rhetoric-bound. EAP writing involves not only the
proper employment of mechanics, vocabulary and syntax, but also adequate control
and manipulation of its rhetorical rules and conventions (Widdowson, 1985).
Rhetoric guides the writer to use to produce a desired piece of text. This process is
baSically one of choosing and organizing information for an academic set of
Purposes and a speciﬁc set of readers.

Studies that focus on why L2 learners encounter difficulties when
coInlnunicating in written English use contrastive rhetoric to achieve their goals.
Many studies speculated that rhetoric is the main source of writing difficulties
(Koch-Jonstone (1987); Ostler (1987); Taher (1990); Liebman (1992); and Ried
U993)

Liebman (1992: 146) argued that contrastive rhetoricians should seek to
understand the full contrasts between language forms and language uses in different
cultures. Contrastive rhetoric, according to Reid (1992), is the study of text written
in English by native speakers of different languages, based on the hypothesis that

the Ways such texts are “used and perceived vary according to the cultural group to

19

which an individual belongs... [and] the content that is written and the forms or
structures used to encode that content” (Purves, 1988: 10).

Although contrastive rhetoric is considered a useful tool in language
investigation, Liebman (1992) argued that it has two limitations. First, contrastive
rhetoricians have a narrow view of rhetoric, which considers only the organization
of ﬁnished products. One example of this narrow view is their deﬁnition of

rhetoric:

Early contrastive rhetoricians attended to a restricted area of rhetoric:
the organization of ﬁnished expository texts. But rhetoric involves
more than organization; it involves the complex interaction of writer or
speaker, audience, and world that leads to the production, in time, of
language designed to communicate with and effect others. In
Aristotle’s deﬁnition of rhetoric, this complex, dynamic process
involves ﬁve elements: invention, memory, arrangement, style, and
delivery (Liebman, 1992: 142).

Liebman compared an early deﬁnition of rhetoric with Kaplan (1966), stating
that Kaplan deﬁned rhetoric as “the method of organizing syntactic units into larger
patterns” and reduced Aristotle’s ﬁve elements into the element of arrangement.

Second, contrastive rhetoricians have a restrictive view of the development of
WeStern rhetoric, which leads to a narrow methodology. Liebman (1992) noted that
an early critic of contrastive rhetoric claimed contrastive rhetoric confused process
and Product, “so that student writers are misled into thinking that a linear product is
the reSult of a linear process” (p. 144). She further argued that it is not students who
Were misled but early contrastive rhetoric researchers who mix the processes of

r hetol‘ic with those textual products most readily available for research.

20

More recent approaches to contrastive rhetoric compare other aspects of

rhetoric besides organization (Liebman, 1992; Reid, 1993). In this spirit Liebman

(1992) examined Japanese and Arabic students studying in America to learn more
about the rhetoric instruction they received in their native countries:

[The] new approach to contrastive rhetoric considered not only contrasts
in how people organize texts in different languages, but also other
contrast such as their approaches to audience, their perception of the
purposes of writing, the types of writing tasks with which they feel
comfortable,, the composing processes they have been encouraged to
develop, and the role writing plays in their education. Understanding
these contrasts will be as helpful to teachers as understanding the textual
contrasts other contrastive rhetoricians have noted” (Liebman, 1992:
142)

Although studies in contrastive rhetoric have grown considerably more
Complex over the last decade (Leki 1991), remembering the role of the ﬁrst
language (L1) when studying the development of writing in a second language (L2)
iS important. Wu (1992) determined that teaching composition to foreign students
differs from teaching composition to American students and cultural differences in
l’l'letoric supply the key to differences in teaching approaches.

Many studies (e.g., Leki, 1992) created a wide area of controversy, drawing
attention to the establishment of contrastive rhetoric as a valid and an important
domain of inquiry. Researchers noted that many learners of English who mastered
the grammatical structure of English still faced difficulties when attempting to
master cohesion, coherence and speciﬁc organizational patterns (Ostler, 1987;
Taher, 1990;A1-semari, 1993).

In the past ten years the number of contrastive studies showing the inﬂuence

of L l on L2-- particularly for English (L1), Japanese (L2) and Chinese (L2)

21

learners-- has increased steadily. Harder (1980)described the difficulties he faced
when he tried to teach Japanese writers to use an English writing style. Kobayashi
(1984) analyzed narrative and expository samples from four groups writing in
English and Japanese. She found that second-language learners sometimes use ﬁrst-
language rhetorical patterns when writing in narrative language.
2-3.1 Arabic Rhetoric
Koch (1981) and Koch-Johnstone (1987) argued that in addition to
displaying a great deal of coordination and a little subordination, Arabic persuasive
written discourse attempts to convince its readers by stating an idea, restating it,
and then paraphrasing it. Koch examined an argumentative essay written by a
diStinguished professional Arabic writer to identify just what discourse devices were
used, She found that repetition of phrases and even whole sentences were part of
the devices used within the rhetorical structure in written persuasive argument.
However, her claim appeared inadequate because she based her argument on
font Arabic persuasive texts that were not representative of Arabic persuasive
Written discourse. Her claims were further weakened by the fact that Arabic
academic composition books (e.g., Al-shanti, 1992; Al-Furaih and Radwan, 1984)
Stress that Arab students should avoid repeating lexical items or sentences in their
eSSaYS. Thus, the fact that a few persuasive texts (which appeared to be produced
for Ilonacademic purposes) supported her claim does not necessarily mean her claim
is true of all Arabic written persuasive discourses.
Ostler (1987a) asserted that the particular deviant style of Arabic students'

I i ting in English reﬂects classical Arabic style, which differs in a number of ways

22

from that of English. She attempted to answer the question, "[W]hy, when Arabic-
speaking students seem to have mastered most of the English grammatical forms
and idioms, do they still produce foreign sounding essays, and why it is that
experienced ESL writing teachers can identify Arabic-speaking students’ English
essays as having been written by Arabic speakers?" (p.169).

Ostler (1987b) conducted a study to describe quantitatively the syntactic and
rhetorical patterns used by native English writers and Arabic, Japanese and Spanish
learners of English. Her study used a corpus of 160 essays, 40 from each language.
She found that the Arabic corpus was distinguished by a greater use of parallel
constructions and a greater tendency toward sentential elaboration than was found in
the English corpus. She also noted that essay introductions by the Arabic writers
Were characterized by the presence of ideas unrelated to the main idea and
SPeculated that the general introductory style exhibited in the Arabic corpus is a
di Stinctive rhetorical pattern for Arabic writers.

Findings by non-Arabic-speaking researchers with an adequate knowledge of
English (L2), but with less understanding Arabic (L1), have resulted in less-accurate
jungnents about Arabic writers. Ayari (1992), a native Arabic speaker, analyzed
thjrty-one writing samples ﬁ'om Arab and American student writers to investigate
the extent to which their writings reﬂect the rhetorical conventions of their native

languages. He also examined whether L1 writing skills provide a good predictor for
a Stllclent’s ability to produce an acceptable piece of second-language writing. The
researcher asked subjects to describe a religious practice common to both cultures:

F -
“day prayer in Islam (both American and Arabic subjects were Muslims). The

23

writing task involved describing the various stages of the prayer process. The Arab
subjects wrote both in Arabic and in English but the American subjects provided
English language samples.

Ayari found that the Arabic samples varied considerably in their rhetorical
structure and did not reveal a single Arabic rhetorical style. Some Arabic-speaking
subj ects employed a "linear" rhetorical style in their native-language writing,
describing the various steps of the prayer sequence in chronological order. These
ﬁndings limit claims made by Kaplan (1966), Koch (1981) and Ostler (1987) that
parallelism is the Arabic language’s most important structuring device.

Several recent studies suggest that writing products in Arabic and English are
approximately the same in terms of organization pattern. Fareh (1988) contrasted
Arabic and English paragraph structures in expository discourse, analyzing forty
expository paragraphs in each language in terms of thematic patterns, logical
relations and lexical cohesive devices. She found that Arabic and English
Paragraphs were similar to some extent in these aspects.

Overall, it is clear from the literature review that problems of English writing
encountered by most learners occur during three iterative stages of the writing
process: prewriting, writing and rewriting. Teachers of English writing, as the
literature review indicated, must pay more attention to these stages (El-Sayed, 1982;
Taher, 1990) in the classroom. El-Sayed (1982) found that inexperienced, untrained

teacl”lets contributed to the learning weaknesses of Arab learners of English and

what the above studies revealed is that instruction plays crucial role in learning.

24

2.4.1 Research Assumptions
The literature review also revealed that English writing instruction in Arabic
countries-- Saudi Arabia in particular-- is insufﬁcient for students’ needs and does
not teach them to produce writing like English that is free of linguistic and rhetorical
mistakes. Because the method of teaching English writing to Saudi students does
not meet their needs, this study assumes that some Saudi graduate students will
encounter a great many writing problems at different stages of L2 composition and
that a variety of these problems will occur during the entire composition process.
To test this assumption, the subjects of this study were asked to write essays in both
English and Arabic. During the writing process, each subject was observed at all
Stages of writing (i.e. planning, writing, revising, etc.). The types of problems were
investigated from various aspects. From this investigation different types of
PFOblems (e. g. grammatical, rhetorical and organizational problems) were identiﬁed
and noted during the composition process.
This study examined two subjects who recently arrived in America. They
Were assumed to have varying composition processes. They composed using the
3W1 es they most preferred. Since the problematic factors of writing difﬁculties that
each subject encounters may make a difference in his writing process, the
differences were carefully examined.
2'4-2 Need For This Study
Syllabi for teaching English writing to post-secondary students at most Saudi
“Inversities are not adequate. For example, the English writing syllabus of the

E -
ngllsh and Translation Department at Imam University emphasizes the ﬁnal

25

product, often ignoring the processes students should employ when they write
essays in English.
At the present time, to the best of the researcher's knowledge, this study is
the ﬁrst of its kind conducted in order to develop an EAP writing-course syllabus
that meets the needs of Saudi graduate students learning English for academic
purposes. This syllabus is based on the view that EAP writing involves the
recursive nature of composing, and will take into account the culturally oriented
rhetoric of English and Arabic languages.
Present studies of Arabic-speaking students’ writing skills with regard to
English as a second and/or foreign language are inadequate. Kaplan's (1966) study
exarnined essays written by Arab and non-Arab subjects whose levels of proﬁciency
Were unspeciﬁed. Kaplan raised questions as to whether the rhetorical problems he
fOllnd with Arabic-speaking students occurred because they had low English
Proﬁciency or because of ﬁrst-language (L1) interference. A systematic study that
Will help teachers understand the composition processes of Arabic-speaking students
is Seriously needed in order to disclose most of the problems students may encounter
when composing in English.
2‘4~3 The Aim and Scope of the Study
Based on this study's theoretical background, the ultimate goal of this study
was to investigate the problematic factors of EAP writing before and aﬁer
illstl’uction with special reference to Saudi (Arabic-speaking) graduate students
learning EAP, and to suggest solutions for EAP teachers to use in their classroom

i
118traction.

26

Furthermore, this study provides useful information for Arabic academic
institutions in general and for Saudi graduate students speciﬁcally, regarding the
following:

1. Arab EAP students' current ability to write well in both English and Arabic.

2. The need to reconsider the present trend for teaching English writing skills as

part of the Intensive English Program at Imam University, Saudi Arabia.

This study is to help guide syllabus designers to develop syllabi that will

improve Arab EAP students’ writing skills and enhance their rhetorical competence
and performance.
2.4-4 Assertions
This qualitative study examines writing produced by two Saudi graduate
stlldents attending American universities to determine the extent to which many
Saudi graduate students encounter problems when they write in English before and
aﬁel‘ instruction.

Using the review of the literature, the researcher assumed the following:

1 - Despite seven years of studying English as a foreign language in their home
country, some Saudi graduate students who learn English for academic
purposes anLth considered "good" writers of English when they begin their
graduate studies. Furthermore, a review of the English syllabi for Imam
University showed that instruction time each week is extremely limited,
placing the emphasis on vocabulary, grammar and product, rather than on

writing skills.

27

2. Writing-skill problems faced by some Saudi graduate students learning English
for academic purposes may be attributed to rhetorical and linguistic factors.

3. The common assumption of some Saudi English teachers, that a “good” writer
is the one who knows a large amount of vocabulary and grammar only, is not
always valid.

The limited academic background of English instructors in Saudi schools
contributed to the problem (El-Sayed, 1982). Most English instructors in Saudi
schools are untrained and have inadequate teaching techniques. In addition some

pay little attention to the importance of the writing process, focusing instead on the
ﬁnal product of the essays.

The study assumed that writing-skill problems faced by Saudi graduate
Stuclents learning English for academic purposes may be attributed to both rhetorical
and linguistic factors, and not to linguistic factors alone. Numerous studies found
that competent and incompetent writers express ideas differently, perhaps due to the
di 1zl‘erent writing strategies used when the writers express themselves on paper.
Ostler (1987) found that Arab students used their rhetorical system when they
composed in English. Koch (1981) noted that because repetition is one feature of
the Arabic language, Arabic-speaking writers who compose in English repeat many
Sellterrces and phrases. Dudley-Evans and Swales (1980) indicated that because
writing in the Arab world is considered product-oriented and the syntactic

diﬁerences between Arabic and English are multitudinous, Arabic-speaking writers
faced many problems when composing in English. The unskilled writer will face a

pa‘rticularly difficult time when writing in English because he or she is product-

28

oriented rather than process-oriented.

El-Shimy (1982) noted that the use of tenses, copula, passive voice and
negation further frustrates Arab writers of English. Salama (1981) found
morphological differences in Arabic and English further confuse Arab writers. El-

Hassan (1984) concluded that graphological interference in technical writing tasks
cause difﬁculties for most Arab writers because Arabs read and write from right to
leﬁ and English-speaking people read and write from left to right. However, these
studies stressed the fact that writing-skill problems faced by Saudi graduate students
can also be attributed to rhetorical and linguistic factors.

This study tested the common assumption that a 'good' writer knows a large
aniount of vocabulary and grammar only. Although no researcher stated directly
that all good writers know a large amount of vocabulary and grammar, it is probably
safe to assume that usually good writers have substantial knowledge of vocabulary.
Elrdaly (1992) stressed the fact that English writing instruction in Egypt that
emphasized a great deal of grammar and vocabulary did not help students become
gOOd writers. Although vocabulary and grammar are necessary components of the
writing process and a large vocabulary is important to ensure credible writing,

additional skills are necessary to produce well-organized essays.

CHAPTER THREE

Methodology and Procedure
This chapter offers a description of the methods used in the study. First,
research subjects will be presented, then the procedures that were followed in order
to analyze the corpus, including a description of the study subjects.
3. 1 Case Study Methodology
Zamel (1983) noted that case studies provide the most effective method for
exatnining the writing process. "A case study is an empirical inquiry that
investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real life context when
boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly eviden " (Yin, 1984:
23)- The validity of this type of research is established by gathering multiple
Sources of evidence through direct observation, systematic interviewing and
documents collection (Patton, 1990: 10). This design’s strengths are its ability to
anvaer "how" and "why" questions, its well-grounded, extensive descriptions and
explanations of behavior in context; and its ability to match patterns and changes
(Miles and Huberman, 1984; Yin, 1984).

In case-study research a case may be an individual, an institution or even a
program. In this study individuals will be examined as cases; however, all
individuals together constitute one case. As such, each individual is still a primary
L111it of analysis.

A researcher should not collect all possible information about a case, but

(1 ‘ . . . . . . .
1r eet hrs data collection based on certain proposrtrons that drrect attention to

29

30

something that will be examined within the study; otherwise, he might be tempted

to collect everything about the case (Miles and Huberrnan, 1984; Yin, 1984).
Four types of case-study designs exist: (1) single case (holistic) designs--
one case that represents the global nature of analysis; (2) single-case (embedded)
designs, or one case with several units of analysis; (3) multiple-case (holistic)
designs, several cases with a global nature of analysis; and (4) multiple (embedded)
case designs, several cases that offer several units of analysis(Yin, 1984). The

multiple embedded case-study design will be used in this study.

WW examines more than one writer; embedded indicates
that each case study examines more than one aspect of writing. In this type of
research each individual case study constitutes a part of the whole study, whose
reSults are based on overall conclusions drawn from each case. This follows Yin’s
( 1 984) deﬁnition that "The evidence from a multiple case is often considered more

cornpelling, and the overall study is therefore regarded as being more robus " (p.

48),
This method of collecting data through various sources is called
"triangulation" (Denzin, 1978) and is based on the premise that "no single method
ever adequately solves the problem of rival casual factors. Because each method
reveals different aspects of empirical reality, multiple methods of observations must
be employed" (Denzin, 1978: 28). This method of collecting data from a variety of
so‘-11'ces confirms the strengths of the case-study design.

With data collected from various sources, this method of research should

produCe a wealth of detailed information about a small number of people and cases.

31

This increases the understanding of the cases and situations studied and the ﬁndings
will be detailed and varied. The data help the researcher understand the world as
seen by the subjects and by gathering such data the researchers capture other
people's points of view without predeterrnining them through a prior selection of
questions as performed in other types of research design (Yin, 1984; Miles and
Huberman, 1984).

The researcher will be one of the best tools in this case-study research.
However, he must guard against "having biased views to inﬂuence the direction of
the ﬁndings and collections" (Yin, 1984: 21). Therefore the researcher expects to be
extremely careful and work diligently to avoid this situation.

3.2 Subjects

The study’s subjects will be selected on the basis of purposeﬁrl sampling,
Wl'lich, according to Patton (1990: 169), "is to select information-rich cases whose
Study will illuminate the question under study."

The study’s subjects are typical Saudi students in terms of their English
educational background. The typical Saudi student, as mentioned in Chapter Two,
is required to study English for three years during middle school, for three years
during high school, and for at least one year during college. This study’s subjects
are typical because they studied English for seven years before they came to the
United States (USA).

The subjects of this study were awarded scholarships to study in the USA by

t1Fleir university departments. When a Saudi student achieves the highest grade

alliorrg all of those who have completed their bachelor degrees, he or she undergoes

32

an interview. Based on this interview and his or her GPA, the student is chosen to
study his or her specialization at a university in the United States, regardless of his
or her English proﬁciency level; the student’s English is not assisted at all.
As previously mentioned, two male Saudi graduate students, who recently
arrived in America to attend American universities, participated as subjects for this
study. Each was chosen according to the following criteria: he expressed a
willingness to participate in this study and signed an Informed Consent Form (see
Appendix F, p. 171) expressing his willingness to participate in this study and was
between twenty-two and twenty-eight years of age.

The subjects studied English for at least seven years before beginning their
graduate studies. Each subject was asked to write his essays followed by an
interview, before he was exposed to the placement test. Most universities require
SuCh tests before international students begin their graduate studies at American
Schools as the placement test is used to determine each student's English
Proﬁciency. To insure that they were not exposed to any form of training or
fatniliarity with American education the students’ writing process was examined
before they took the placement test. The following is a description of the subjects:
3-2- 1. First Subject (Ahmed)

Ahmed2 is a Saudi male, age 27, who recently completed his undergraduate

S1eddies. He was chosen from twenty-ﬁve students to pursue his graduate studies

\

2
A psudonym was used by each subject.

33

abroad. He chose to study in the United States of America, because it “will give me
a broader sense of knowledge because many well known scholars are in the ﬁeld of
Sociology in the United Sates of America” (Ahmed, Stimulus Recall A2, p. 205).
Ahmed is a conscientious student who is eager to learn and has the capability
to work hard. “Actually, I am trying my best to work hard and acquire the latest
theories about my ﬁeld before I go back to my country. I am eager to start.” He
explained to the researcher that his English ability is inadequate and he will start his
English program before he starts his academic studies. He felt that the amount of
English he learned in Saud Arabia, his native country, is inadequate. He thought
that his English program in the US would enable him to learn a great deal in his
ﬁeld.
Ahmed arrived in the United States of America during the summer of 1995
When he was accepted into the master’s program (Social work Department) at
Inidwest state university. Once he arrived, the researcher contacted him and
explained to him the purpose of the study and the beneﬁts Saudi graduate students
Will receive from it and he demonstrated a willingness to participate in this study as
a Subject.
3-2-2. Second Subject (Suliman)

Suliman is a Saudi male, age 25, who recently completed his undergraduate
Studies. He graduated in 1992. Out of thirty-two students, he was granted a
government scholarship to pursue his graduate studies abroad. He chose to study in

the United States of America because, as he said “If you need to learn a certain

t - . . . . .
0Iblc or scrence, you better choose the 01'1ng of that toprc or scrence. For thatI

34

chose the USA because there are many things, such as scholars, research, and
experience that make the USA better than any other places.”

Suliman is a student with many study skills, including an eagerness to learn
all new research related to his area. He is eager to practice his specialty, which is
social services. Suliman has the capability to work hard. “My aim is to complete
this mission, which is to learn and acquire knowledge and go back to my country in
order to serve my people. I feel that I have enough energy to work and study hard
and hard.” He made it clear to the researcher that his English ability is not adequate

and he will begin his English program before he starts his academic studies.

Suliman arrived in the United States of America during the summer of 1995,
where he was accepted into the master of arts program in social work at rrridwest
state university. Once he arrived, the researcher contacted him and explained to him
the purpose of the study and what beneﬁts Saudi graduate students will receive from
it. Suliman demonstrated a willingness to participate in this study.

3.3 Data Collection
Data were collected from writing samples, observations and interviews.

33-1 Writing Samples.

For this study one type of writing sample was collected. This sample consisted of
three stages (see Table 1): 1) the students were asked to write one essay in both
English (E1) and Arabic (A1) immediately following their arrival in America, to
help determine their English and Arabic writing proﬁciency before they were
exPosed to American education; 2) each student was asked to write on another topic

In English (E2) and Arabic (A2) at the end of the study (ﬁfteen weeks’ duration) to

35

determine how much reinforcement he had obtained; and 3) each student was asked
to rewrite his ﬁrst English and Arabic essays upon completion of his ESL studies
(E3) (A3) to determine if any writing problems were not overcome after the
reinforcement. This may also help to determine if the subjects were able to identify
the errors they made in their ﬁrst essays after ﬁfteen weeks of reinforcement and

what kind of problems remained.

srAcr: ONE (Pmlnmuction) srAcr: mo (Alter Instruction) serr: rum:
1 st 1 st 1 st

Al El E2 A2

1‘ Al A2 E2

 

TABLE l-l FIRST SAMPLE WRITING TASKS DISTRIBUTIONS

The subjects were asked to spend no more than one hour responding to the
Arabic and English prompts of their writing samples. However, it is a fact that
allowing the subjects to write on an open-ended basis might help them express
themselves using all the writing techniques that they learned in their home country.
In addition, this open-ended approach does not create time pressure for students.
Possibly, time pressure may prevent subjects from writing all they need to write.
Unskilled writers, according to Pianko (1979), write in a slow fashion, so if the time
allowed is limited then their writing does not reﬂect their real writing level.

On the other hand, a time limit is recommended, because writing using the
Opel'l--ended basis would require too much observation of the subjects. Furthermore,
subj ects were requested to spend the same amount of time in the stimulus recall, so

If they spent a long time writing, then consequently, they would have to spend the

36

same amount of time or longer in the stimulated recall, which might affect them
and prevent them from responding in a suitable way. Moreover, they were
requested to spend more time in answering and discussing issues during the
interview. Thus with the open-ended approach their energy would be exhausted
after spending so much time in writing and stimulated recall. In addition, the open-
ended approach may not encourage them to come back for the next writing stages if
they feel the writing experiment would take a longer time than usual. Based on this
argument, the researcher asked the subjects to write for one hour to achieve the best
results and ensure the subjects’ continuous attendance.

The subjects were told about the purpose and procedure of the study before
the writing session began and were provided with the topic at the writing location to
insure that they did not have time to think or plan for the topic before it was
assigned.

The researcher designed the English topic for the ﬁrst sample (Al), based on
a task presented by Pennington and So (1993). Both subjects were asked to respond
to the following questions in English:

EnglishanfED

Describe a school you have previously attended (university, secondary
school or elementary school).

EnglishlmmnthZ)
Describe an interesting place in your country.
The Writing tasks were selected from many possible tasks because both subjects

were familiar with the topic and were able to easily complete this assignment and an

uufamiliar topic might have constrained the ﬂow of composing. The topics were of

37

a general nature and were expected to lend themselves to revealing each writer’s
personal experiences, so that even unskilled writers were able to draw on their own
life experiences and produce a composition in both their L1 and L2. Both subjects
were asked to write as if they were answering an essay question on a ﬁnal
examination and if so requested, the subjects were given assistance to understand
the instructions. The topic of the Arabic samples was different from the English
topic, in order to (avoid translating or following the same plan used in the English
topic. The subjects were asked to write about the following questions:

Amhicﬁmmntmn

Describe your previous home.
ArabicEmmpttAZ)

Describe a good or bad teacher you have had. Why did you like or dislike
that teacher?

3.3.2 Observation

Each subject’s behavior during the composition process was observed
individually. Each subject performed the ﬁrst writing task alone. As soon as he was
settled with a pen and paper to perform the writing task, the subject was given a
COPY of the prompt. A video camera focused on the subject’s face and the paper on
Which he was writing his essay. This allowed the subject’s face and the sheet on
which he wrote to be visible to the camera, so that when the videotape was
revievved, the subject’s facial expressions and pen movements on the essay sheet
Would be seen by both the subject and researcher. The researcher stood behind the

subj ect and took notes on the subj ect's activities.

38

The observation was conducted to verify the frequency, length and location
of certain behaviors, such as actual writing, pausing, reading and making changes in
the text. Following Pennington and So (1993), the researcher used graph paper to
make the observation task more accurate. Pennington and So (1993) suggested that
each square millimeter of the graph paper correspond to one second, so that a one-
minute duration is shown on every horizontal line (see appendix A).

Pennington and So (1993) also instructed that each observable behavior be
supplied with a code label (for example, actual writing (W), pausing (P), reading
(R); see appendix B for more details) and depicted every ﬁve seconds. This

information may be obtained by moving along the timeline. According to
Pennington and So (1993: 49) this system was chosen because it revealed the

amount of time spent in prewriting (including preplanning, note taking and
outlining) if the subjects go through the prewriting stage; the amount of time spent
writing and editing, during production of the essays; the amount of time spent on
Pausing and reading of the segments, during the production of the essays; and the
alnoum of time spent on postwriting.
33-3 Interview

Two types of interviews were conducted during this study, using the
S“bj ects’ native language (Arabic) to ensure a full understanding and an easy
method for answering the interview questions. The ﬁrst interview was termed
"stimlrlated recall." Each subject was interviewed immediately following the
completion of each assignment (see Table 2), while the memory of the writing

experience was still fresh. When the subject indicated that he had ﬁnished writing

39

the essay, the video camera was turned off and the videotape 'played back using a
videocassette player and a television set. The researcher’s notes and the subject's
essay were used to ask questions about the subject’s behavior during composition.

This type of interview was designed to elicit reasons for and causes of

certain observed behaviors. When necessary, the videotape was stopped as needed

to discuss the subject's activities in detail (Pianko, 1979; Rose, 1984). For example,
if the researcher noticed that the subject crossed out a word or phrase or if the
subject stopped composing for a certain time, the researcher stopped the videotape
and asked the subject why such a behavior occurred and the conversation was
transcribed verbatim.

As a research instrument, the stimulated-recall method is not new. As early
as l 953, Bloom deﬁned stimulated recall as a method in which "a subject may be
enabled to relive an original situation with vividness and accuracy if he is presented
With a large number of cues or stimuli which occurred during the original situation"
(P. l 61). Currently, researchers use stimulated recall when they videotape subjects
as they write and play back the tape immediately following the writing session and
the Writer comments on what happened during the session and responds to questions
by the researcher. In addition to visual cues ﬁom the videotapes, the writing
seSSions are used as cues to ask questions during the stimulated-recall interview.
Harris (1985) remarked that "Mike Rose's work on writers' block (1980, 1981, 1984)
Shows us how much we can reveal by applying stimulated recall" (p. 168).

Many researchers felt that because stimulus protocol displays its own

wealmesses, they doubt the validity of this kind of retrospective data (N isbett and

40

Wilson, 1977; Ericson and Simon, 1980). Ericson and Simon (1984) cited two main
objections: retrospective data are inaccurate, incomplete and affected by the
researcher's bias and the knowledge that one will be required to retrospect inﬂuences
the performance of the task.

All these characteristics were incorporated during collection of data via
interviews, which were conducted immediately after the writing sessions and
stimulus recall.

Ericson and Simon (1984) listed six conditions under which retrospective
data may be considered a reliable source of information:

1. the data should be collected immediately after task performance, when the
subject's memory is still fresh;
2. the subjects should be provided with contextual information to activate their
memories;
3. all the information asked for must be directly retrievable;
4. the information asked for should relate to speciﬁc problems;
5. to minimize research bias no leading question should be asked;
6. The subjects should not be informed that they will be asked for retrospective
comments until after the task is completed (Poulisse et a1., 1987: 217).

All these characterizations were followed during collecting data via
interviews, which were conducted immediately after the writing sessions and
stimulus recall, except item six was not followed because it was important to inform

the subjects about the purpose of the study.

 

 

 

41

The purpose of a face-to-face interview with the subjects and teachers of
English as a second language was to establish strong assertions about writing
problems encountered by some Saudi graduate students when they write in English.
These interviews were designed to obtain background information about the
subj ects' previous writing experiences both in English and Arabic.

The interviews were conducted with the general interview guide approach
(Patton, 1990), which involves outlining a set of issues to be explored with each
subject. The goal of this method was to obtain common information from each
subject. The guide served as a basic checklist during the interview to ensure that
relevant topics were covered. Weiss (1994: 65) argued that researchers should
observe several points in any type of interview. First, the interviewer and the
interviewee (respondent) must work together to produce information useful to the
research project. The interviewer must deﬁne the areas for exploration and monitor
the material’s quality. The respondent provides external and internal observations,
accepting the interviewer's guidance regarding the topic and the kind of report
needed. The interviewer must not ask questions out of idle curiosity. The questions
designed for this study included such topics as the subjects' duration of studying
English and their writing habits in Arabic and in English. (see appendix C).

There appears to be some disagreement among scholars about determining
the validity of data collected from interviews. Atlas (1980) termed this kind of data
"weak" because he felt it depended on the accuracy of the students' self-knowledge.
Odell, Goswami and Herrington (1983: 228) believed interviews could be used "to

identify the kinds of world knowledge and expectation that information brings to a

42

writing task." Such interviews gather descriptive data in the subjects' own words so
that the researcher can develop insights on how subjects interpret their own actions.

Interviews help the researcher obtain direct quotations that reveal the
subjects’ depth of emotion, the manner in which they organize their world, their
thoughts about what is happening, their experiences and their basic perceptions
(Patton, 1990: 24). In addition to the students’ interviews, ESL teachers were also
interviewed. Once the two subjects completed their ﬁrst fourteen-week session at
the English language center of the midwest university, the teachers were interviewed
by the researcher (see appendix C) to obtain information about the subjects’
progress. The teachers were asked for their opinions about the subjects in particular
and Arabic-speaking students in general. They were considered important sources
of information about the difﬁculties that Saudi graduate students usually encounter
when they communicate in English through writing.

What is signiﬁcant in data collection is the methodological combination of
writing samples, observation and student and teacher interviews. This combination
was selected as the most valid and practical for the research to ensure minimal
interference with the subjects’ ongoing writing. The combination of these tools was
deliberately chosen for the present study to obtain a complete picture of the
composition process that the subjects of this study experienced. Stimulated recall
has been used in productive research with ESL students and native speakers of
English and has been demonstrated to be effective and useful research tool. The

following section provides in detail the analytical procedure employed by this study.

43

3.4 Analytical Procedure

Although no absolute rules exist for analyzing case-study data, the
researcher adhered to a number of guidelines and suggestions, adapting them to ﬁt
the study’s speciﬁc situation.

Yin (1984) suggested two strategies for qualitative data analysis: relying on
theoretical propositions and developing a case description. The ﬁrst is to follow the
theoretical propositions that led to the study; the second is to develop a descriptive
framework for organizing the case study. For this study both methods were followed
to analyze the data.

Theoretical propositions about the L2 composition process were not
consistent. One reason for the lack of a concrete L2 composition theory was the
diversity of factors, such as language, culture and age involved in L2 composing.
However, the propositions that dominated the L2 composition theory include
differences between the composing processes of native speakers and normative
speakers of English, and the interaction of L1 and L2 during L2 composing. These
recent L2 writing propositions will be used when analyzing this study.

As a descriptive framework, pattem-matching (i.e., matching variable ﬂows
to other cases with similar outcomes (Miles and Huberman, 1984: 200)) is one of
the most suitable strategies for case-study data analysis (Campbell, 1975; Miles and
Huberman, 1984; Patton, 1990; Yin, 1984). In analyzing problematic factors of L2
writing difﬁculties encountered by Saudi students, an effort was made to locate any
pattern that occurred in the subj ects' composing processes. If found, such patterns

and similarities of behaviors were reported in detail. In case studies each case is

44

equally important; in this study each case was analyzed separately. The results were
interpreted at the single-case level and were treated as one of several factors in
pattern matching. Yin (1984) emphasized that “each individual case study consists
of a 'whole' study, in which convergent evidence is sought regarding the facts and
conclusions for the case; thus each case's conclusions are then considered to be the
information needing replication by other individual cases” (p. 52).

Since the main focus of this study was to investigate the problematic factors
of L2 writing problems encountered by the two Saudi students, the following
procedure was used. First, time spent in each composition stage was recorded and
compared to what language teachers and researchers found to be plausible. Second,
during the stimulated-recall interview, each subject was asked to indicate whether he
had gone through the various stages (planning, editing, etc.) while writing. Third,
ﬁndings were sought from the three sources (i.e., stimulated recall, teacher
interview and student interview).

The English and Arabic essays were judged throughout the study by three
raters: the researcher, who evaluated the products of both the Arabic and English
essays; a native Arabic speaker, who evaluated the Arabic essays and a native
speaker of English who evaluated the English essays.

All essays (Arabic and English) were typed by the researcher before
submitting them to the raters “as the subject’s idiosyncratic handwriting might affect
the rater’s judgment on the quality of the essays” (Pennington and So (1993: 50).
All essays were judged by the raters in both languages for: 1) content and

organization, 2) rhetoric and language use and 3) mechanics and grammatical

45

construction.

Alderson, et al. (1995) insisted that for a writing evaluation to be effective
raters have to be trained in how to evaluate and judge the writing of the students
using speciﬁc criteria. Therefore, the researcher trained the two raters in how they
would evaluate the essays, and to ensure that evaluation would be accurate each
essay was evaluated on a ﬁve-points scale in each area (i.e., ﬁve-points for content
and organization, ﬁve-points for rhetoric, and ﬁve-points for grammatical
construction). So if the main idea of the essay was not clear to the raters then they
assigned this essay a number less than ﬁve based on the clarity of the idea, and the
same thing was done with the other parts of the rhetorical knowledge (introduction,
conclusion, support, cohesion, cohesive device) and grammatical construction
(sentence order, subj ect-verb agreement, word usage, punctuation, vocabulary,
articles and spelling). So the total of points (15 or less) was divided by three. Thus
if the essay received two points or less out of ﬁve then this writing was assessed as
poor, and if it received three points or higher then the writing was assessed as good
(See Appendix S, p. 306).

After completing the training session all raters were given the essays that
were assigned to them (the English native speaker was asked to rate the English
Essays only, the Arabic native speaker was asked to rate the Arabic essays only and

the researcher rated all essays (Arabic and English)). to evaluate them.

Chapter Four

Analysis and Results

This chapter presents the results of data analysis based on the research
questions presented by the study. Using the methods and procedures of qualitative
case study described in Chapter Three, the ﬁndings have been disclosed through a
series of explorations using the research questions as the primary focal points. The
study explored factors attributed to the writing problems presented in this chapter
and provided some of the solutions suggested in Chapter Five. In this chapter a
discussion of each question is presented; the ﬁndings are organized into four
sections corresponding to the four research questions:

1. An analysis relevant to Research Question 1: What writing
process do the students use? Additionally, is there anything in their
writing process that causes problems for the ﬁnal product? A vivid
description of the nature of the problems is provided in this section.

2. An analysis pertaining to Research Question 2: What is the
students’ linguistic knowledge about English writing before and after
they start ESL learning? An analysis of the linguistic knowledge
students acquired before ESL training and the knowledge they gained
after ESL training is contained in this section.

3. An analysis pertaining to Research Question 3: To what
extent do subjects produce Arabic and English writing while observing
the audience and the rhetorical structure of Arabic and English before

and after they begin ESL learning?

46

47

4. An analysis related to Research Question 4: How does
instruction affect the students’ writing product and process after ESL

training?

48

 

Research Question 1 stated: What writing process do the subjects use?
Additionally, is there anything in their writing process that causes problems for
the ﬁnal product? This study examined the English and Arabic essays written by
the two subjects of this study and found some problems existed in the writing
process which caused poor ﬁnal writing products. These problems occurred
during the three writing stages of prewriting, drafting, and revising. The
following section is a description of these problems.

This section attempts to answer the question “What writing process do the
subjects use?” followed by an investigation of the process problems that often
cause a poor product.

It is important to note that before addressing the ﬁrst part of the question,
the process of writing presented in this study was not always similar to the writing
process that might have occurred in other studies since the subjects do not
represent the whole of Saudi students learning English for academic purposes.

“What writing process do the subjects use?” is a question that was
carefully investigated in this study. During stimulated recall students were asked
to explain how they wrote before they started their ESL training and whether their
writing process changed after ESL training. In addition, during observation the
researcher paid attention to the different stages the subjects adopted when they

wrote.

49

In stage one, which occurred before instruction, subjects were asked to
explain how they write in English, and what various things that they did to
complete their writing. Observation and stimulus recall indicated that the subjects
ﬁrst read their English prompts carefully, decide how to approach their prompts
and then start writing:

[I think you know that when you hand
over the question, I ﬁrst read it
carefully, then decide which is the best
way to enter into the topic and what I
have to do, then I start writing]
(Ahmed, E1 Stimulus Recall, p.220)

The researcher asked the subjects to explain in more detail what they did
when they wrote in English. They indicated that they read the prompt ﬁrst,
decided what they would write about (planning) and ﬁnally began writing. They
also indicated that they revised while they wrote their essays.

During stage one subjects were asked to tell the researcher about their
Arabic writing and how they wrote. Suliman indicated that he read the prompt
ﬁrst, determined if he had any information he wanted to present to his readers, and
then began writing. He believed that reading his entire essay two or three times
before writing the ﬁnal part was helpful:

[Writing to me is not like anything else.
I usually write in one way. First I have
to prepare myself in terms of
information. If what I need to write
about is a question, then I have to read
the question and then make sure
everything which is related to it is
available, then I have to start reading

and also it is recommended to read and
read and read the topic before I ﬁnish

50

it. Then make my essay complete by
supplying the readers with a summary
about the whole article. ] (Suliman, AI
Stimulus Recall, p. 276).

Data analysis indicated that the subjects wrote their Arabic essays in a
fashion similar to their English essays, as they followed the same writing stages.
During observation, the researcher noted that the subjects read their Arabic and
English prompts before they started writing, thought about what they should do
before they actually started writing (pre-writing activities) and then wrote “... I am
drinking what should I write and how” (Ahmed, Stimulus Recall, El , p. 209).
They did not allow time for revision after they completed their essays, but revised
as they wrote.

Once the subjects completed their ESL training, the researcher asked the
same question “How do you write?” He found that the subjects learned some
writing techniques that helped them improve in terms of their writing process.
Moreover, his English writing was affected by the instruction that he received
while enrolled in ESL training (See section 4.1.1. in this chapter).

However, it appeared that three different writing stages existed.
Prewriting, was deﬁned as “the period of time between receiving the assigmnent
and the commencement of writing on paper” (Stallard, 1974) and planning, which
was a prewriting activity, “the ability to recognize or set goals strategic skills, and
skills in monitoring, evaluating and repairing strategies” (Scholmick and Friedman

1987). Planning is also deﬁned as “a deliberate representation and strategic

evaluation of anticipated outcomes and behavioral sequences designed to deal with

51

them.” (De Lisi, 1987). Writing (drafting) is the realization of a complete
integration of what goes on in the writer’s cognition and what appears on paper.
Revising is deﬁned by Stallard (1974) as “corrections, changes, addition to, or in
relationship to what was originally written.”

This section investigates the writing problems that cause students to
produce writing of poor quality. The investigation is divided into three parts:
What do the subjects do before they write (prewriting)? What do they do while
they are writing (actual writing)? What do they do once they ﬁnish writing
(revising)?

The researcher observed the subjects while they wrote their essays. He saw
that the subjects employed three different writing stages-- prewriting, writing and

revising. During the ﬁrst stage of this study, the subjects did not demonstrate all

of these stages, but after completing their ESL training, they began exercising

these stages.

The following describes of these three stages and explains the

development and changes that subjects went through from stage to another.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ahmed Suliman
Stages Essay *Preowritin'g j . ISnifﬁng- Revising ' _ , Che-drafting ' Drafting :Revis; ; j , _
Stage 1 Al no planning one draft inprocess no planning one draft anrocess revision
revrsron
.51 noplanning‘ ‘1‘, 1‘ madman” V inprocess g' q no planning" * " ”Onedra'it’lnprocess revision"
Stage 2 A2 no planning two drafts inprocess no planning one draft lnprocess revision
revrsron
£2 . partial planning ,oneidrait : Linprocess'j (tr-pamatplanning r‘twot'dra‘itg‘lanSrrevisiona
_ j' prevrsron. .......... . 7“,”,
Stage 3 Al-R no planning one draft inprocess planning one draft ﬁnal draft
revrsron revrswn
El-R” jno planning _ onedraft" . final ' . gpartiat planning ohédraft ”ﬁnal . '- draft
revision “ ‘ revision

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE ONE. IDENTIFYING SUBJECTS WRITING PROGRESS DURING THE STUDY STAGES IN ENGLISH AND
ARABIC LANGUAGES

 

52

4.1.1 Prewriting
Evidence gathered from ﬁeld notes, data analysis, teacher and student
interviews and stimulus recall indicated that before starting their ESL training the
subjects, did not display any prewriting activities before they wrote, other than
reading the prompt. Once they were exposed to ESL training, they began to
consider other strategies. At the prewriting level , as Table One indicates, the
subjects did not plan in either L1 or L2 or provide any prewriting activities before
they started writing in stage one. When they were interviewed before beginning
their ESL training, the subjects were asked “What does planning mean to you?
What kinds of planning do you do before you write?” (See Appendix C Question
7). They indicated that planning theoretically was important, but they did not
practice it:
- [Planning you mean how to
approach the answer of the question or the
topic that assigned for me .. I think anything
in this life needs planning, but in writing ..
yet it is important, but, to be honest, I did
not get used to it. We need, as students, to
learn the best ways to approach writing. I
love writing but I feel that I am not yet
writing in a good manner. ] (Ahmed,
Interview E1, p. 250).
- [I like to make a plan, but it isa
matter of organization. I never write with a
complete plan, but I feel it is important.
Noboay taught us how to make plan of
writing in Saudi Arabia, but I feel it is
important. ] (Suliman Interview E1, p. 289)

The same situation occurred with Arabic writing. The subjects did not use

any plan when they wrote during the ﬁrst stage (A1). When Suliman was asked

53

about planning in his Arabic writing (“Do you think that planning before writing is
important? Why or why not?”), he answered:

[If it is my native language and the
topic that .1 am writing about is a familiar
topic to me, then I think there is no need to
plan, because the ideas and ways are clear
to me. But if you ask me to write about the
life in Lansing before I came to America, I
will sit down and think about the ideas that I
will use in my writing] (Suliman, Interview
Al , p. 298).

The subjects did not adopt planning when they wrote. Although they felt
that planning was important (“I felt it is important to be learned and used”
(Ahmed, Stimulus Recall, E1, p. 210)) little attention was paid to it, so they did
not adopt planning as a writing strategy.

Stage two of this study revealed that subjects changed this behavior.
During E2 it was noted that Suliman learned how to plan after he was exposed to
ESL training, which indicated that he realized its importance when the ELC

teachers emphasized it:

- [Planning is like a shopping list, it
gives you direction where to go in your
thoughts. I learned in America how to write
using guidelines and points before I do my
actual writing] (Suliman’s Stimulus
Recall E2, p. 265)

Ahmed felt that planning enhanced writing and made it more organized.
He explained that when he was asked during the stimulus recall why he paused
many times during his writing, he answered that he was unable to decide what to

write next. He said if he had planned he would not have paused.

54

- [Making a plan before
writing is no doubt a good way for learners.
I believe that planning is the best way to
produce a well organized essay with little or
no weakness. ] (Ahmed Stimulus Recall, E2
p. 227 )

Ahmed was asked about his methods of planning and their importance as
indicated in the following question, “What are the most important strategies you
learned in approaching writing?” (See Appendix 02 Question 4). He replied that
he learned that planning before writing is a useful method for the writers:

- [There are many things that I
think I had learned ﬁom my studying in the
English Language Center. One thing is that
it is important for you before you write to be
aware of your writing and what you will do
before you approach it. My writing before I
came to America was not that good. I
learned that I should write a list of ideas
which I will use in the topic that I will write
about, which is known as organizing idea or
prewriting. I think I am ready to use
prewriting @lanning) in my ﬁiture writing].
( Interview, Ahmed E2, p. 25 7)

Both subjects did not employ planning as a writing strategy before they
came to America, but they later had the belief that pre-draﬁing (reading, planning
and focusing on the prompt before starting the actual writing) was important after
they began ESL training. They intend to use planning in the future for both Arabic
and English writing assignments. Suliman said:

I am sure what I have learned in ELC
classes will help me write well in English
and Arabic, it is important for us [Saudis to
adopt this knowledge when we write in

Arabic (Suliman, Stimulus Recall, E2, p.
255).

55

When the subjects completed their ESL training, they began to use
planning, but not extensively. They planned only partially (i.e., planned how to
begin writing only then wrote a few sentences as a brainstorm before they actually
started the writing), but changed their plans when they began writing. For
example, Suliman completed the planning process when he wrote his Al-R (a
revised copy of his Al). He began by writing about an idea (the importance of his
house location) and drawing a line from that idea, then creating a sub-idea from
the main idea (the adjacency of the shopping center to his house). Once he was
engaged in the actual writing process, he changed his mind and did not write about
the shopping center, which he planned to write about to support his idea that his
house is in good location, but instead he wrote about his neighbor, which also
support his idea that his house is in good location. This change of ideas indicated
that they do not adhere to a speciﬁc plan, but rather, they changed their minds
according to the topic about which they write..

During the observations it was noted that the subjects spent a relatively
long time reading and thinking about the prompts to which they were asked to
respond . They read the prompt carefully prior to their answers. Ahmed, for
example, spent 2.35 minutes reading the prompt, and preparing himself to write
E1 (see Appendix S, for more details). Suliman spent two minutes reading,
interpreting and preparing himself to write E1 (prewriting) before he started the
actual drafting, even though he failed to understand the prompt. The prompt

asked the subjects to “Describe a school you have previously attended

56

(university, secondary school, or elementary school)” Instead of choosing one
individual school to write about, Suliman wrote about three schools, believing he
had been asked to write about his university, secondary and elementary schools.
However, the time that they spent before they started writing indicated that they
did not pay much attention to prewriting activities.

In the stimulus recall when asked why he wrote about three schools
instead of one, Suliman answered “This is what is the question about.” After he
read it again with the researcher’s help, he realized that what he wrote was not
what the information requested. Suliman realized the meanings of “a” in “a
school,” and the meaning of “or” in the prompt.

The subjects indicated that the way they approached writing was not
systematic. They felt it was important for the student learning English in Saudi
Arabia to be aware of all writing techniques, including prewriting activities.
Suliman considered planning an essential part of his composing process:

- [You know, I was writing without any guide
lines, which made my writing seem unclear,
unfocused, and many times far away from
my points, but once I realized that writing
is not putting ink 'on paper, but a way of
expressing myself and talking to people. I
think that writing without planning is not
adequate. ] (Suliman’s Stimulus Recall, E1-
R, P. 269).

During the teacher interview, planning issues were not directly raised, but
the teachers were asked how they taught writing. They answered that they

emphasized the concept of prewriting activities when they taught writing. They

trained their students to practice such techniques when they wrote:

57

I do focus a lot on content. I am process
oriented and I like to do some pre-writing
activities .. Then do exercises with the

kinds of things that they’ll need to do for
the, whatever the assignment is. But they

do that before they write that, so before
they get to the writing they have content.
You know they made notes about it,
thought about it, um (Ahmed ’s Teacher
Interview, p. 206).

Subjects did not practice prewriting activities during the ﬁrst stage (before
they were exposed to ESL training). After both subjects began their ESL classes,
they practiced some sort of prewriting activities (stage two). Suliman practiced
pre-writing activities when he wrote his AI -R (a revision of A1).

Interestingly, stage three of this study indicates that subjects’ exposure to
ESL training affects their understanding of prewriting techniques. Suliman’s A1-
R was completed by going through the three process stages. He started his Al-R
essay by reading the entire essay. Then be outlined the main ideas he wanted to
explore in his Al-R essay. Finally, he started writing following his outlines that
he had prepared.

An analysis of the prewriting activities indicated that the subjects did not
employ prewriting activities such as planning before they began their ESL
learning. They viewed planning as an important act of prewriting, but did not
apply it. This suggests that there was a gap between knowledge and practice.

However, after the subjects completed their ESL training (stage two), it appeared

that they had learned how to employ planning in English and Arabic writing.

58

Their Arabic writing was affected by what they had learned in their ESL training
as they indicated during the stimulus recall (p. 256).

4.1.2 Drafting
Data analysis showed that subjects faced writing problems when they
wrote in English, because of the way they drafted. All essays except Ahmed’s A2
and Suliman’s E2 were written after only one draft. During stage one, when asked
“How many drafts in Arabic languages do you usually write before you submit
your ﬁnal paper?” (See Appendix C Question 10), the subjects thought that one
draft was enough and it was not necessary to write more drafts.

- [It is not important to write more
than one copy (draﬁ) because if I am able to
express myself in one copy (draft) then it is
not necessary to use another copy (draﬁ).]
(Suliman Interview, AI p. 299)

[The most important is to pay attention to
the message that you need your readers to
understand. So if you can deliver that
message in one draﬁ then do, but if you feel
it is necessary for you to write more than
one draft then do.... I usually use one draft,
but as I told you if 1 need more than one I
will do] (Suliman, Interview A1, p. 299)

These subjects indicated that writing one draft was sufﬁcient if the idea
was clearly presented in the ﬁrst draft. Other drafts were needed if the idea was
not clear.

[Well, I am sure that it is important for me
to express my ideas whether in one copy
(draft) or more. But we should put into our
minds that it is not easy for students to
write more than one copy (draft), because
they need time to think about the right

59

answer, organize ideas and seek samples
and supports. It is more diﬂicult to write
more than one copy (draft) for students
who write in a diﬂerent language than
theirs. (Ahmed E2 Stimulus Recall p. 224).

The time the subjects spent thinking which words would ﬁt the idea that
they wanted to express made it difﬁcult for them to write another draft, because
choosing the words took most of the time allowed. The choice of vocabulary
prevented the subjects ﬁom submitting more than one draft.

I have diﬁ‘iculties ﬁnding appropriate
vocabulary and tenses, which make it
diﬁ‘icult for me to ﬁnd time to copy my
writing in diﬂerent papers. ] (Ahmed E2
Stimulus Recall p. 224).

In addition, the subjects usually paused while drafting to read the entire
essay. In El Ahmed spent approximately four minutes pausing in different places
while writing to read what he had written, then either made changes or continued
to write. For example, he added the words “there are” during the actual writing
process. If he discovered that something was missing from his essay, he added the

words needed to enhance his writing.

“and in the secand ﬂourfl'ow class, to fourth class
(Ahmed El, p. 176).

When asked why he did that, Ahmed answered that it was a sort of revising
process.

As the subjects indicated during the stimulus recall, students in Saudi
schools do not experience many writing activities. The writing process is not

taught in the classroom. Subjects experienced difﬁculties during the English

60

writing because they never engaged in many writing activities in their education.
Instead they learned grammar and vocabulary. One reason for this type of
teaching according to Ahmed, is that the Arabic language is used in all classes. In
the English class, the teacher instructed his students to write short paragraphs:

[1 think it is important to note that we never

write in English. I was a student in HOME

UNIVERSITY, but the amount I write here in

the USA is much greater than the amount of

English that I wrote in Saudi Arabia. 1 think

it is because the subjects that we were

studying were in Arabic except English

Language, and the teacher in the English

course trained us to write short paragraphs]

(Ahmed Stimulus Recall E], p. 223)

In stage one all essays were completed in one draft, indicating that the
subjects did not employ the multidraft techniques that require writers to rewrite
their essays once they have completed the ﬁrst draft, then present it after
correcting and revising the ﬁrst draft.

In stage two an improvement occurred once the subjects felt their essays
required more than one draft. Before submitting his A2, Ahmed rewrote it,
revising out what he felt was unnecessary and correcting his mistakes. He did not
use more than one draft before he submitted his E2.

Ahmed commented that the reason he did not submit more than one draft
was the time factor. He felt that writing in a second language was not like writing

in a ﬁrst language, because he thought that he needed to search for suitable

vocabulary and to make sure that his sentence structures were grammatically

61

acceptable. All these factors prevented him from submitting more than one draft.
Suliman submitted his E2 after writing two drafts. He explain that:

[once I am writing in Arabic, I feel as if I

am talking. I am ﬂuent in my Arabic, so

there is no need to rewrite it, but it is

necessary to rewrite my English essays. ]

(Suliman Stimulus Recall E2, p.268)

The subjects, however, felt that their writing improved when they were
exposed to ESL training. This fact was noticeable during stage three, even though
they did not write more than one draft. According to the subjects, A1 and El were
ﬁrst drafts for AI -R and El -R respectively.

Generally speaking, the subjects believed that if the writer was able to
express himself clearly in one draft, there was no reason to rewrite another draft.
If the writer discovered out that the draft that he wrote was insufﬁcient in terms of
clarity and the message did not reach the reader, then the writer needed to submit
another draft. According to the analysis it was found that the subjects were did not
submit more than one draft of their English essays. One reason is that they spent a
long time searching for suitable vocabulary and expressions to express their ideas.
They edited while they wrote, which showed their writing process. These factors
prevented the subjects from submitting more than one draft.

4.1.3 Revising
As indicated in Chapter Three, the researcher stood behind the subjects while
they wrote, taking notes while the subjects were engaged in the process of writing.
During all composing stages (prewriting, writing and revising) the researcher

recorded any behavior displayed by the subjects while writing, such as using papers

62

different from those used to respond to the prompt, and their head and body
movements that may not have appeared on the videotape.

Field notes and data analysis indicated that the subjects revised their essay
while writing. During observation, the subjects paused while writing to read what
they had written, and sometimes crossed out words and/or added other words. To
determine if the subjects understood the concept of revision, they were asked to

explain what revision meant and how they revised.

What does revising mean to you? What
kinds of revising do you do after your
write? ” (Appendix C Question 8, p. 163)

- [Yes, I do revise, but I did not do it
after I ﬁnished writing. I stopped writing
some time during my writing and checked my
writing, and how ideas were connected to
each other. And if I have any mistakes or
unclear ideas I immediately change them. I
feel that I should not leave my writing
without changing] (Interview Suliman A1
p. 298).

Suliman’s answer indicated that revision was important to him in order to
generate ideas and strengthen his writing before continuing. Suliman said his
revision was a part of his writing process but not often he had ﬁnished writing.
Instead of allowing time to revise after putting all his ideas in the paper, Suliman
thought it was better for him to revise while he wrote. During the stimulus recall
after his ﬁrst English essay (El), when Suliman was asked why he stopped writing
and went back to read his previous writing, he answered:

[Writing is a way of telling people about

something. But it is good for the writer to
make sure that his writing is well connected

63

and with no mistakes. I believe that it is
good for the writer to pause ﬁ'om time to
time and read his writing, then correct it. ]

(Suliman, Stimulus Recall, El, p. 261).

It was noted that the writing process was similar with Arabic essays. The
subjects did not revise in both languages. Although they had completed their ESL
training and learned many writing techniques, including revision, the subjects still
revised while writing. Ahmed was asked: “Do you think that adopting English
writing techniques will enhance Arabic writing? Explain.” (See Appendix C3,
Question 5, p. 166). He answered

- [I learned many things ﬁom the English
Language Center, especially writing techniques.
One fact that I learned is being clear in your
writing, and to do that you have to plan you
writing, revise it and put it in the ﬁnal shape.
You know if you write a piece of writing and you
would like to make sure it is clear for your
readers, it requires that you check your writing.
In my schools I did not learn how to make
revision when I learned Arabic writing, because
nobody taught us writing techniques. Usually I
check my Arabic writing ﬁom time to time during
my writing, but I did not allow time for revising.
Here in the USA, I learned that to produce a
strong piece of writing, you need to allow time
for revision. I believe that writing techniques are
important. ] (Ahmed A2 Interview p. 245).

The subjects of this study do not revise after they ﬁnish writing; rather they
revise while they are writing. They stop writing, read their production and
correct what they feel is wrong. For example, Suliman stopped during the
actual writing to check his writing for two reasons: to join his ideas and to

make sure that what he wrote was correct in terms of grammar and spelling:

64

[I stop writing to make it clear for my
readers to understand what I am saying.
Making sure that what has been written is
grammatically correct and spelled in the
right way is important for making writing
clear. ] (Suliman Stimulus Recall E2, p.
265)

The subjects thought that writing instruction in their home country did not
emphasize the importance of revision. When they were exposed to ESL learning
they realized that reading over their papers after they ﬁnished gave them an
opportunity to correct any mistakes. Suliman indicated that he learned a great deal
about L2 writing:

[When I write I do it ﬁom my own point of
view as a writer, but when 1 read my own
writing I place myself in the readers ’
position, where I can say yes or no to what
is presented. However, I realize that
revising is an essential part of writing]
(Suliman, Stimulus Recall E1 -R, p. 271).

Ahmed’s experiences were similar as he thought that writing was not
something in his mind. When he started to write, it was his written ideas that
helped him generate other ideas. He felt that writing was something he had to

organize and he had to go back and forth to check his writing, pausing to read what

he had produced:

[Yes it is something that you need to learn
while you are writing. If you write about
your childhood, for example you can not be
aware of everything, but when you talk
about one thing, this thing may remind you
of the things that are related to it. ] (Ahmed,
Stimulus Recall, E1 p. 220).

65

To summarize, the subjects did not use prewriting activities until they were
exposed to ESL training. The subjects began exercising prewriting activities in E2
and Al-R, as indicated in Table One. Moreover, the data analysis showed that the
subjects did not produce more than one draft before their exposure to ESL training.
Once they were taught to produce more than one draft, they wrote more than one
draft as subject Ahmed did with A2 and subject Suliman with E2. It appears that
the subjects believed if ideas were expressed and presented in one draft then it was
not necessary to write a second draft. The subjects spent so much time choosing
vocabulary and expressions that they were prevented ﬁ'om being able to write
another draft. Finally, when the subjects were exposed to ESL training, they
indicated that they had learned the importance of revising, but they revised as they

wrote.

 

66

 

Research Question 2 stated: what is the subjects’ linguistic knowledge
about English writing before and after they begin ESL learning? The subjects
lacked much linguistic knowledge before they started their ESL learning, but
after their exposure to ESL training, they acquired a great deal of general
linguistic knowledge.

The following is an analysis pertaining to Research Question 2: What is the
students’ linguistic knowledge about written English before and after they begin
ESL learning? The areas of knowledge chosen for this study were the most
common areas of writing in both languages.

To measure students’ linguistic knowledge about English writing, three
methods were adopted. The ﬁrst was data analysis, mentioned in Chapter Three.
Three raters examined the essays and determined their levels (See Appendix E, p.
172). The second method was stimulus recall, which required the subjects to
explain and justify all the behaviors that occurred during writing. During the
stimulus recall each subject was asked about his knowledge of certain areas in
both languages. The third method was the interview, which was used with two
different subj ects-- the students and the ESL teachers. The students interviews
explored the subjects’ background in English writing knowledge and was
conducted immediately after each essay was completed. The teachers’ interviews

attempted to discover the knowledge that was acquired following ESL instruction.

67

4. 2. Linguistic Knowledge of written English

Before they started learning ESL, the subjects were aware of some
linguistic knowledge of written English. At the same time, they lacked knowledge
of many important issues necessary for learning to write well.

Data analysis showed this was the case before the subjects began ESL
training, but they gained a great deal of knowledge after they were exposed to ESL
training. The following section explains the lack of linguistic knowledge that
students experienced before they were exposed to ESL training and the knowledge
that they acquired when they completed their ESL training.

The linguistic areas chosen for this study although not complete were
indicated by the subjects during the interviews and the stimulus recalls. For
example, Ahmed said that it was not necessary for Arabic writers to observe
subj ect-and-verb agreement when they wrote in Arabic. He thought that the
Arabic subj ect-verb relationship could be used in English:

Q Do you consider the amount of
English that you learned in your home
university is enough to begin academic
courses here at an American university?

- [Among many things I feel that I do
need to learn the differences between
English and Arabic writing techniques.
The amount of English that I learned in my
country was not enough to begin graduate
studies. We do not know the differences
between the subject-verb relationship in
Arabic and English. Are they the same? or
does English subject-verb relationship have
specific rules. As you know an Arabic verb

does not need to agree with the subject in
number, and it is grammatical to say in

68

Arabic (he go or they go), therefore, I am
not sure if the same thing can be used in
English. ] (Ahmed, E1 interview, p. 254)

Ironically, the teachers felt that the subjects were unaware of the differences
between verbs and nouns. For example, Ahmed’s teacher noted that he had a
problem discriminating between verbs and nouns.

He seems to have a hard time getting words
in the right, the whole different noun with
the verb, getting all of the proper elements.
(Ahmed ’s teacher Interview p. 203)

Another area that the subjects felt was important for them to learn was
articles. Ahmed said that the articles in English were not easy to learn since they
did not resemble the Arabic article system and felt the only way to master English
articles was through practice. He remarked that the articles were especially
difﬁcult for Arab students:

[Of course, they [articles] are the most
diﬁ‘icult part in English. If 1 master article
usage with tense usage, English will be easy
enough to learn and master. ] (Ahmed,
Stimulus Recall, E1, p. 224)
4.2.1 Sentence Order
One area where the Saudi graduate students faced difﬁculty was sentence

order. In Arabic, two types of Arabic sentences exist:

VSO Eat Ali Oranges “Ali eats oranges.”
SVO Ali Eat Oranges “Ali eats oranges.”

A third type of sentence order is the serrri-sentence:

SO In the house a man. “A man is in the house.”

69

These sentences are basic knowledge for Saudi students. The Saudi
graduate students used these three types in their Arabic writing which, in turn, may
affect their English writing. They apply the ﬁrst two sentence types to their
English writing. For example, Ahmed wrote the following sentence:

Placed my school in Makka

In this sentence, which was written during stage one, Ahmed might follow
the Arabic pattern (V SO) by starting with the verb. This sentence may be a
translation of the Arabic sentence pattern. Instead of using an English sentence
pattern, he might have followed the Arabic VSO pattern. During stage one the
subjects lacked the knowledge of English sentence order before they began their
ESL training. When he was asked why he started his sentence with “placed,”
Ahmed replied:

- [You know if I need to give a clear
picture about my school then I should start
saying where it is located] (Ahmed
Stimulus Recall, El, p. 219)

His answer indicated that Amhed was unaware of the error he made when
he started with the verb instead of the subject, as required by the syntactic rules of
English sentence order. Unfortunately there was no question during the student
interview that asked about this certain linguistic item. The teacher mentioned
during her interview that Ahmed needed to learn the basic English sentence
structure. Ahmed’s teacher felt that Ahmed needed to learn many writing

techniques, including the difference between a verb and a noun and between

subject and object.

70

Q: How do you ﬁnd his [Ahmed] English
aﬁer exposure to ESL?

The other problems that he’s, he
just has a hard time, I think it ’s just the
basic, um, basics such as the verb-object
kinds of things so that he writes very long,
very spare, ﬁequently run-on sentences and
he misunderstands if it’s a verb or a noun,
how those get confused. (Ahmed ’s teacher
Interview, p. 202)

Ahmed’s teacher was also asked if Ahmed could differentiate between
nouns and verbs. She answered, “Quite often, which could be that there’s a lot of
words that he used that he doesn’t really know.”

During the second stage the subjects improved a great deal in this area.
The subjects understood the sentence order forms and used the correct sentence
order during the second or the third stage after ESL training. Interestingly, Ahmed
wrote his El-R and replaced “placed my school in Makka” with the following

sentence:

The location of this school is Saudi Arabia, Makkah, Almlay Street.
(Ahmed El-R, p. 178)

This example indicated that this subject apparently learned that English
sentences use a different order from that used in Arabic. In his El essay Ahmed
started with a verb, but when he revised it essay after being exposed to ESL
training, he found that his previous sentence was incorrect and he replaced it with
the correct sentence.

Sentence order is important linguistic knowledge for students must learn.
The subjects in this study did not have this particular linguistic knowledge of

writing before they began their ESL classes. After they studied English in the

71

United States, the subjects learned the appropriate sentence order. This knowledge
is later reﬂected in their writing.
4.2.2 Tenses

The subjects indicated that the most difﬁcult task they faced was the
correct usage of verb tenses. Tenses are not used similarly in both languages.
During the stage one interviews, the subjects revealed that tense was not part of
their writing knowledge. They explained that when they were learning Arabic
composition, the emphasis was not on tense or organization. The most important
thing was how to use words or how to describe something. They claimed that in
order for students to learn writing they had to learn how to apply many rules of
grammar to their writing, such as verb and subject agreement and tense frames and
how to support their claims with examples.

During stage one, the subjects stated that they were facing problems with
English tense in their writing such as moving from one tense ﬂame to another
without proper transition, or leaving the verb without a tense mark. For example:

I attended it since 1980, and its [it’s] a governmental school as any
elementery schools in Saudi Arabia, and in this stage, I start studying English
Language, because in Saudi Arabia, the English Language study start from the
elementery school, and in this stage also, I met with deferent students. (Suliman’s
Essay E1, p. 179)

In this sentence Suliman started his essay with a past tense verb (1 attended
...), then started his next sentence with a simple present verb (1 start ...), He

returned to simple past tense (I met). This mix of tenses might indicate that he

needs to learn more about the tense usage in English writing.

72

When asked why tense is a difﬁcult problem Saudi students face, Suliman
replied that there is a gap between what they learn in school and what students
practice in real life. He believed that if students were able to use English outside
their classroom environment, they would be able to master the English language
(both oracy and literacy):

[I am positive if we are talking with our
ﬁiend we would master English. My brother '
works with the Saudi airline and they used to
talk in English, write in English and
communicate using English He is English in
everything even his thinking. He breathes in
English therefore, he never faces any writing
difficulty when he communicates in English.
So, if we have the same opportunity, nothing
will be diﬂicultJ (Suliman, E1 Stimulus
Recall, p. 263)

The same case can be made with Ahmed. His tense errors may indicate that
he still needs to learn more about tense usage in English writing. Ahmed wrote his
El with many tense errors.

I studed my Eelementery study at Abdulah Ebn Masaud school that 20 yers
ago. Placed my school in Makkh, Saud arabia, AlMalaway street that a school
had four flour. in the ﬁrst ﬂour thes school Manejar, and in the secand ﬂour
there are Two class, to fourth class, and ﬁveth class, . and there is one class in

‘ therf class for sexth class. in the fourth ﬂour to third class, second class and ferist
cass.there are also sevarel of the othear in my school for a scines diffrant.

that school was studeis, Quran, Math, Hostary specially the Eslamic
Hostory, Geography, and Hadith. Or any thingof Eslam . My school seem to be
useful I go to the school from, saven in the morning to one ore tow in afternoon.
Some time before that. I thin got to many usvol from that school.

(Ahmed E1 p. 176).

During the second stage, the same problem was still unresolved, even after
- ﬁfteen weeks of exposure to training in ESL. In the evaluation of their English

essays, the subjects appeared to make some improvement, but the tense errors that

73

appeared in their E2 and El-R essays indicate that they still need to learn tense
usage in writing English essays. The following is an example of a tense error
during the second stage:

One of ﬁ'iends, he come from, bakstan came

to makkah for a Jop but, while he living in

Makkah sometime, he said me .. (Ahmed,

E2, p. 177)

Ahmed does not apply tense knowledge when he writes English essays.
For example, in his E2 he started his paragraph with simple present tense, moved
to simple past tense without proper transition, then suddenly used the continuous
before returning to simple past tense. The difficulty with subject-verb agreement
that this subject faced illustrates difﬁculties encountered when using and
understanding the roles of English tenses.

In stimulus recall, Ahmed was asked to tell the researcher about writing
problems he experienced. He replied that the most important task for second-
language students is to master all the grammatical rules before they can produce
English writing perfectly.

[You know English is not like Arabic,
therefore I think it is important for us as
second language learners to master and
understand all the grammatical rules before
any thing else. ] (Ahmed, E2, p. 226)

During stage three the tense problem remains. The subjects still produce
essays with grammatical errors, especially tense errors. The following essay

illustrates that they need to master tense usage in English.

When I was a child, nearly between 6 and 12 years, I was
studing in Elementery school.

74

The location of this school is saudi arabia, Makkah,
Almalay street. The school was called (Abdulah Abnmasaud) it
was consist of 4 ﬂours and it was 6 class. in each ﬂour has 2 class,
and the other ﬂour was spicail for the tetchers and the
admnestration oﬁce. all the tetchers and student were forom
Saudi arabia. an all of them were men, as will as this school was
onther things. For example, small restrant and spicial place for the
football and basket ball. however we werent very hapy becaus we
couldn’t go out the school during the rest ore breaks betwan the
classes, becaus that wasn’t allow. I cant rembar all thing about
that school but I can say “I hav buteful rembers about it) (Ahmed
El-R, p. 17 8 )

Suliman thought that one reason why he did not use correct tense when he
wrote was that he had not learned the rule in his home-country schools:

What is the best way, in your

opinion, to resolve English writing
diﬂiculties?
- [I admitted that my country ’3
education system did not provide us with
strong tools to be good writers. I remember
in composition classes we spent so much
time learning how to write about the desert,
or describe our street, schools, and houses,
or talk about our ﬁ'iends and relatives. We
do not have guide lines of how we should
observe time line [T ENSE ] or use many
grammatical techniques when we write. ]
(Suliman Interview E1 p. 298).

From the above discussion, it appeared that the subjects encountered many
grammatical problems before they came to the USA. After ﬁfteen weeks of ESL
training, they still did not employ the English tense usage properly, which
emphasizes the need for ﬁirther development of this particular linguistic structure.

4.2.3 Subject-and-verb Agreement
During stage one, the subjects did not demonstrate that they observed

subj ect-and-verb agreement. They recalled that they were attempting to adopt

75

many linguistic rules from Arabic grammar and to match them with English.
However, they were aware of subject-and-verb relationship in Arabic.

Arabic is unlike English in the way verbs agree with subjects and most of
the students know the difference between feminine and masculine in Arabic verbs.
For example, Ahmed wrote in A1:

2:5 UP
Manzulna Kabeer.
House -our large
Our house is large
(Ahmed, AI, p. 184)
Suliman wrote another sentence using a feminine verb

Madrasatuna Kabeerah
School -our Large
Our school is large.
(Suliman, A2, p. 191)

The same verb (Kabeer) is used twice with two different usage. In the ﬁrst
example the verb is used with “house,” which is considered masculine in Arabic.
In the second example the same verb is used with “school,” which is considered
feminine. This knowledge is clear to the subjects, unlike English verb-subject
agreement, which seemed to be problematic for the two Saudi graduate learners.
In a sentence like

My school seem to be useful.
(Ahmed E1, p. 176)

Ahmed failed to observe the verb agreement. Instead he might use his

previous knowledge about the usage of an Arabic verb and tried to drop the

76

feminine device, using the masculine (which requires no preﬁxes or sufﬁxes to the

root of the verb).

The subjects themselves thought that subj ect-verb agreement was new
linguistic knowledge that they were exposed to for the ﬁrst time in their learning:

[You know we were exposed to a lot of
things and it is not easy to learn and
remember everything that I have learned. I
think subject-verb agreement is a new thing
for me. But I am not positive] (Ahmed, E1
Stimulus Recall, p. 224)

[They taught me that [Subject-verb
agreement], but I am not able to use this

knowledge here] (Suliman, E1 Stimulus
Recall, p. 263)

This linguistic knowledge of writing is an important part of learning writing
and the subjects felt that it was important for them to gain this particular writing
knowledge. However, in stage two of this study, the subjects were asked to write
another English essay to see to what extent they had improved in terms of
linguistic knowledge. Ahmed’s essay writing indicated that he had not yet
improved in this particular item, but he, as he described is learning:

[ I am diﬁ'erent than before. I can write
English with little hesitation. I can talk with

other people and understand what they say. ]
(Ahmed, Stimulus Recall, p 225)

Also, the data analysis indicated that Suliman has improved to some extent.
He has learned how to apply subject-verb agreement in his writing and indicated
that subj ect-verb agreement became part of his knowledge when he commented:

[I recall that I was asked to produce good
sentences which are clear and

77

grammatically acceptable. In my country,
teachers were not that excellent in teaching.
The emphasis was not on the grammatical
parts, but was in how you paraphrase a
sentence or summarize a paragraph. They
taught us some grammatical rules, but there
was not much emphasis. But the situation is
diﬂerent here in the USA. I felt as if I am
thinking, writing, and working with an
English brain] (Suliman Stimulus Recall,
E2 p. 265 )

Stage three indicated that the subjects had learned and improved and
teachers felt that the subjects had improved slightly, but had not yet mastered
English writing. Ahmed’ teacher felt that at the beginning of his learning in the
USA, Ahmed was the lowest student in her class in terms of grammatical
knowledge:

Q: Now, after almost ﬁfteen weeks of
teaching, how do you ﬁnd Ahmed, How do
you evaluate his English?

Ahmed is the lowest in my class in terms of
knowledge of English, and in terms of _
comprehension and um, grammar that he
wasn’t really familiar with .. Now his
writing has gotten much longer. (T eachers'
Interview, p. 202)

It is obvious that the subjects did not apply the usage of subject-verb
agreement before they were exposed to ESL training, even though it was part of
the English grammar that they learned in their home country. They attributed this
weakness to the way they were taught English in their home country. However,
when they were exposed to ESL training here in the USA, they started to realized

the importance of this linguistic phenomenon. They began to apply it although not

consistently.

78

4.2.4 Vocabulary

Another area examined in this study was the level of vocabulary that the
subjects acquired during the period before and after they were exposed to ESL
learning. It was found that Ahmed had a small English vocabulary, and had many
writing problems because of this deﬁciency before he began ESL training.

In the coding writing behavior chart (See Appendix S, p. 160), it appeared
that Ahmed spent a long time pausing in E1 compared to the time that he paused
in A1. For example, he spent 4.00 minutes in E1 and 3.37 minutes in Al. When
he was asked why he spent such a long time drinking before he wrote a sentence,
Ahmed replied:

- [It is not easy to write a word if you
do not know what its meaning is. I spent all
this time trying to ﬁnd a word which ﬁts the
appropriate meaning of the ideas that I want

to express. ] (Ahmed, E1 stimulus recall
p.219).

He indicated that he avoided expressing ideas that he thought would ﬁt
what he was writing about because he did not know the right word or the right
expression. It appears that limited vocabulary may be one cause for leaving out
many ideas in the development of his writing .

Suliman did not experience the same writing problems in English, because
he, as he described his writing, has not faced any difficulty choosing vocabulary
when he writes.

Data analysis and observation indicate that Ahmed found it difﬁcult to

choose vocabulary while he wrote his English essays. For example he stated that

79

“[I have difﬁculties ﬁnding appropriate vocabulary and tenses, which make it
difﬁcult for me to ﬁnd time to copy my writing in different papers.]” (Ahmed E2
Stimulus Recall p. 224). Moreover, the teachers felt that vocabulary was an
important part of writing. Ahmed’s teacher felt that Ahmed had a serious problem

because of the limitations of his vocabulary:

Q: In what part of English do Saudi
student encounter the most diﬂiculty?

The two main problems I would say is
one that he has a rather limited vocabulary
and he refers to a dictionary, brings a
dictionary along and he oﬁen comes up with
very wrong words, because he ’s, you know,
just looking up some-- you know, he likes to
come up with more academic-sounding,
more, um, more speciﬁc vocabulary and it ’s
oﬁen wrong. So that ’s been one problem.
(Ahmed’s teacher, Interview, p. 203).

Ahmed indicated that he could not submit more than one draft in his
English writing because he did not have time to rewrite his essay. Most of his
time was spent thinking about the right words or what he should write to make his
ideas clear. In the stimulus recall (El-R p233), he admitted that:

- [You know, it is not easy for a person
to write in another language with
inadequate vocabulary. Before I came to
the USA I thought that I had enough
vocabulary to let me survive in this
community, but unfortunately, I was
mistaken]. (Stimulus Recall, El-R, p. 233).
It is obvious from the discussion in this section that vocabulary limitations

may be considered a writing problem that may prevent subjects from producing

good writing. It is clear that Ahmed has a limited vocabulary which prevented

80

him from producing good writing, while Suliman demonstrated that he had
acquired a large vocabulary which helped him to choose what words he likes. He
did not encountered difﬁculties with vocabulary.

4.2.5 Other Usage Problems

The subjects in this study indicated they did not use words correctly.
During stage one’s essay analysis, it appeared the subjects used many words in the
wrong places. For example, Ahmed wrote:

“The school manager” (The school principal)

Even after they completed their study, the students were still unaware of
the correct usage of many words. For example, Ahmed wrote: manager room
instead of “principal ofﬁce,” and Suliman wrote my “grade” instead of “my GPA.”
Such usage is considered incorrect, which might be attributed to the direct
translation from Arabic to English.

In Arabic, for example, the word “mudeer” means principal, manager,
director and mediator. However, because students do not know the equivalent
word to be used in this context, they used “manager” and “room” instead of
principal and office. When he was asked about why he used the word “mudeer”
instead of “principal,” Ahmed said:

[Manager means the person who
directs and supervises things, which

is manager or principal. ] (Ahmed,
Stimulus Recall, El, p. 224)

81

Ironically the subjects may translate words from Arabic and put them in
English context, and such translations led them to use many English words
incorrectly. For example:

one of my friends, he come frome [from] bakstan [Pakistan]carne to
Makkah for a Jop but, while he living in makkah some time, hgsajdmy “I
cann’t go back to bakstan [Pakistan], becaus I cann’t live a way from makkah.”
(Ahmed, E2 p. 177)

In this sentence the subject wrote “he said my” to mean “he told me.”
Because he did not know the right expression he might translate the meaning of
“he told me” using the same words used in Arabic to mean the same thing. He
tried to explain his idea, but he might translate directly from Arabic to English,
ending up using the wrong words to explain his idea. Another example showed

the need to learn the correct usage of words.

however he was not sleeped there [Jeddah].
(Ahmed, E2, p. 178)

When he was asked what this sentence meant, Ahmed indicated that he
wanted to say “he cannot spend the night in J eddah,” but instead he translated the
Arabic meaning to English, leading him to produce the wrong usage of English
words.

Suliman felt that word usage is an important factor of learning and
mastering any language. He indicated that he needed to understand the right way
to use English words correctly, which will make his writing sound English. He
stated that:

Q: What is the most difficult part in

English writing had you think that you need
to improve?

82

[There are many parts that I need to learn
and improve in English before I become
good writer. Learning vocabulary and its
diﬁiarent meanings and usage, mastering
English tenses and verbs, and understanding
what is suitable to English speakers, which
is not part of my language. You know I have
to understand how I can make my writing
appear in good shape...] (Suliman, El
Interview p. 308).

During the second stage there was little improvement as they did not fully
employ the right way of using English words. That, according to Suliman, needs
practice, and through practice such problems might resolved:

[You think I can understand all the used
words in few weeks, It it is my assumption
that learning is not by memorization, but by
practice] (Suliman, E2 Stimulus Recall, p.
269)

Do they encounter the same problems when they write in Arabic? To
answer this question, the researcher and the Arabic rater compared both Al-R and
E1 -R to investigate whether they encountered word choice problems in both
languages. The result indicated no problem noted in the Arabic essay. They used
the right words in the right place in Arabic, but they had not yet developed this
skill in the English essays.

Stage three indicated that the subjects did not employ the correct English
word usage. Teachers felt that word usage is one of the writing weaknesses that
Saudi graduate students demonstrated when they produce English writing.
Ahmed’s teacher indicated that he usually used a dictionary and sometimes chose

words that shared the same meaning, but were not suitable in the context in which

83

they were used. When asked about the problems that Ahmed faces when he writes
in English, she said:

Q: In what part of English do Saudi
student encounter the most difficulty?

The two main problems I would say is
one that he has a rather limited vocabulary
and he refers to a dictionary, brings a
dictionary along and he often comes up
with very wrong words, because he ’s, you
brow, just looking up some» you brow, he
likes to come up with more academic-
sounding, more, urn, more speciﬁc
vocabulary and it ’s often wrong. So that ’s
been one problem. (Ahmed’s teacher,
Interview, p. 203 ).

The lack of vocabulary may lead the subjects to use the wrong words in
wrong places. Ahmed’s teacher noted “ He [Ahmed] has a rather limited vocabulary
He has hard time getting words in the right form,” (Ahmed’s teacher interview, p.
203), and they may translate words ﬁ'om Arabic to English to ﬁt a certain usage as the
case of “mudeer.”

4.2.6 Punctuation

The Arabic language does not have a punctuation system, although Arabic
has borrowed the English punctuation system. According to Suliman’s A2
interview it seemed that Saudi schools do not emphasize use of punctuation in
their curriculums so students did not know the differences between individual
items in punctuation.

In the essays the subjects submitted for this study in the First Stage, it was

noted that students did not use periods or commas properly. Ahmed, for example,

84

did not end his ﬁrst paragraph with a period in El. Suliman put a comma before
any “and,” thinking that when “and” connects two sentences a comma is required

The third, my elementery sehQQl, it’s also located in Makkah at
AlMansour Street, I attended it since 1280, and its a governmental school
as any elementery schools in Saudi Azahia, and in this stage, I start
studying English Language, because in Saudi Arabia, the English Language
study start from the elementery seheel, and in this stage a159, I met with
deferent snidents, because they came from deferece areas in Makkah, and

this give me more experience in my life time, beeause, I was yong.
(Ahmed’s Essay, E1, p. 180).

It appeared that Suliman did not use periods. Instead he joined sentences
with “and” and a comma (run-on sentences). Such incorrect usage of commas
indicated that this subject had not mastered English punctuation.

During stage two subjects were facing the same problems of punctuation
and they indicated so themselves. Ahmed, said it is not easy for him to master

English punctuation. “It is a fact that I need time to know thatl should put a

comma here and a semicolon there.” (Ahmed’ Stimulus Recall (E2), p.227). The
teachers felt that it is still a problem for them to master English punctuation:

Q: How do Saudi graduate students
encounter problems different than other L2?

They understand a lot of what they read, but
trying to express themselves in the American
style of writing can be a big diﬁ‘iculty, so the
self-expression, focusing on one topic the
way the American rhetoric perceives to be
“correct” is a problem and then the
spelling, Wigs. (Suliman’s

teacher’s Interview Question # 7, p. 199)
The teachers admitted that one of the writing problems that the subjects

encountered may be attributed to punctuation. They felt that the subjects were not

85

yet developed in terms of using punctuation. In the teacher interview Suliman’s
teacher felt that:

Q: How do Saudi graduate students

encounter writing problems diﬁ’erent than

other L2 learners?

- Focusing on topics the way that the

American rhetoric perceives to be “correct ”

is a problem and then the spelling, the

mechanics, a lot of times just placing

commas in the wrong places and stuﬁr that

changes the meaning and so I think those

are obstacles. Those are things I think the

students themselves have identified

(Suliman’s Teacher’s Interview, p. 199 ).

Capitalization is a part of the mastery of punctuation and the subjects were

unable to master the usage of capitalization in their English writing as they left

many names uncapitalized. Ahmed in E2 wrote the following sentence:

where profet mohamed was born.
(Ahmed, E2, p. 178)

This subject did not capitalize the proper name of the prophet Mohammed,
because he was not aware of that usage. Moreover, he started a new sentence
without capitalizing the ﬁrst letter of that sentence.

all the teachers and student were forom saudi arabia.
an all of them were men, as will as this school was onther
thing
(Ahmed’ Essay E1, p. 178)

This sentence started with “all,” which must start with a capital letter,

according to the rules and regulations of the English punctuation. The name of the

country which was written in this sentence with no capital letter indicates that

Ahmed is unaware of this punctuation rule.

86

Interestingly, when both Al and A] -R were compared, it was found that
subjects were unable to master even the Arabic punctuation that they were

supposed to know as native speakers.

1435‘ 411.: a“— 534-" )0 as!“ “U“ J, till-u” q-Ui'
I)":u u-DJJ 41-551 ‘41-‘41 ‘5‘er ‘9'} cu, <3»
[fag—l Uﬂ/ilequWIJﬁJ/QJWIoﬁ gr"
.4195...” 4'59 squall

[Our previous house or our large house,
which is an apartment consisting of four
rooms, kitchen, living room and two baths
This apartment is located on the second ﬂoor
of the building which is located in the
Mabedah quarter in Mecca Al-
Mukarmah. (Ahmed, A1 p. ).

In this example, the subject did not use a period to end his ﬁrst sentence,
even though he put a period in the second sentence. The reasons, according to the
two Arabic raters were that Arabic recently adopted English punctuation, and
schools do not give it much attention. .

4.2.7 Articles

Not unexpectedly, stage one revealed that subjects were unable to use
articles as required. During interviews and essay analysis it was found that the
subjects need to learn how to use the English articles system. One reason for their
need to learn the English system is that the article system in Arabic is totally
different from that of English. One basic difference is in the articles “a,” and “an.”
In Arabic, for example, no “a” or “an” exists. An English sentence such as “A
man is there.” will be translated as “man is there” in Arabic.

The subjects were not aware of the differences between the two systems,

so they might apply their previous knowledge when they started learning English.

87

When they were asked their opinion about developing learning English writing in
Saudi Arabia, they thought that it was better for the Saudi language teachers to

concentrate on the areas with no similarities, such as articles, tenses and word
meanings:

Q: What is the best way, in your opinion, to
resolve English writing difficulties?

[In terms of resolving writing diﬂiculties we
need to enhance language learning, so
English language teaching in Saudi Arabia,
1 think, needs to be developed. It is better
for the teachers to understand the
diﬂerences between the two languages and
then teach their students accordingly. For
example, I am not yet aware of the
diﬁ’erences between Arabia and English
articles. I am confused when to use “a ” or
“the. ” I believe in teaching students such
diﬂerences] (Ahmed, Interview E1, p. 250)

Suliman thought that linguistic knowledge is one of the fundamental pieces
of knowledge that second language learners need. He claimed that learning
articles was essential for students to master writing techniques.

Q: What is the best way, in your opinion, to
resolve English writing difficulties?

[One way to overcome all language
diﬁiculties, I mean listening, speaking,
reading, and writing abilities, is to develop
learning English writing, I am sure it is
important for policy makers and English
teachers to teach students the usage of
English tense, verbs, and articles. Above
all, they should master English spelling. All
these can be achieved through a set of
programs which will help overcome all
troubles and diﬁ‘iculties] (Suliman,
Interview E1, p. 290)

88

It appeared that the subjects believed that they could not write acceptable
English without mastering the usage of articles and other language techniques. So,
according to the subjects, learning the differences between Arabic and English
articles will help them write acceptable English.

During the ﬁrst stage’s stimulus recall, the researcher asked the subjects to
explain what were the most difﬁcult parts in the writing that they feel needed to be
learned, Ahmed indicated that:

[you brow our grammar [Arabic
grammar] is not like English, there are, as
I told you before, there are diﬂerences and
similarities, and you brow we need to brow
all these differences and similarities. ]
(Ahmed E1 Stimulus Recall, p.225)

When his E1 essay was examined it was noted that he did not use English
articles as required. It seemed that he had no rules to follow when he wrote. He

used deﬁnite articles in wrong places. For example,

Placed my school in Makkah .That aseheel had four ﬂour,
in the ﬁrst ﬂour the school manjar .

This example showed that Ahmed used the article “a” to refer to a noun
that was speciﬁed in the clause before, which indicated that this subject in this
particular essay did not employ the required linguistic knowledge to use English
articles properly.

During the second stage subjects still had not yet developed a complete

understanding of this linguistic area that would allow them to use it perfectly as

89

subjects were still producing sentences that contained many grammatical errors
especially in the article system. For example,

Makkah has holly mousk, it’s neam (AlHarm).
(Ahmed, E2, p. 178)

In this sentence, the subject referred to a proper name for the ﬁrst time in
his essay without any article. It may be that he confused the Arabic and English
article systems when he wrote this essay, because leaving a proper name with no
article is acceptable in Arabic.

In Stage Three little improvement is observable. Even though the subjects
seemed to understand that some differences between Arabic and English article
system existed, they still were not yet completely aware of the differences.
Teachers did not indicate that subjects were weak in this particular linguistic
knowledge, obviously because the interview questions were not designed to
investigate single items. Instead, the questions focused on linguistic knowledge,
which is an umbrella term that leads to many grammatical parts. The teachers
indicated that among the problems that subjects encountered was grammatical
knowledge:

Ahmed is the lowest in my class in terms of
browledge of English, and in terms of
comprehension and um, grammar that he
wasn’t really familiar with .. Now his
writing has gotten much longer. (Ahmed ’3
Teacher ’s Interview, p. 202)
Comparing E1 and El-R demonstrated that little improvement was present

in this particular area of linguistic knowledge of writing. However, it seems that

subjects were not yet aware of the function of English articles; sometimes they

90

misused them, other times they dropped them. It is obvious that they need to learn
more about usage of English articles.
4.2.8 Spelling
One area where subjects did not apparently develop is spelling, as they
indicated themselves. Suliman noted that spelling was one area in which he will
not stop learning in even after he ﬁnishes his Ph. D studies.

- [I admitted that spelling is not easy

for us as nonnative. I believe that even
native speakers are unable to master the
spelling of their language, because there are
many sounds which do not match with the
letter that you write. For example “knife, ” I
used to write it without ‘K ” letter, because I
do not hear it. I will tell you the truth that I
and all those who come ﬁ'om my region will
continue learning the spelling of English
even after they completed their Ph. D.
studies]. (Suliman El-R Stimulus Recall,
p. 272).

The subjects need to learn and master the role of English spelling,
especially the sounds that are not available in their native language. Ahmed wrote
the following paragraph, which was full of spelling mistakes.

That school was studeis, Quran, Math, Hostary specially the
Eslamic Hostory, Geography, and Hadith. Or any thing speciall
of Eslam. My school seem to be useful I go to the school from,
saven in the morning to one ore tow in afternoon. Some time
before that. I thin got to many usvol from that school (Ahmed
E1 p. 176 ).
He tried to match his pronunciation with the letters he wrote because he was
not aware of the spelling rules of English as indicated in the El-R stimulus recall.
He was never taught the role of spelling in Saudi Arabia. The only thing that he

remembered was an emphasis on handwriting:

91

[It is sad to tell you that 1 never learned spelling or
what are the best ways to master English spelling;
the only thing that they stressed in our schools are
the hand writing techniques and what is the best
way to write cursive]. (Ahmed E] -R Stimulus
Recall p. 232).

The teachers admitted that spelling was an essential part that all nonnative
speakers need to work hard to master. Even native speakers , according to the
teachers, need to work hard to avoid most spelling problems. Suliman’s teacher
when asked “Does the Arabic language help Arabic learners, Saudis in particular,
master English writing? Why or why not ?”, she felt that one of Suliman’s
problems was spelling.

The writing structure seems to be hard for
them [Arab students, particularly Saudis] to
become comfortable using and spelling is an
extreme problem. It can cause words to be
unintelligible. (Suliman’s Teacher Interview,
p.199)

When she was asked whether Saudi graduate students encountered writing

problems different from other nonnative speakers, she said:
Well, I think, um, one would be in the
spelling, because graduate students often
have to do a lot of writing and if their
spelling is really bad, that will begin to
cause obstacles and problems with writing
and communication that way.
Ahmed’s teacher shared the same opinion that spelling was the most difﬁcult
part of writing encountered by Saudi graduate students when they learn English

writing. When asked about “What part of English do Saudi student encounter the

most difﬁculty?” (See Appendix D, p. 167) the teacher replied by saying:

92

Well, spelling is a problem. With, with with
Ahmed, it’s a deﬁnite problem. He has a
really hard time with spelling. And that is
probably structure. He seems to have a hard
time getting words in the right form, the
whole diﬂerent noun with the verb, getting all
of the proper elements (Amhed ’s Teacher
Interview, p. 203).

All the above evidence indicated that the subjects were unable to produce
essays without spelling mistakes. However, the Saudi graduate students

desperately need to learn English spelling, especially the sounds which are not part

of their language.

93

 

Research Question 3 stated: To what extent do subjects write Arabic and
English writing while observing the audience, and the rhetorical structure of
Arabic and English before and after they start ESL learning? This study examined
whether the subjects addressed audience when they wrote and if they observe the
rhetorical structure when they wrote in English before and after the instruction.

This study found that the subjects were aware of the importance of the
readers when they produced Arabic and English writing. Moreover, they were able
to observe the rhetorical structure when they wrote in English before and after ESL
instruction.

4.3.1. Audience

One important fact is that the researcher did not provide an explicit
audience. but interestingly the reading audience appeared to be an important
concept from the subjects’ points of view. From interviews and stimulus recall, it
became clear that the subjects fully understood the role of the audience. During
stage one Ahmed indicated that writing to unknown readers is like writing to blind
or illiterate peOpIe. He stated that:

Q: Do you identify your
audience before you write in English?

- [Yes. Yes, it is important for me to
identify my readers and to know to whom I
am writing. If you do not write to a specific
readers, then you are writing for blind
people or those who cannot read. I feel that
readers are one angle in a triangle, if you

94

neglect them you would neglect an
important part of your triangle] (Ahmed E 1
Interview, p.252).

During stage one, stimulus recall indicated that the subjects wrote for
different audiences in both languages. For example, Suliman, in Al’s stimulus
recall, indicated that his audience who did not know anything about Mecca (a holy
city in Saudi Arabia) were not like those who knew about it and believed in its
sacredness:

[I wrote this essay in Arabic
assuming that my readers are Arabs or at
least understand Arabic and knew what does
Mecca means to them, moreover, I assumed
that those readers brew what kind of city
Mecca is, and what the weather is like.
People who will read this essay believe that
Mecca is a holy city] (Suliman, A1 Stimulus
Recall p.272)

In stage two the concept of audience also was indicated. Ahmed wrote his
E2 about Mecca too. In this essay he used information that, according to him,
was universal. He stated during the stimulus recall that the concept of audience is
an essential part of writing:

[Yes, I was thinking about who will read
this essay. That is why I said in my essay
that this city is the origin of Islam, because
everybody brew such things] (Ahmed,
Stimulus Recall, p. 220).

Ahmed raised an important issue about the topic. He felt that if he wrote
about a topic that was known to Saudis, then he should observe only Saudis. If his

writing has a more universal topic ‘love’ for example, then he must observe a

universal audience:

95

[Believe me, I think most of the writers do
not take care of their audiences. They write
to themselves, so nobody will understand
what they write. If I wrote a piece of writing,
I would make sure that my readers are clear
about my topic. If I am writing about Saudi
women to American readers I have to watch
my words, but If I am writing about ‘love’
then I have no problem. ] (Ahmed, E2
Stimulus Recall, p. 224)

During stage three, the subjects demonstrated that they were observing the
concept of audience when they wrote in both languages. The teachers, on the
other hand, did not consider audience a problem for the subjects. Suliman’s
teacher had some concern about Suliman’s ability to identify the concept of
audience, but she thought that he had improved:

Do you think that Saudis, in general,
are good writers of English?
T: Urn, he seems to try, but the whole
audience principle is something that not
only he, but the whole class was having
trouble with. Who are we writing to? For
what purpose are we writing? Urn, he did
make an eﬂort to understand that and I
could see as his writing developed, that he
was trying to focus a little bit more on that,
but he had so many writing skills to work on
that, uh, that one he didn ’t become
extremely focused. (Suliman ’s teacher ’s
Interview, p. 196).

The teachers, in general, believed that the concept of audience was not a
major difﬁculty for the subjects. Both Ahmed and Suliman were able to

demonstrate that they could write to a speciﬁc audience.

Q: Do they demonstrate concern with
audience in their writing?

96

I don ’t think 1 ’ve noticed any particular
diﬂiculties with that [audience]. I have not
noticed it. I think with the students I ’ve had,
I don ’t notice them as being particularly
fantastic about it, but I haven’t noticed any
problem. (Ahmed’s teacher’s Interview, p.
247)

The teachers felt that part of their writing teaching program was to train
ESL students to use the concept of audience and to identify it during the writing
process.

Did you provide them with exercises or
something to write for speciﬁc audience?

T: Yes. We did, urn, a couple of speciﬁc
lessons talking about audience and purpose
and how you would write in diyferent ways
for diﬂerent people. We did some role plays
where I gave them a situation and they had
to do some writing for that specific
situation. They would read it out loud and
the class had to guess what the purpose and
the audience were. For example, writing a
letter to your rich grandfather to ask for
money for college. And so those things
helped them to concentrate on it more, but
still with the general essay, when 1 gave
them a sheet for doing a peer edit, oﬂen it
said what is the purpose of this writing? And
they would say, “To explain about a topic. ”
You brow, to explain about Thanksgiving.
Who is the audience? General. So that was,
it was hard to get more focused on that.
(Ahmed ’ Teacher Interview, p. 240).

This evidence may indicate that the concept of audience was observed in

the subjects’ writing and the subjects probably developed this observation from

97

their previous knowledge about writing, then enhanced this knowledge when they
started learning English in America.
4.3.2. Rhetorical Knowledge of Written English
When the teachers were asked what the most difﬁcult part of English
writing for Saudi graduate students was, they stressed that English rhetoric is
difficult for Arab students in general, because of the differences between the two
languages’ rhetoric. Sulirnan’s teachers explained.

What part of English do Saudi student
encounter the most difficulty?

- Okay. Writing, 1 think, it ’s the
rhetoric. From what I can understand and
I ’ve talked with the students about this a little
bit, that they come a writing rhetoric that
structures things very diﬂerently than
English. Having never-- 1 'm not able to read
Arabic. But, um, they have said, “You want
to put a lot of details in and kind of
circumvent the idea and get to the main
point. ” And in English it’s not that way.
(Suliman’s Teacher Interview, p. 23 8).

Data analysis showed that the subjects needed to learn how to use
introduction, support, conclusion and organization to write in a cohesive manner.
Before starting to learn ESL, the subjects were aware of some writing rhetorical
issues that learners should know, but at the same time they were unaware of other
important rhetoric issues needed to learn writing.

The areas of rhetorical knowledge chosen for this study were indicated by

the subjects. They demonstrated that if the writer does not support his writing with

98

examples and illustration, he or she will be unable to reach the minds of his

readers:

Q: What is the most difﬁcult part in
English writing you think that you need to
improve?

- [T 0 answer your question [question
you should know that we are unable to write
clearly because noboay taught us how to use
support or examples in our writing. We

don ’t end our essays with a summary which
tells the readers about our main points.

Unfortunately, we need to improve our
Arabic writing besides our English writing.

We need to improve our curriculum, ways of
teaching. (Ahmed, E1, Interview, p. 250).

The subjects’ teachers believed that rhetoric was the root of writing
problems that most Arabic-speaking students encountered when they wrote in
English. Suliman’s teachers pointed out that rhetoric caused a normative speaker

to be a poor writer in his second language, even if he is a good writer in his native

language.

Q: Do you believe that if a student is
considered a good writer in his native
language, he is a good writer in his second
language?

Not necessarily, because there’s a
difference in rhetoric. Um, you know, I have
a lot of experience with Japan and Japanese
and what ’s good writing in Japanese
directly translated into English might not be
worth much (Suliman’s Teachers Interview,
p. 198).

99

4.3.2.1. Introduction
The ﬁrst written rhetoric issue was the use of an introduction. In their
Arabic and English essays both subjects indicated that the use of an introduction
was an essential part of the essays that they wrote for this study. The nature of
introduction in both languages is equally important (Taher, 1990). For example, in
stage one of this study Ahmed wrote the following sentence in his E1:

When I was a child, nearly between six and seven years, I was
studying in Elementary school (Ahmed, E1 -R p. I 79)

This sentence was the ﬁrst sentence of the essay. The subject indicated
that he would write about his elementary school, introducing the reader to the topic
of the essay. Such knowledge was not articulated by him, even when he used it in
his essay. During the stimulus recall the researcher asked him to identify the
introduction, but he could not. In A1 he was able to identify the introduction and
to tell its purpose. This indicated he was able to learn the usage of introduction in

the Al essay, but not in E1.

La:- 2.2.: or— u—x— x; 2&5 w;- J/ Jain-1’ we

c—i" 01:" «5.214 41-1351 “UL-‘1 Q's-ﬂu; ‘U'Jé 529/0-

gt—‘qJUbJ/sJMICPwa’JﬁJ/q-jmﬂ‘i‘
.LJSJI {Sag Lulu.”

[Our house or the large house, which is
an apartment, consisted of four rooms, kitchen,
living room, and two bathrooms. This
apartment is located In the second floor in the
Almuabedah quarter in Mecca Al-Mukarmah.]

Ahmed’s A1 consisted of an introduction and three other paragraphs. In
the ﬁrst paragraph, which is the introduction he stated his these statement and

elaborated his essay in the other parts.

100

The introduction is an important part of any essay because it gives the
readers an indication of the topic of the essay. In most essays written for this
study the subjects failed to use an appropriate introduction. For example, in
Ahmed’s El there is no introduction. He starts his essay by writing about his
elementary school without saying why he needs to do so. He does not indicate
what he is going to present to his readers. In Ahmed’s Al, the subject fails to
introduce the fact that he is going to respond to the following prompt: Describe
your previous home. Instead he writes about his house without mentioning that it
is his previous house or that he is going to describe it. In the stimulus recall he is
asked why he did not mention that he is going to describe his previous house or
indicate that the essay is a description of his previous house. His answer was

[It is obvious for my readers that what is written
is a description of my old [previous]
house. [ (Ahmed, Al, Stimulus Recall, p. 210).

He seemed unaware of the importance of an introduction, because he had
failed to learn its importance at this stage of ESL learning.

In stage two both subjects were able to use introduction in both languages.
They indicated that this part of the essay was important because it prepared the
readers for the topic of the essay. For example, Suliman wrote the following
paragraph to introduce his essay:

According to an interesting place in my country, I will write abut

Makkah. Because it ’s the holy city also it’s the center city for all
Muslims in the world. (Suliman, E2, p. 181)

101

During the second and third stages, the subjects were able to develop the
concept of an introduction and improve it. For example, Suliman was able to state
what he would write about in the introductory paragraph.

Any student during his study life may be he
likes to talk about his school, which he loved
and why he loved this school, So he always
talk or he describe this school to the people, so
I will describe my university here because I
got a lot of experience there. (Suliman 's E1 -R,
p. 160).

The teachers indicated that the introduction was part of their teaching
curriculum, because they teach a bottom-up approach.

Q: How do you teach writing?

Urn, but like going along with the ELC
curriculum, we teach them, you brow, from --
well, it ’s kind of bottom up. We teach them
paragraphs. There’s a separate course for
grammar but of course grammar becomes
involved in the writing and then teach them the
structure for long pieces and do a lot of guided

practice. (Suliman’s Teacher’s Interview,
p.200)

This section noted that an introduction was rhetorical knowledge that
students were aware of before they started learning English in the USA. They
were able to develop this knowledge and enhance it during their exposure to ESL

training. Thus they were able to demonstrate this knowledge and to use it in both

languages.

102

4.3.2.2. Usage of Support
The second rhetoric issue is the use of support in writing. The subjects
demonstrated in the ﬁrst stage that they did not use support as required. Their E1
essays lacked support:

I studed my Eelementery study at Abdulah Ebn Masaud
school that 20 yers ago. Placed my school in Makkh, Saud
arabia, AlMalaway street that a school had four ﬂour. in the
ﬁrst ﬂour thes school Manejar, and in the secand ﬂour there are
Two class, to fourth class, and ﬁveth class, . and there is one
class in therf class for sexth class. in the fourth ﬂour to third
class, second class and ferist cass.

there are also sevarel of the othear in my school for a
scines diffrant.

that school was studeis, Quran, Math, Hostary specially
the Eslamic Hostory, Geography, and Hadith. Or any thing
speciall of Eslam . My school seem to be useful Igo to the
school ﬁ'om, saven in the morning to one ore tow in afternoon.
Some time before that. I thin got to many usvol from that
school. (Ahmed El p. 176).

In this essay the subject is unable to use any sentences to support what he

wants to present to his reader. For example, Amhed stated that his school is a
useful place “My school seem to be useful ,” but he did not provide the readers
with the required support for his opinion. In their A1 essays the subjects were able
to use many sentences as support; in A1 they knew how to present facts, and then

support them with other sentences. For example,

ﬂdﬂdﬁlﬂlﬂmdﬂMﬁﬁHMMﬁ-J‘hﬁtdﬁlu‘ﬁumdﬁd

[We replaced our sitting room’s old furniture by new furniture, because we

usually invite many people and we use to receive them. ] (Ahmed, AI, p. 184)
In this sentence the student presented a fact that he had changed his sitting

room furniture. Because the readers were not aware why he did that, he supported

his statement with a reason that made his sentence more acceptable.

103

During the stimulus recall, the subjects were asked if they felt that support
was an important element of writing. They pointed out that it is an essential part
of the writing process.

[Frankly nobody will believe you if you do not
provide them with supports] (Suliman, E1
Stimulus Recall, p. 264)

Stage two showed that the subjects were learning the usage of support
techniques. They demonstrated this technique in their E2 and A2 essays. The
subjects demonstrated that it is part of writing to support what they have said in
their essays. According to Suliman, good writing does not just present facts and
ideas without proving what has been said. Supporting ideas with sentences that
advocate the idea they are presenting makes the assertion more powerﬁil:

What I have learned is that supporting is the
way to give your writing credibility and that can
be by giving examples and reason of what you
are trying to say. Without such support writing
may be weak (Suliman, E2, Stimulus Recall, p.
222)

It appeared that the subjects learned to use supports in their E2 and El-R
essays. Ahmed’s E2 improved when the facts that he presented in his essay were
supported. For example,

I know, Makkah city is very hot wather, but any one wen
he live in Makkah, i’m sure he will feell wnderfole feeling,
and he may cann’t to live away from it. Taht because I was
many people came to Makkah, then they could not go out it.

One of my friends, he come from, bakstan came to Makkah
for a jop but, while he living in Makkah ssome time, he said
my, “I can’nt go back to bakstan, because I cann’t live a way
from Makkah. (Ahmed, E2, p. 177).

104

The subjects were able to develop their knowledge and used it
appropriately. Teachers when they were asked how they taught writing last
semester, emphasized the usage of support among other important writing
techniques in classrooms.

Um, but like going along with the ELC
curriculum, we teach them, you know, ﬁ'om --
well, it’s kind of bottom up. We teach them
paragraphs. There ’s a separate course for
grammar but of course grammar becomes
involved in the writing and then teach them the
structure for long pieces and do a lot of guided
practice. (Suliman ’s Teacher’s Interview, p. 200)

It is obvious that instruction helped enhance this particular rhetorical
knowledge (usage of support in writing), and the subjects were able to use this
technique in both languages.

4.3.2.3. Cohesion

The third important rhetoric issue is cohesion. Cohesion is deﬁned by
Halliday and Hasan (1976) as a textual component that the explicit cohesive ties
and the semantic relations which exist between them and their references are what
connect sentences with each other and create unity. The subjects failed to
demonstrate proper knowledge of cohesion.

During the stimulus recall when Suliman was asked if he paid attention to
cohesion when he wrote, he indicated that it is by nature that the topic’s parts
should be connected with each other:

[Well 1 think that when I write I will write

things that are related to each other]
(Suliman, E1 Stimulus Recall, p. 263)

105

In stage one it was noted that Ahmed did not pay attention to the concept
of cohesion in his writing. For example, he started his last paragraph in El writing
about the topics that his school covered during the year. All of the sudden he
moved to the time he used to spend in school. Such a shift indicated that he lacked
did not employ cohesion in writing.

there are also sevarel of the othear in my school for a scines diffrant.

that school was studeis , Quran, Math, Hostary specially the
Eslamic Hostory , Geography, and Hadith. Or any thing speciall of
Eslam . My school seem to be useful I go to the school from, saven in
the morning to one ore tow in afternoon. Some time before that. I
thin got to many usvol from that school. (Ahmed E1 p. 176).

Such a topic shift indicated that the subject was not aware of the
importance of cohesion, so he mentioned another topic that had no relationship to
the previous sentences. When Ahmed was asked why he shifted his topic in the
third paragraph, he indicated that he was still writing about the same topic:

[You mean the second time, I think, you know
it is the same thing that I am still talking
about the same school. ] (Ahmed, E1 Stimulus
Recall, p. 222)

During stage two Suliman indicated that he learned in America that each
paragraph is required to have a connection with the previous paragraph and this
connection can be anything:

Q: What is the biggest difference between
how writing is taught in your native country
and how you have studied writing in America?

-- [One problem I think teachers in Saudi
Arabia have to solve is to teach students how

they can relate their paragraphs to each other.
Once they learned that they will produce a well

106
organized piece of writing. (Suliman A2
Interview p. 308).
Stage two’s data analysis indicates that the subjects were unable to observe
the importance of cohesion before they began their ESL training, although they do
observe it in their Arabic essays. Examining A1 (by the researcher and the Arabic

rater), it appeared that the subjects observed cohesion in their writing.

wit-tar— 0L9 42312347 game-3 '4'} 41/
#34,“; qMAhmed, AI p. 160)
[One of the rooms is the setting room,
which considered to be the largest room in
the house. We changed the furniture of this
room, because we receive many guests in
this room].

In this example, the subject connected the two sentence using a pronoun to
indicate that what he meant is the largest room. In the second sentence, the subject
repeated the word (furniture) to emphasize the point that he wants to explain to his
readers. This repetition in Arabic in considered one method of cohesion. Moreover,
the subjects employed many cohesive devices such as ‘on the other hand’, ‘ﬁrst’,
and ‘overall’ which indicated that they observed cohesion in their Arabic writing.

During stage three the researcher compared A1 and Al-R and E1 and E1-
R, and found that some improvement had occurred.

if»! IL.“ 95.2.94; ”barge-lav kinda-.071): blar- art/u;
.3. 9,1,...” usqﬁulyguyw Lbs/Isa.
um.» L‘HJL’J/ «afar Lava 494,...” 4.9-.” MI

sedate-bro; (gt/12') L-éab e-u'é-JL.’ sea-4H; (419%)
o-c .34.: Mfeaﬁlbgéﬁgﬂ/ubﬂ/ or- «Wale-«J4:

wLZ/l L44)? 5.4543 L3 4..” WaQéU/Moeﬂegmb“;
.yL-JAhmed AI -R, p. 166)

107

[This apartment consisted of four rooms,
kitchen, living room, and two bathrooms. One
of these rooms is speciﬁed as a gusts room. It
is furnished with what is known as
“Batermah, ” which is similar to the western
sofa set. Moreover it is furnished with rage
which is similar to the carpet, but diﬂers in the
way it was made Rages are hand made, and
expensive, and people brow its value]

In these sentences, the subject used the same way of cohesion which is the
repetition of pronouns and names. In addition to that he used cohesive devices
(transition words) to connect his sentences. The subjects were unaware of the
importance of cohesion before they began their ESL training, but when they
completed their ESL training, they became somewhat aware of this issue and
developed the same cohesion.

Part of cohesion is the use of speciﬁc lexical items, which helps connect
sentences or paragraphs to each other. The subjects were able to use some
cohesive devices such as ﬁrst, second, etc. But many times they dropped them,
indicating that they needed to improve their knowledge of these devices. From
the data analysis of stage one, it appears that the subjects were unable to
demonstrate a complete mastery of these devices. In E2 Ahmed wrote about his
city of Mecca. In the ﬁrst paragraph he wrote about the ﬁrst reason why he
wanted to write about Mecca; in the second paragraph he wrote about the second
reason. Then he started his third paragraph by writing about the holy mosque in
his city without connecting this paragraph to the previous one. It seemed as if he

was writing about another topic or beginning another essay. When he started his

fourth paragraph, he wrote about Mecca’s weather with no indication of the new

108

topic or connecting this paragraph with the previous one. Such usage indicates
that the subject needs to learn more about cohesive devices.

Interestingly, stage two showed some improvement. Ahmed demonstrated
that he had learned a few concepts about the usage of cohesive devices, but had
not yet mastered them.

When I was a child, nearly between 6 and 12 years, I was studying
in Elmentery school.

The location of this school is Saudi arabia , Makkah, Ahnaly
Street. The school was calld (Abdullah Abn masaud) It was consist of
4 ﬂours and it was 6 class, and the other ﬂour was special for the tetchers
and the admnestration oﬁce. all the techers and student were forom Saudi
arabia, an all of them were men, as will as this school was other things.

For exampl, small restrant and spicial place for the football and basket
ball.

Hm we werent very hapy becaus we couldn’t go out the
school during the rest ore breaks betwen the classes, becaus that wasn’t
allow. Icant remeber all thing about that school but I can say “I hav
buteful rembers about it” (Ahmed’ Essay E2, p. 178).

In his El-R, a revision of El , Ahmed indicates that he is in the process of
learning the importance of cohesion and cohesive devices. Ahmed starts El-R
with an opening statement, which says he will write about his elementary school.
In the next paragraph he writes about the location of that school, and uses the word
“school” as a connection between the two statements. Moreover, he uses the word
“it” to indicate a connection between the sentences that he uses to explain his idea.
In the same paragraph he used the word “for example” to connect his supported
sentence with the previous sentence. Finally, in the last paragraph he uses the
word “however,” which appears for the ﬁrst time in his essay, as a cohesive device

to show a sort of transition. This use of cohesive devices indicates that he is in the

process of learning the importance of connecting ideas and statement with each

109

other to produce a well-organized essay. However, Ahmed and Suliman both still
need to learn the best ways to use cohesive devices.
4.3.2.4. Conclusion
The fourth rhetoric issue this study addressed was the conclusion. Subjects
were aware of this issue before they were exposed to ESL training, but did not
understand its signiﬁcance. Stage one showed that the subjects were unaware of
the reasons that they should use such atechnique:

- [ Conclusion, you mean the last
part of my writing? .. I brow that it is
recommended for writers to end their writing
with a summary where they make it easy for
inpatient readers to brow what does the writer
want to say in this piece of writing]. (Suliman
A1 Stimulus Recall p. 276).

Such statement illustrate that they were unsure about the importance of a
conclusion in their English writing, although they used it in a broader sense. They
believed that it was a required part of the writing, but did not see it as essential.
Suliman, for example, ended most of his essays with a sort of summary:

First I want to write about the HOME UNIVERSITY it’s located in
Alzizia Street in Makkah, I attended since 1986 my Major was Social work,
and I graduat since 1990 with grade 3.286 (very good)

Second my secondary school, also located in Makkah at Alsteen Street,
[attended it since 1983, and it’s give commercial studies to the studets.
During three years they attend and I graduate since 1985 with grade very
good.

The third, my elementary school, it’s also located in Makkah at Al
Mansour Street, 1 attended it since 1980, and its a governmental school as
any elementary schools in Saudi Arabia, and in this stage, I start studying
English language, because in Saudi Arabia, The English Language study
strat from the Elemertary schools, and in this stage also, I met with deferent
students, Because they came from deference Areas in Makkah, and this
gave me more experince in my lifetime, Because, I was yong

110

In sum my say, I want explane that, I took more experience in my
life time during, I attended those stagies, and I want write that my best
days in my life was it in the university, Because its was the real stage,
and I don’t forget the roles and knowledges I took from the secondary
and elementary schools was great. (p. 180).

This conclusion did not really reﬂect the whole idea of the essay. Actually
it is another paragraph that tells the readers that the best stage was his life at the
university. However, a conclusion should link the main idea of the text to the future
or to some broader issues not speciﬁcally covered in the essay (Leki, 1989). In this
essay the subject introduced a new idea to the readers not mentioned earlier in the
essay.

In stage two the case remained as it was with little improvement. Ahmed
did not end his essay with a conclusion, while Suliman ended with what he called a
“summary.” Ahmed was asked during the stimulus recall about why he did not use
a conclusion in his writing. He answered that he usually ended with a few words to
explain to the readers the purpose of his essay:

- You ﬁnish with words which explain
to the readers what was your purpose of the
writing of this paper. (Ahmed E2 Stimulus
Recall p. 226).

During stage three, the situations basically remained unchanged. Ahmed
ended his El-R with a broad conclusion, indicating that he had learned some
writing organization in his ESL training:

When I was a child, nearly between 6 and 12 years, I was studing

Elmentery school.

The location of this school is Saudi arabia, Makkah, Almlay Street. The

school was called (Abdlah Abnmasaud) it was consist of 4 flours and it was

6 class. In each flour has 2 class, and the other flour was spicail for the
tetchers and the admnestration oﬁce. all the tetchers and student were

lll

forom Saudi arabia, an all of them were men, as will as this school was
onthoer things. For example, small restrant and spicial place for the
football and basket ball, how ever we werent very hapy because we
couldn ’t go out the school during the rest ore breaks between the classes,
becaus that wasn 't allow. I cant rembar all thing about that school but I
can say “I hav buteful rembers about it (Ahmed, E I -R, p. I 78)

Teachers stated that they taught their students all elements of writing essays.
In stage three, for example, the teachers indicated that part of their curriculum was
to train ESL students how to write English essays (the structure for long pieces).

Q: 7 How do you teach writing? What
approach do you use in teaching writing?

Um, but like going along with the ELC
curriculum, we teach them, you brow, ﬁ'om -
well, it’s kind of bottom up. We teach them
paragraphs. There ’s a separate course for
grammar but of course grammar becomes
involved in the writing and then teach them
the structure for long pieces and do a lot of
guided practice. (Suliman ’s Teacher
Interview, p. 200).

The subjects appeared unaware of the importance of these issues before
they started their ESL training and even after their the ESL training, they still
needed to learn and improve in terms of observing rhetorical structure in their
writing. It is important to note that they improved after their ESL training, but

they have not yet completely mastered these areas.

112

 

Research Q question 4 stated: How does the instruction affect subjects’
writing product and process after they begin ESL training? This study examined
the effect of instruction on the way students organized and produced their writing.
This study indicated that the subjects were affected by instruction and began to
better organize their writing as they beneﬁted from instruction in English writing.
The following offers an analysis pertaining to Research Question 4

After they arrived in the US, the subjects immediately spent
approximately fourteen weeks studying English. Once they were ﬁnished with
this training, they were asked to write other essays in both languages, and rewrite
their ﬁrst essays (see Chapter Three for more details). During the second stage
of this study the subjects demonstrated they had learned new writing techniques.
In general, their writing seemed to improve.

The purpose of this section is to pinpoint any changes in the subjects’
writing process and product after they were exposed to ESL training. To
determine the instructional effect on the writing process, subjects’ essays written
during stage one of this study (A1 and E1) were compared to Al-R and El-R to

determine how the subjects improved in terms of writing process.

Ahmed

 

W

TABLE 22 INSTRUCTION AFFECT ON STUDENT WRITING IN ENGLISH ACCORDING TO DATA ANALYSIS, STIMULUS
RECALL AND INTERVIEWS WITH TEACHERS AND SUBJECTS.

113

4.4.1. Prewriting

At the prewriting level students did not engage in any prewriting
activities such as planning or organizing. Table 2 summarizes that students did
not practicing any prewriting activities in stage one. Stage three indicated that
the subjects developed in the area of prewriting after they were exposed to ESL
training. Ahmed began his Al and El writing without planning, believing that
planning was a mental activity. He indicated that he had read the entire prompt
and understood what it asked for, decided what he should write, then began
writing. In reality, he changed what he decided to write about during his actual
writing activity. When asked in the stimulus recall if he changed his plan after
he started writing Ahmed said:

[Well, I started writing putting in my mind few
ideas that I may be able to explore, but when I
found that such ideas are not expandable and
may be changed I did changed them. ] (Ahmed
E1 Stimulus Recall, p. 220).

During the second stage of this study subjects indicated that they
acquired a great deal of knowledge about the prewriting technique. They felt
that what they learned in the USA helped them realize that prewriting is an
essential part of writing:

[I am positive that what I learned here is important
and I am sure it will enhance my writing] (Suliman,
E2 Stimulus Recall, p. 265)
During observation in stage three, the subjects appeared more organized

in their Al-R and El-R essays, (a revision of their A1 and E1). Their feelings

about their ﬁrst writing was that such writing was not based on theoretical bases.

was full of errors.

114

[Writing without planning, or organization
is not reliable. I feel that making a plan
for myself before I start writing will make
my writing more organized. Before I came
to America I used to begin my writing
without thinking about how I will write, but 1
would stop in the middle of my writing and I
did not know how I complete it. Sometimes I
ﬁnished writing without completing all its
components, of course, because I do not
have enough ideas about it. My feeling is
that following a sort of plan will make
writing more organized] (Suliman Stimulus
Recall E1 -R, p. 270).

Suliman started his El-R by reading his El essay. He wondered why it

He knew that he was asked to rewrite E1 using the same

Interestingly he started reading El and wrote on another sheet of paper

a few sentences (he called it an outline). Next, he started his El-R following the
outline that he had created. Once he completed his essay, he read it over.

During this reading, he made a few changes, identifying them during the

stimulus recall as grammatical and style corrections.

The teachers indicated that using process-oriented teaching methods was

the approach that they followed to teach their students prewriting techniques:

A:. How do you teach writing?

T:. I am process oriented and I do,
um, I like to do pre-writing activities. (p.
206)

The subjects learned that writing with planning and organizing is more

reliable than writing without any prewriting activities. They learned that writing

115

should be started outside the actual writing papers, then transferred to the actual
writing sheet.
4.4.2. Drafting

During the stimulus recall and interview the subjects demonstrated that
before ESL training, they wrote in a manner that differed from what they
demonstrated after they were exposed to ESL instruction. Before they started
their ESL learning, the subjects paused for long periods of time while writing.
They were unable to develop their ideas and write ﬂuently. Ahmed suggested
the reason behind these difficulties, by saying:

—- [Actually it is obvious for anyone
who learned writing, in Saudi Arabia, that
in Saudi Arabia education system writing is
not given much attention. Students learn the
basic elements of writing and after that they
were not exposed to writing. In my
university I learned new writing techniques
which did not help me much. But once I
started learning English here in the USA I
felt the diﬂerence] (Ahmed E2 Stimulus
Recall p. 225).

Suliman, when asked why he had paused a long time during his ﬁrst
Arabic and English essays, answered that he had learned many techniques and
practiced writing on a daily basis. He also thought that learning writing as an
individual curriculum is more beneﬁcial than learning writing as a part of a
curriculum. He added that:

[Writing in my country is not as important as
in the USA. I used to learn writing once a
week, and sometimes in the last hour in our

schedule, so when we start this class most of us
are tired and unwilling to hear ﬁom the

116

teacher. Ironically, this period many times was
used by other teachers in my school. For
example, if the physics teacher could not ﬁnish
his syllabus, he would borrow the writing
period to be used as a physics class. More
important is that teachers who used to teach it
are not professionals. They are ﬁ'om diﬁerent
ﬁelds such as Islamic curriculum or social
studies and so on. I think the most obvious fact
is that the concept of teaching writing in my
country is not taken seriously. ] (Suliman E1 -R
Stimulus Recall, p. 271).

After ESL training the subjects’ writing was greatly improved. The
subjects learned how to organize their writing, how to develop an idea and how
involve their readers in their writing. Ahmed’s teacher believed that he had

changed for the better. He was able to express himself better than before.

He did do relatively well in grammar

passages. Um, he, and his writing deﬁnitely
did get much longer .. He definitely did learn
and progress

When he [Ahmed] started writing, he wrote
very very short things, although actually I
suppose for the last number of weeks, we
haven’t been writing in class .. He started
writing very little and very repetitive things
when he was doing in class writing, and now
he has gotten much longer. (p. 207).

It is clear that the subjects, before they started learning English in
America, were unable to develop their ideas or clarify their points as needed.
The same thing can be said about their ability to write following their completion

of their ESL training.

117

4.4.3. Revising

One important technique of writing that the subjects were unable to make
use of was the revising technique. Before they learned about English writing, the
subjects did not allow time for revising. They edited while they wrote. They
often stopped writing from time to time to read over their writing and change
what they felt needed to be improved. When the subjects ﬁnished their ESL
learning they began to allow time to read their papers over before they turned in
their writing.

Ahmed indicated that he felt revising was not important, because he
thought that once a person was sure about his own production, there was no need
to double check it. But when he learned English writing techniques here in the
USA, he noticed that it was important for him to reread his own writing and
correct what he felt necessary. He thought that writing would not be complete if
it did not include the revising process. He added:

Q: What is the biggest difference between
how English writing is taught in your native
country and how you have studied writing in
America?

[One important fact that I learned here in
America, is that do not put your writing on the
paper and give it to your teacher without
rereading it one or two times. I used to read my
papers during my writing, and many times I
found minor errors and I used to correct them,
but when my teacher returned my paper, I found
that he caught many minor errors that I should
not have made. I realized that it is because I do

not edit my paper before I hand it to my teacher. ]
(Ahmed E2 Interview p. 265).

118

The subjects indicated that ESL instruction affected their way of
organizing, planning, drafting (actual writing) and revising their essays. This
section demonstrated that the students were affected by instruction so that they
began organizing their writing in a suitable manner. During prewriting, the
subjects indicated that using prewriting activities was essential to their writing.
The subjects were also able to develop the manner in which they wrote. Before
they were exposed to ESL training, they were unable to produce well-organized
writing, but after ESL instruction their writing became more organized. Finally,
subjects beneﬁted from instruction in terms of revising. They learned that revising
after the actual writing was more beneﬁcial than revising while writing.

The purpose of this chapter was to present the analysis of the data collected
for this study. As is clear from the arguments presented previously, Saudi
graduate students need to improve in English writing. Before they were exposed
to ESL training, Saudi graduate students faced writing problems during prewriting,
writing and revising stages. Once they completed their ESL training, many of
these problems were resolved.

This chapter also reveals that the subjects, before being exposed to ESL
training, were unaware of the importance of many grammatical issues, such as
subj ect-and-verb agreement, the way that English sentences should be ordered and
the usage of articles, tenses, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation. Even though
the subjects were able to improve in sentence order they needed to learn more

about other grammatical areas.

119

Section three of this chapter reveals that the subjects, before their exposure
to ESL training, were unaware of many rhetorical issues, such as the topic
sentence, the use of supports, cohesion, cohesive devices and ending their essays
with conclusions. However, when they completed their ESL training, subjects
were relatively aware of the importance of these areas, but still needed more
training and development. This study revealed that subjects were able to identify
their audience when they wrote in both languages, but needed to develop in the
area of rhetorical structure.

In terms of instruction, section four demonstrated that the subjects were
affected by instruction and started to organized their writing better as they
beneﬁted from ESL instruction. This also revealed that the subjects needed to
improve in organizing their paragraphs, and using introductions and conclusions.

Overall, these improvements and changes in writing behavior have many
implications. Chapter Five will present the discussions and the implications and

conclusions of this study.

120

CHAPTER FIVE

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
5.1. Introduction

The preceding chapter concerned an investigation of a number of queries
related to the writing process of Saudi graduate students. This chapter is an
attempt to sum up the ﬁndings of this research with an emphasis on implications
for a more adequate understanding of the writing problems faced by Saudi
graduate students. Therefore, this chapter discusses the results presented in
Chapter Four and their implications, and includes some possible explanations for
these ﬁndings, and proposes a syllabus design for teaching English writing to
Saudi students as well as suggestions for further research.

The ﬁndings of the current study suggest that it is possible that the current
English teaching and writing situation in Saudi Arabia affects the level of Saudi
student writing and contributes to the problems that Saudi learners of English have
in an English environment.

5.2 Results of Analysis.

The goal of this study was to answer the research questions and examine
the following three general claims to suggest better ways of teaching English
writing to Saudi graduate students:

1.Despite seven years of studying English as a foreign language in their

home country, some Saudi graduate students who learn English for academic

121

purposes ar_e_no_t considered "good" writers of English when they begin their
graduate studies,

2. Writing-skill problems faced by some Saudi graduate students learning
English for academic purposes may attributed to rhetorical and linguistic factors.

3. The common assumption, of most Saudi English teachers, that a “good”
writer is the one who knows a large amount of vocabulary and grammar only is
not always valid.

The data analyzed in this study suggested that teaching English writing
in Saudi Arabian universities needs to be reconsidered. The following is a
discussion of the results of the three assertions.
5.2.1. The First Assertion

This study suggested that a need is apparent to reconsider the present
situation of writing skills of Saudi graduate students. Assertion one claimed that
some Saudi graduate students are not “good writers” despite the seven years that
they have spent learning English in their home country. The analysis of ﬁrst stage
essays (A1 and El) indicates that the subjects were incapable of producing well
organized essays and that they produced essays with many shortcomings. The
subjects did not realize the importance of prewriting activities until they were
exposed to ESL training. Moreover, it appeared that subjects were often incapable
of producing more than one draft before they were exposed to ESL training.
However, when they became aware of the importance of writing more than one
draft, they started producing more than one draft as subject Ahmed’s A2 and

subject Suliman’s E2 indicated. Furthermore, it appears that they believe when it

122

is possible to express and present ideas in one draft, then it is unnecessary to write
more than one. They spent so much time choosing vocabulary and expressions
that there was not sufficient time to write another draft. Finally, the subjects were
unable to allow time for revision, but revised as they wrote. Overall, the ﬁndings of
this study were supported throughout. Zamel (1983) found that unskilled writers
revise less and write less than skilled writers as they focused on small bits of the
essay and edited from the beginning to the end of the process. Thus, when the
subjects of this study were exposed to ESL training they indicated they learned the
importance of revising.

The subjects were incapable of producing acceptable English writing when they
completed their English studies in Saudi schools, and when they started their ESL
training in the USA. Therefore, assertion one appears to be upheld by this study.
5.2.2. The Second Assertion

Assertion two, which stated that “Writing-skill problems faced by some
Saudi graduate students learning English for academic purposes are attributed to
rhetorical and linguistic factors,” was evaluated during the stimulated recall,
observation and teachers’ and subjects’ interviews. The result of these methods
indicates that students experienced rhetoric and linguistic problems when they
wrote English essays, and also indicates that writing problems of some Saudi
graduate students could be attributed to such problems.

The second assertion is possibly true. It appears from the ﬁndings that both
subjects seemed to encounter writing problems possibly attributed to both

linguistic and rhetorical factors. Teachers, as well as subjects, believed that the

123

subjects need to improve in both the linguistic and rhetoric areas. During the
stimulus recall the subjects indicated they needed to learn the appropriate
expressions for expressing themselves in English. Also, this study discovered that
students were able to learn some writing techniques when they were exposed to
ESL training.

The claim that linguistic and rhetorical factors both can contribute to the
difﬁculties faced by some Saudi graduate students when they communicate in
written English, is perhaps supported by the data. In the interviews subjects
indicated that they were incapable of producing well-organized essays because
they were unable to learn the required rhetoric for writing as they had not yet
mastered the linguistic components of English. Both factors, the current study
suggests, may contribute to producing well-organized English essays.

5.2.3. The Third Assertion

Prior to this study the subjects were assumed to have acquired a great
amount of vocabulary and grammar before they started their academic studies.
Unfortunately, the results of this study, as indicated in Chapter Four, indicate that
these subjects had a limited knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. In addition to
vocabulary and grammar, organizing and using good writing techniques are
important components of learning writing. Thus, the results of this study indicate
that the subjects did not learn the prerequisites of writing which include

vocabulary and grammar, besides other necessary writing conventions.

124

5.3. Conclusions Based on the Research Findings
This study attempted to locate the source of the problems that might prevent
Saudi graduate studentsfrom writing acceptable English. This study substantiates
Celce-Murcia’s assertion. (1991: 233) that “The ability to express one’s ideas in
written form in a second or foreign language and to do so with reasonable
accuracy and coherence is a major achievement; many native speakers of English
never master this skill.”

From the ﬁndings of this research the data analysis, observation, teacher and
subject interviews and stimulus recalls, it is obvious that subjects need to develop
organizational, grammatical and rhetorical skills. The following section discusses
these three areas.

5.3.1. Organizational

Many ESL learners use different ﬁrst-language organizational patterns when
writing English. Ostler (1987) found that Arabic-speaking students writing in
English use language and organization that places the writing near the oral end of
the continuum, such as long sentences joined by coordinating conjunctions,
repetition and syntactic balance.

Teacher interviews indicated that some Saudi students are incapable of
producing good writing beCause of the problems that they encounter when they
attempt to organize their writing. Thus data analysis suggests that subjects need to
learn how to organize their English writing using an introduction, support and a

conclusion. One way to achieve this is by allowing the students to practice

0.

125

writing, arranging paragraphs and writing aloud techniques that are described in
section 5.4. of this chapter.

Arranging paragraphs activities allow the learners to determine and pinpoint
the essay order when they determine the introduction paragraph, the body
paragraphs and the conclusion. Moreover, the teachers are recommended to teach
their students to read texts that contain the main parts of the academic essay such
as the introduction, and conclusion and to discuss the differences and similarities
of these essays with each other. Moreover, teachers are recommended to ask their
students to write outlines of essays and discuss them with others in order to be
aware of the main parts of academic essays.

Data analysis indicated that before ESL training subjects did not use
introductions in their writings as they had not learned such usage in their home
country, but once they completed their ESL training they demonstrated they were
capable of using an introduction in their English writing. Taher (1990) claimed
that Arabic-speaking subjects who had completed learning English writing in the
USA, used an introduction in their Arabic writing similar to the introduction that is
used in English writing. Therefore, this study suggests that English writing
instruction in Saudi Arabian universities should emphasize the practical usage of
an introduction in writing in both languages. Section 5.4. of this chapter provides
activities and techniques that help students learn the use of introductions with
written English.

In addition, the data analysis indicates that the subjects were incapable of

using supports in their English essays, but after ESL they were able to use this writing

126

technique. This ﬁnding suggests that instruction helped subjects enhance their writing
by using support in their English writing, which suggests, therefore, that teachers in
Saudi Arabia need to emphasize this particular technique when teaching English
writing to Saudi students through shared writing discussed in this chapter.

In addition to the usage of introduction and support, the data analysis indicates
that subjects were incapable of using a conclusion in their English writing. Despite
the ESL training they underwent, the subjects still needed to learn and improve in this
particular area. Building upon this ﬁnding, this study suggests that Saudi Arabian
teachers be required to emphasize this particular writing technique as described in the
syllabus design in section 5.4 of this chapter.

5.3.2. Rhetorical

The subjects of the current study were initially unskilled in writing in a way
that satisﬁed standard English writing requirements and from the data analysis it
appeared students needed to learn the importance of cohesion and cohesive devices
in their writing.

For example, Tannen (1994), who studied coherence in both oral and written
discourse, stated that coherence is the underlying organizational structure that
makes words and sentences in a discourse uniﬁed and signiﬁcant for those in a
particular discourse community.

Furthermore, cohesion has been identiﬁed as a subcategory or sub-element of
the underlying organizational and inferential concept of coherence (Halliday &
Hassan, 1976; McCarlley, 1985; Yule, 1985). Whereas coherence involves the

complex interaction between text participants’ cognitive process’ knowledge of

127

language, and word knowledge (Bleuze, 1991), cohesion may also be deﬁned as
the complicit linguistic used to convey information, more speciﬁcally the discrete
lexical “cues” (Gumperz, 1977) used to signal relationships between parts of
discourse.

Studies of coherence and the use of cohesion devices indicate that the
organization and the signaling cues which enable participants to make relevant
connections between and among ideas, sentences and paragraphs, are culture and
modality speciﬁc (Gumperz, Kaltman, and Connor, 1984). That is why writers,
whose native language is not English, use organizational and cohesion devices
differently than native speakers.

Data analysis suggests that subjects were unaware of the methods that
would help them produce a coherent piece of writing as when they wrote, they
were incapable of producing well-organized writing. They could not connect their
writing in a way that made their writing understandable. Therefore, it is suggested
that when teaching English writing to Saudi graduate students, teachers should pay
particular attention to this area of rhetoric to help students produce acceptable
writing. To achieve this goal teachers should use “writing aloud” techniques,
which allow students to visual the importance of connecting the different parts of
the essay. Speciﬁcally, the teacher may ask his class to help him write a letter, for
example, to the program organizer asking him to allow them to go on a ﬁeld trip.
Students will supply the ideas and the necessary information. The teacher will

discuss the relationship between each paragraph and the next. It is also important

C4

128

for the teacher to make sure that the different rhetorical techniques necessary for
writing are discussed before the conclusion of this letter.

Another important writing feature is the use of cohesive devices, which
connect sentences or paragraphs with each other. The subjects were able to use
some of the cohesive devices such as ﬁrst, second, etc., but, as data shows, they
often did not use them, indicating they needed to learn the correct use of these
devices through the writing aloud technique discussed above.

5.3.3. Grammar

Grammar has often been viewed as an incompatible element in language
teaching, and many teachers believe that grammar emerges when writing and
reading are taught. But the ﬁndings of the present study suggest while many
students are taught writing, their improvement is not sufficient in the area of
grammar as the subjects demonstrated they were incapable of writing essays that
were free of basic grammatical errors. For example, tense is one area in which
Saudi students were incapable of improving to a degree that helped them produce
acceptable English writing, even after ESL training. As noted in Chapter Two,
English and Arabic tenses are not identical. In the essays written for this study,
the students indicated they were incapable of producing essays without tense
errors, moving from one tense frame to another tense frame without indication, or
leaving the verb without tense marks. Essays that were written for the Third Stage
of this study indicated that subjects were able to identify some of the tense
problems and correct them, which indicated that they were learning. However,

teachers need to teach students the importance of tense usage through writing and

129

reading practice. One way to achieve this goal is using guided writing techniques.
When the students learn tense usage in their grammar class, the writing teacher
must make sure that students are able to put what they learn in practice. First the
teacher should explain to them in practice the importance of tense using “writing
alou ” technique. So when the student learned tense usage from the teacher as a
model for writing, where the teacher does all the writing and the students watch
and observe what the teacher writes, so in guided writing the teacher’s role is to
support, facilitate and help students discover what they should write and how they
should write it.

In addition to tense, subjects needed to improve in the area of vocabulary
and word usage. In their English essays both subjects indicated that they were
incapable of putting words in their proper places, and, as data analysis in Chapter
Four indicated, they frequently translated words from Arabic and tried to put them
into an English context (see Section 4.2.5, p. 95). Such translations, which were
caused by the lack of appropriate vocabulary and the proper usage of words led
them to use many English words incorrectly. Therefore, suggestions for teaching
students to improve their vocabulary level and their way of using English word are
discussed in section 5.4 of this chapter.

Another area where subjects need improvement is punematien. Because
Arabic writing had no clear punctuation system until recently (forty years ago, see
Al-Furaih, 1984), when the English punctuation system (Radwan and Al-Furaih,
1984) was adopted, linguists applied the same usage to Arabic. Al-Khatib (1983:

15) declared “The punctuation markers are the same as Western ones, though they

130

are written upside down or backwards to ﬁt with the right-to-left writing system.”
Many schools theoretically teach punctuation to Arabic students using the same rules
of English punctuation. However, the subjects in this study appeared unaware of
these rules as they failed to demonstrate the correct usage of this technique.
Other studies found that the punctuation system of Arabic is not systematic.
Koch (1983) claimed that Arabic punctuation does not follow any regular rule
pattern such as that found in English. Taher (1990) claimed that Arabic
punctuation provided no useﬁrl clue to discourse chunking, and that punctuation
was poorly related to text in Arabic. However, one can emphasize the importance
of Arabic punctuation in helping writers convey meaning. It has been noted that
punctuation markers were adopted from Western writing systems, usually with the
same meaning. When a writer uses them in a vague way, it is usually because of
the writer's inadequate knowledge of the English rules governing the use of
different punctuation markers. Nevertheless, it is suggested that the subjects in
this study need to understand the punctuation system since it is considered one of
the important parts of the writing program, and is taught in both languages. This
study suggests that teachers use . writing aloud technique which help the students,
who have just started their academic studies, to realize the importance and usage
of English punctuation
The data analysis of the current study indicates that the subjects lacked
knowledge of W. During interviews and essay analysis, it was found
that students during their ESL learning needed to learn the system of English

articles.

131

The article system in Arabic is totally different from the English article
system. One basic difference is that the English articles “a,” and “an,” do not exist
in Arabic. The Saudi graduate students need to recognize this difference and adapt
their previous knowledge to English writing, by learning the English articles.
Through guided writing techniques that this study recommends to highlight the
importance of the correct usage of English article, teachers are encouraged to teach
the rules and usage of English articles with emphasis on the differences between
the two languages. When the students learn the differences and similarities
between the Arabic and English article systems, it is the role of the writing teacher
to put this learning into practice. One way to do this is by employing guided
writing. Students are asked to supply the teacher with the required information for
a certain topic. The teacher writes an outline for this speciﬁc topic on the board,
and asks them to write using this outline. During the writing the teacher supports
and helps students to put this linguistic knowledge into practice.

Spelling also appears to be problematic for the subjects as the data indicates
and they should learn spelling in order to produce easily understood writing. As
Bean and Bouffler (1987) put it “It [spelling] is not and never can be learned by
memorization.” Thus the Saudi graduate students need to learn English spelling,
especially the sounds which are not part of their language, through writing and
reading practice, and an emphasis should be placed on English spelling which
allows them to spell English words correctly. One example that is suggested to
teach spelling is the writing aloud technique. The writing teacher could bring a letter

to class and read it and then ask the students to help him or her write a reply. Each

132

word that the teacher feels needs to be emphasized, the teacher may ask the class
how do they spell a word like this. Then if a student gets the right answer, the
teacher should praise him to encourage the others to participate. By doing this
teacher will help the students visualize correct spellings and encourage them to
participate.
5.4. Teaching Implications
The results presented in this study have speciﬁc implications for the
researching and teaching of English writing to speakers of Arabic. As far as
school instruction is concerned, many researchers who want to know how writing
is taught in order to explain the problems learners face when they write have
attempted to examine school instruction directly. However, the results have
proved inconclusive. Leki (1991) cited a work by Cason (1992) concerning
literacy instruction in Japan and the People's Republic of China, suggesting that
reading and writing are complex and variously inscribed in cultures. Therefore,
simple descriptions of reading and writing instruction in schools are probably
inadequate, but schools are the most important source of acquisition for students'
writing. Leki (1991), Eggington (1984), and others have noted that most students
from India, Japan, and Korea receive little or no direct instruction in writing in
their L1.
These studies and many others have emphasized the role of instruction in
teaching writing. Therefore, the current study reviewed the current English

writing syllabi in Saudi Arabia to pinpoint the strengths and weakness of writing

133

teaching, in order to develop a suggested syllabus that may help enhance the
teaching of English writing.

Reviewing the Intensive English Program (IEP) syllabi issued by the English
and Translation Department of Imam Mohammed Ben Saud Islamic University,
the following has been noted: First, English writing is taught to the students who
failed to obtain 80 percent or higher in the placement test conducted prior to the
beginning of each semester. It is also taught as an introductory course to ﬁrst-year
students in the English Language Program (ELP) at the university (which is equal
to English Composition 101). Second, not much emphasis is placed on writing
process skills, but strong emphasis is placed on the product, leaving out the
teaching of the writing process. Third, teachers are asked to follow textbooks and
not to add or drop anything fiom the text; in fact, they have no right to change the
text. Finally, only some of the instructors at this stage are specialized in teaching
writing, and some evidence suggests that this is a factor in the poor performance of
Saudi writers in English. For example, El-Sayed (1982) investigated the syntactic
errors of Saudi freshmen English compositions. He found that most of the
teachers at this level lacked academic qualiﬁcations in their ﬁelds. Thus he
suggested that teaching English in Saudi schools should be conducted by
professionally and academically qualiﬁed instructors.

It is possible, therefore, that these factors have affected the level of Saudi
student writing and contributed to the problems that Saudi learners in this study
have in learning English in an English environment. Thus when these students

completed ESL training, they still are incapable of writing a well-organized essay.

134

In order to suggest that the syllabus of English writing might be adopted by
the Arabic writing teachers in the college of Arabic, the current study reviewed the
syllabus for teaching Arabic writing and found that teaching Arabic composition
in Saudi schools is inadequate and needs considerable development. The syllabi
for Arabic writing (Ia'bir) (see Chapter Two, Section 2.2.3, p. 17), issued by
Imam Mohammed Ben Saud Islamic University, Arabic Language College
consists of the following: First, composition is taught once a week for ﬁfty
minutes. First-year students (freshmen) are taught both oral and written
composition. Second-year (Sophomore) students are trained to write short stories,
newspaper articles and summaries, and how to paraphrase a poem in prose. All of
this leaves out the importance of the writing process.

Therefore, the ﬁndings of the current study suggest that in order to improve
students' writing skills, teachers should start with the basic instructions such as
teaching through writing practice the usage of punctuation, the importance of
cohesion and cohesive devices, and the correct spelling of English words. The
following is a suggested syllabus for teaching English writing to Saudi students in
both Arabic and English departments in Saudi Arabia.

5.4.1. Syllabus Design
One goal of this study is to provide useful information for academic
institutions in the Arab world in general and to Saudi graduate students speciﬁcally
regarding the Arab English for speciﬁc purposes (ESP) students' current ability to

write well in both English and Arabic. Also a need to reconsider the present trend

135

for teaching English writing skills as part of the Intensive English Program at Imam
University, Saudi Arabia must be addressed.

However, the features of the suggested syllabus will help in solving the
problems of English writing that were described in Chapter Four. This syllabus will
provide the English and Arabic writing teachers with guidelines for teaching English
writing to Saudi students.

As mentioned before, one major goal of this study is to help guide syllabus
designers in developing syllabi that will improve Arab EAP students’ writing skills
to enhance their linguistic and rhetorical competence and performance. One
important fact that should be taken into consideration is that because of the rapid
development in the education system in Saudi Arabia, the researcher would not
specify the needs of the students, in order not to limit the syllabus to speciﬁc needs.
The following offers a suggested syllabus design to teach writing to the students in
the English Department at Imam University.

An EAP writing class at Imam University, Saudi Arabia, (1U) typically
consists of literate, educated, adult male learners who have just begun their post-
secondary studies. They are required to demonstrate English ability before they
start their undergraduate studies. Therefore, they are required to enroll in
Intensive English Programs (IEP) that are designed to enhance their English
abilities before they start their academic career. Thus the purpose of these classes,
in general, is to prepare the learners to function in the academic community.

The English writing classes that most students (undergraduate students) take

in the English Department have been divided recently into two courses: the

136

introductory course that students have to complete when they enroll at the IEP,
and the writing courses that they have to complete before the completion of their
bachelors degree.

These classes are designed to train the students to write in an appropriate
way. It follows the philosophy that students need many opportunities to practice
various types of writings and within these to develop the different skills involved
in producing acceptable written texts. Moreover, these classes are designed to
prepare students to be capable of completing most tasks they are expected to
perform, such as writing English newspaper articles and translating from Arabic to
English and vice versa when they complete their bachelor degree.

To pr0pose a syllabus for a university EAP writing course at IU, one would
set up his syllabus to address the real-world target tasks of university student
writings. Initially, one would conduct a needs analysis, which is "techniques and
procedures for collecting information to be used in syllabus design" (Nunan, 1988:
14), to determine the real needs of the students before designing the required
syllabus. These needs would then be classiﬁed into target-task types. Needs
analysis gives the syllabus designers information about the speciﬁc needs and
expectations that students hope to acquire. Before the instructor begins teaching
students, he or she must decide which parts of these needs and expectations the
students must have and when. The instructor will decide how the writing will be
organized and what skills should be of primary focus and these aspects will form

the body of the syllabus.

137

The class size this study is targeting is forty-ﬁve, post-secondary students
who want to begin their undergraduate studies and need to develop English writing
skills prior to this time. Thus once the students’ levels and needs are identiﬁed,
then pedagogical tasks would be derived from the task type of sequence to form
the task-based syllabus that would prove useﬁrl for this course.

It is important to mention that in large classes peer activities are not
recommended. In this case guided writing and shared writing activities are
recommended because it addresses the whole class instead of individuals or
groups. Moreover, individual conferences also are not recommended with large
classes since the time required for each student make them unfeasible.

After completing the needs analysis, one must decide what type of syllabus
he or she must use for teaching writing to pre-academic Saudi students. Thus this
study recommends a task-based syllabus for many reasons. First, it uses activities
that students must complete for noninstructional purposes outside the classroom as
opportunities for language learners (Krahnke, 1987). Moreover, the intent of a
task-based instruction (TBI) is “to use learners’ real-life needs and activities as
learning experiences, providing motivation through immediacy and relevancy”
(Krahnke, 1987: 58).

In a situation like the EAP students in Imam University, which consists of
forty-ﬁve students, who just have completed their high school study and have
come to the university with limited writing experience, teachers who would
conduct needs analysis might ﬁnd that these students were unable to write English

without linguistic and rhetorical errors. Also, a teacher might ﬁnd that students

138

were unable to organize their writing as required. Therefore, for the purposes of
proposing and suggesting ways of improving students in the grammatical,
rhetorical areas that this study reported in Chapter Four the following would need
to be addressed. I As Purgason (1990) suggested what is taught is deﬁned by
students' needs. However, this study will assume that students’ needs analysis
resulted in the conclusion that in order for the students to write acceptable
academic essays they need to learn how to handle grammatical and rhetorical
issues such as word usage, amount of vocabulary, using tense appropriately,
reducing spelling problems, using an introduction and conclusion as required,
writing cohesively, and using appropriate support, besides learning essay
organization.

After deﬁning the needs of the students , teachers are recommended to
inform the students about the main objectives of the course. It is recommended
that English teachers at Imam University inform their students that building upon
what they have learned in high school English classes, this English writing course
is an attempt to introduce them to wider and richer writing concepts. This course
is an attempt to let them understand the importance of writing with fewer
grammatical mistakes, providing supports and examples whenever they present an
idea. Moreover, they will learn how to use a topic sentence, an introduction and a
conclusion. In addition, they will be asked to write in many ways such as journal
writing, composition writing, and major papers. The following is a sample of the

course objectives this syllabus is attempting to achieve

139

 

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
0 Editing
One major objective in this course is to let students produce grammatically
acceptable writing. During this course students will be introduced to some
issues that helped students write with fewer grammatical problems, such as the
appropriate ways of using English tense, articles, punctuation and increasing

the level of vocabulary .
0 Topic Sentence

In the ﬁrst part of this course students will learn the importance of topic
sentence in their writing. The importance of topic sentences is stressed by
many writing teachers in the ﬁeld of L1 as well as L2. In this course, students
will be trained to use and recognize the location of the topic sentence in their

writings and/or others writings.
0 Support

An important technique that students are going to learn in this course is the
usage of support. Students will be trained to use examples and explanation to
support their ideas when they write. Moreover, students will be trained to use
facts and opinions in their writings and to present facts before opinions.

0 Introduction

One part of the essay is introduction. In this stage of learning writing students
will be trained to map an introduction in their writing. An introduction has to
begin in general concepts and then move toward speciﬁc concepts, before

O
.cll‘ .-.A.A. 0 l"

Using the task-based syllabus to teach writing will beneﬁt Saudi students,
because the activities and material the instructor will use in the writing class will
be drawn from their ﬁelds. Since they will study English history, linguistics and
some literature courses, the instructor would use the same material the students are
going to use in their academic courses, so their writing material will be drawn
from these areas.

Classroom writing tasks that are used in TBI bring real life into the
classroom, and are distinct from other activities to the degree that they have a

noninstructional purpose and a measurable outcome. An example of a task is to

140

have the students write about what they will learn when they start their actual
writing or what they will do when they complete their studies. IU students in the
English departments are expected to become English teachers, translators,
interpreters, or newspaper writers. Therefore the tasks that might be chosen for
them may be in these ﬁelds, such as writing school reports.

Consequently tasks must be selected according to the students’ cognitive
(Krashen, 1982) and linguistic (Murphy, 1986) readiness for particular tasks and
availability of resources for carrying out the tasks. Furthermore, these tasks
should reﬂect the ultimate goal of enabling students to write whole texts which
form connected, contexualized, and appropriate pieces of communication (ELC
course description Manual, 1995, p. 50).

Writing activities intended to help students develop their ability in writing and in
a second language by working through the writing process should begin with a
ﬂexibility broad enough to allow and encourage students to explore the development
of meaning in and through writing. It is recommended for the teachers of English
writing to divide their writing assignment into two types: journal writing, and in class
writing. Each one has its own objectives

Journal writing

Journal writing is a key part of almost any writing program. It can be done in
many ways: Quantitative journal writing is either a number of lines or pages per day,
or a given amount of time spent writing per day and may or may not be read by the

instructor, but it is not evaluated qualitatively. Other journal writing can be topic-

141

based or explicitly related to more formally deﬁned writing tasks as part of the/writing
class.

During the course that this syllabus is targeting, students are required to present
ﬁve entries in free writing weekly. The objective that journal writing will help to
achieve is writing ﬂuency. In this type of writing evaluation will not be on grammar,
spelling, or organization. One major objective is to allow students write without
paying much attention to grammar, or punctuation. They need to focus on what are
they writing. The idea is to enable them to develop their writing ﬂuency, without
worrying about other things.

In class compositions.

Problems related to grammar, rhetoric, and organization can be treated through in
class writing. During the semester, teachers will arrange their classes around issues
that they feel are the highest priorities. For example, in the ﬁrst two weeks the
teachers should be willing to train their students to write using introductions. Before
addressing any part of the writing students are expected to learn this writing technique.
It can be done through many activities, for example, asking students to rearrange
paragraphs. Students are supplied with a group of paragraphs which contains an
introduction , which they have to arrange, putting the introductory paragraph at the
beginning or at the end of the essay. This would not take a long time, and to achieve
another objective, the teacher may ask his students to copy these paragraphs in their
notebook, which is a spelling reinforcement activity. It is important to inform students
that these compositions will be evaluated in terms of grammar, punctuation, spelling,

organization and content.

142

The topics of writing activities should require exploring the topic
individually or in groups, so that they have a clearer idea of what they will
eventually write and they can get, give and compare writing ideas with others.
Since the size of the class that this study addresses is large, it is not recommended
to teach students on an individual or small group basis. Since the students are just
starting their academic career and are not familiar with the writing skills that are
required in the academic classes, it is recommended that class activities be
handled in the following formats:

Writing Aloud

Routrnan (1994) argued that writing aloud is a powerﬁrl modeling technique
for getting students’ attention and demonstrating various aspects of writing. What is
important regarding this component is that it gives them a model to follow. Since
the students in this class need to learn punctuation, the development of the idea, and
other grammatical issues, the teacher should emphasize the usage of punctuation,
format, paragraphing, and development of ideas. Also, he or she should require
student to demonstrate how each thinks when he or she writes, which will help
students to know how to put thinking into writing and establish a model of writing
organization. Routman (1992: 51) believes that “Writing aloud increases students’
interest and motivation in writing as well as the quality of student writing.” Since
these students have just graduated from high school and do not have writing
experience, it is recommended that the teachers try from time to time to use this

technique to emphasize the techniques of generating and framing ideas.

143

One example that is suggested in the writing aloud technique is that the
English writing teacher should bring a letter which he or she received recently from
a relative or friend to the class and read it and then ask the students to help him or
her write a reply. The teacher may ask the students what he or she should write as
an introduction and reply to the ﬁrst idea. When he or she ﬁnishes the ﬁrst idea he
or she goes on with them to the second idea. After this, the teacher should ask the
students about the conclusion, and what should be said then. Routrnan mentions
that “Walking into one classroom, I discovered the teacher writing her journal entry
with tears in her eyes. Her son had just turned sixteen, and she was writing about
her sense of loss and her worry about her son as a new driver” (p. 212). This
emphasizes how important it is for teacher to serve as “people” in their classes.
Thus, they should show students their feelings when they write.

Shared Writing

Cooperative writing is one powerful way of teaching and learning. It is a fact
that sharing writing with students will encourage them to adopt the teacher’s ideas
and methods of writing, especially if it is a second language. Shared writing goes
beyond experience in which the teacher puts students’ suggestions and ideas into
reality. When a second language learner suggests something and the teacher accepts
it, this idea will be part of the student’s way of writing. Moreover, this strategy will
encourage students to suggest and test their ideas about writing. This technique is a
powerful tool for training students to use an introduction, a conclusion and to

practice cohesion.

144

Guided Writing

Guided writing is the heart of writing course. When students have been
exposed to enough demonstration, then it is a time for them to practice writing.
Students learn from the teacher as a model for writing aloud and shared writing
where the teacher does all the writing and students watch and observe what the
teacher writes. In guided writing the teacher’s role is to support, facilitate and help
students discover what they should say and how they should say it meaningfully
with clarity, coherence, and with individual voice. One way to do this writing is
through writing from an outline. Outlines may be produced by students or may be
provided by the teacher. Writing of this type will help the students with be familiar
to the way outlines are formed.
Independent Writing

By the end of the course the teacher should make sure that what he or she was
expects is actually achieved. This can be done through what is known as
independent writing. Once students have had many opportunities to witness writing
through writing aloud and shared writing, it is time for students to take
responsibility themselves. They should be allowed to write by themselves and
without interference from the teacher. The purpose of independent writing is to
build ﬂuency, establish the writing habit, make personal connections, explore
meanings, promote critical thinking, and use writing as a natural and pleasurable
activity. Moreover independent writing will help students build strong self-

conﬁdence, which is necessary in the ﬁrst stages of learning.

145

Another implication that this study is for the use of two powerful methods of
research employed in this study typically not used in research on the writing
process: stimulus recall and triangulation. These methods are especially effective
because they bring together the auditory, the visual and the written aspects of the
writing process not ordinarily found in such research. The interviews allow for
direct exchange between the researcher and the subjects and the video feedback
enhances the interviews, thus providing a comprehensive view not available using
other methods.

5.5. Recommendations for Further Research

The nature of this research makes it difﬁcult to go deeply into certain issues,
which leaves much room for further research. This study recommends that
separate studies can be singled out for investigation. For example, the causes of
spelling and tenses problems that most Saudi graduate students encounter when
they communicate through English writing still need more investigation in order to
propose solutions.

Moreover, the number of subjects who were recruited for this research was
relatively small, and thus it is recommended to extend this study to a larger
population and/or replicate the study in another population.

Unfortunately, the way the subjects were selected in this study prevented
choosing them according to certain criteria, so it is recommended that ﬁrture
studies should select subjects according to proﬁciency levels. Subjects should be
recruited according to their TOEFL scores and if they demonstrate low proﬁciency

(400 or lower) it is recommended that they be excluded from the population.

146

Furthermore, the time that was allowed for the subjects to spend were
writing for this study was relatively short. Thus for further studies it is
recommended to allow as much time as the subjects need to write. This will
enable them to employ all the writing skills that they know and as such will reﬂect

their actual writing level.

147

Appendixes

148

Appendixes are arranged according to the chapters

order

149

Appendix A

sample of the coded writing behavior Char

//

.Date:

Language:..........

Student’s Name:

.0...DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIOOO

Time End:

Time Start:

25

20

15

10

Time duration

 

1! ‘ ‘ ‘

----r---r---r---r---r---r---r-t-r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
ruin—I11L.untruuuruntruutrnunruuurunuruntruuurutlrunnrnnnrnnnrin
I---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
.---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
----r---r---r---ru--r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
----r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
1---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
----r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
----r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
----r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
----r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
----r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
----r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r--tr---r---r---
----r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
I---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
----r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
I---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
----r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
I---r--.r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
----r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
I---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r|--
----r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---
---ur---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---r---

IIILIIIIrIIL.III—IIILIIII".111...:IITIIITIIITII..“ullruulllrlllrrtlrIII
. _ _ . _

 

 

_———
b--—

_ _ _ _ _ _ _
. _ .5 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ b _

_
_
h _ _ _ _

 

 

Minutes

150

Appendix B
Coding System
Planning
Pl Observable planning acts such as outlining and list making before
starting to write.
Writing
W Actual writing while script is being produced on paper.
Pausin g _
P Reﬂecting while the writer is engaged in cognitive planning, decision
making, or reviewing action.
Pd Pausing to consult a dictionary.
Po Pausing for extraneous reasons that involve some observable physical
action, such as shufﬂing papers, getting a new sheet of paper,
inquiring of the observer about task- or language-related problems,
getting water, and so on.
Reading
R Reading segments ranging from few words or sentences to whole
paragraphs.
Rw Reading the entire draft following the completion of the essay.
Ro Reading other materials, primarily notes or a prewriting outline.
Editing

E Physically making a change/changes in the text.

151

Appendix C

Subjects' Interview questions for first stage/ English language

1.

2.

10.

11.

12.

How long have you been studying English?

How many English courses did you take at your home university?

Do you read English at home?

Do you read books, magazines, or newspapers

What is the best way, in your opinion, to resolve English writing difﬁculties?
What is the most difficult part in English writing you think that you need to
improve?

What does planning mean to you? What kinds of planning you do before
write?

What does revising mean to you? What kinds of revising you do before
write?

How many drafts in English languages do you usually write before you
submit your ﬁnal paper?

Do you identify your audience before you write in English?

Do you consider yourself a good English speaker? If yes, why?

Do you consider the amount of English that you learned in your home
university is enough to begin academic courses here at an American

universities?

152

Appendix C-l

Subjects’ Interviews for first Stage/ Arabic language

1.

2.

10.

11.

Describe how you write in Arabic?

Do you think that Arabic writing teaching is adequate? If not what is the best
way to teach writing in your opinion?

Do you encounter difficulty in Arabic writing?

What is the most difficult part in Arabic writing you think that you need to
improve?

What is the best way, in your opinion, to resolve Arabic writing difficulties?
Writing in Arabic is not similar to English. Do you agree or disagree with
this statement? Explain

Do you consider yourself a good Arabic writer? IF yes, why?

Do you think that planning before writing is important? Why or why not?
Do you think that revising is an important part in writing process?

How many drafts in Arabic languages do you usually write before you submit
your ﬁnal paper?

Do you identify your audience before you write in Arabic?

153

Appendix C- 2

Subjects’ Interviews for Second Stage/ English language

1.

Do you consider learning English writing in America different than
learning it in Saudi Arabia? Why or Why not?

What is the biggest difference between how English writing is taught
in your native country and how you have studied writing in America?
Do you learn new writing techniques?

What are the most important strategy did you learn in approaching
writing

Please explain in details the methods your teacher used to teach you

to write.

154

Appendix 03
Subjects’ Interviews for Second Stage! Arabic language
1. What do you like the best about writing?
2. Do you think that your Arabic writing has changed after studying
writing in America?
3. What is the biggest difference between how writing is taught in your
native country and how you have studied writing in America?
4. Do you think that writing for speciﬁc audiences will enhance writing?
5. Do you think that adopting English writing techniques will enhance

Arabic writing? Explain.

155

Appendix D
ESL Teachers' Interview Questions

1. What part of English do Saudi student encounter the most difﬁculty?

2. Do you consider Arabic-speaking students good writers of English?

3. Do you think that Saudis, in general, are good writers of English?

4. Do they demonstrate concern with audience in their writing?

5. Do you believe that if a student is considered a good writer in his native
language that he is also a good writer in L2?

6. Does the Arabic language help Arabic learners, Saudis in particular, master
English writing? Why or why not ?

7. How do Saudi graduate students encounter problems different than other L2
learners?

8. How do you teach writing? What approach do you use in teaching writing?

 

156

Appendix F

INFORMED CONSENT FORM

 

INFORMED CONSENT FORM

The goals, procedures, and duration of this study (Teaching English
Writing to Saudi Graduate Students : Problems and solutions) have been
explained to me. I agreed to be a subject in this study.

Students Name
Signature

 

 

Date

 

 

 

157

303825 .m~o:oeoh u ~5 5528.5. 32385 n ~85 =moum “525% u M Hm

 

ox Hm

mé<

mm Hm MLM 5555 Mi ~85 .m 5 mm ~85 Mi < ~85 Mam Hm oE;<

 

0% am

”TE

 

 

mm am -~< 5.2.25 MG E ~85 M Hm N< ~85 mi m ~25 Mam _< 253m

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ZOEbm—Mhm—D m¥w<h 4.205— n—mEkJDS—rrw DZ< m3m_>¢m._.z._ 52:23 #9:... EC. mmhéhmaad Acv mgmﬂh

533— 25255 was 2333“:— «55.59

0 556.27..

 

158

Appendix H

Subjects English Essays

159

Appendix H-l

Ahmed English Essay (E1)

I studed my Eelementery study at Abdulah Ebn Masaud school that 20 yers
ago. Placed my school in Makkh, Saud arabia, AlMalaway street that a school
had four ﬂour. in the ﬁrst ﬂour thes school Manejar, and in the secand ﬂour
there are Two class, to fourth class, and ﬁveth class, . and there is one class in
therf class for sexth class. in the fourth ﬂour to third class, second class and
ferist cass.

there are also sevarel of the othear in my school for a scines diffrant.

that school was studeis, Quran, Math, Hostary specially the Eslarrric
Hostory, Geography, and Hadith. Or any thing of Eslam . My school seem to
be useful I go to the school from, saven in the morning to one ore tow in
afternoon. Some time before that. I thin got to many usvol from that school.

160

Appendix H2

Ahmed English Essay (E2)

There are many palces in my countrt. So may be I can talk about any one of them,
but I like to talk about Makkah city, for more causes ﬁrst, because the profet
mohamed was born in this city and the relagn of Islam staded from this city too,
then reached to all the worll.

Second: my grand fathers, fatheres and I were born in this great city we also have
been living there. ,

Makkah has a holly mousk. It’s name (AlHarm). every year many people from all
Islamic’s country come to Alharm, for mak prayer and AlHaJ or Alomrah.

I know, Makkag city is very hot wather, but any one wen be live in makkah, I’m
sure he will feell wnderfole feeling, and he may can’t to live away from it.

That because I saw many people came to Makkah, then they could not go out it.
One of my friends, he come frome bakstan came to Makkah for a Jop but, while he
living in Makkah some time, he said my :I can’nt go back to bakstan, becaus I
cann’t live a way from makk .” not this only. he was usually going to Jadah,
however he was not sleeped there he said me “I cant do that, I lik sleeping makkah’

161

Appendix H3
Ahmed English Essay (El-R)

When I was a child, nearly between 6 and 12 years, I was studing Elmentery
school.

The location of this school is Saudi arabia, Makkah, Alnrlay Street. The school was
called (Abdlah Abnmasaud) it was consist of 4 ﬂours and it was 6 class. In each
ﬂour has 2 class, and the other ﬂour was spicail for the tetchers and the
admnestration oﬁce. all the tetchers and student were forom Saudi arabia, an all of
them were men, as will as this school was onthoer things. For example, small
restrant and spicial place for the football and basket ball, how ever we werent very
hapy because we couldn’t go out the school during the rest ore breaks between the
classes, becaus that wasn’t allow. I cant rembar all thing about that school but I can
say “I hav buteful rembers about it

162

Appendix H-4

Suliman English Essay El

Fitrst I want to write about the unversity of Um Alura it’s located in
Alzizia Street in Makkah, I attended since 1986 my Major was Social work,
and I graduat since 1990 with grade 3.286 (very good)

Second my secondary school, also located in Makkah at Alsteen Street,
Iattended it since 1983, and it’s give commercial studies to the studets. During
three years they attend and I graduate since 1985 with grade very good.

The third, my elementary school, it’s also located in Makkah at Al
Mansour Street, I attended it since 1980, and its a governmental school as any
elementary schools in Saudi Arabia, and in this stage, I start studying English
language, because in Saudi Arabia, The English Language study strat from the
Elemertary schools, and in this stage also, I met with deferece students,
Because they came from deference Areas in Makkah, and this gave me more
experince in my lifetime, Because, I was yong

In Stun my say, I want explane that, I took more experience in my life
time during, 1 attended those stagies, and I want write that my best days in my
life was it in the university, Because its was the real stage, and I don’t forget
the roles and knowledges I took from the secondary and elementary schools
was great.

163

Appendix H-S
Suliman English Essay (E2)

According to an interesting place in my country, I will write about
Makkah. Because it’s the holy city also it’s the center city for all Muslims in the
world.

Makkah Ahnukkarma, located in western of Saudi Arabia. It’s a big
city, in this city there is the holy Mosue AlBeet Al haram. Which million of
Muslim coming to visit this Mosqe and they make theire prayers.

However, most Muslim coming to Makkah two time during the year.
First in Ramadan month and the second when they perform Al Hajj.

Makkah is old city in the world, and it’s climate to hot in the summer,
wormm in the winter also in this city there a lot of historian ﬁrings and events.

For examples, there is J abel Al thuor and Gar Hara, which was
prophet Mohammed staied most of his time to pray for God. Also there is Jabeal Al
Rohma, which located in Arafat area near Makkah, and in the area all Muslims who
coming to perform Al Hajj they stay the nineth day of Al Hajj there and they pray
AlZuhur and Al asur. In this day they ask God for every things they need and they
ask God to forgive them from any wrongs they did.

Althoug in Makkah there is abig university, which enclude Al sharea
college this college graduate most of Muslim leaders for Islam.

To sum what I have wrote, Makkah is the most pupuller city in the world.
It’s the center of the Islamic world and it’s a beatiful city, but it’s climat to hot in
the summer. Most Muslims visit this city during the year.

164

Appendix H-6

Suliman English Essay (El-R)

Any student during his study life mube he likes to talk about his school,
which he loved and why he loved this school, So he always talk or he describe this
school to the people, si=o I will describe my university here because I got a lot of
experience there.

Um Al Qura university is located at Al ziza street in Makkah. It has seven
facullty. It’s one of the seventh universies in Saudi Arabia.

Also it has a big buildingas and huge lands belong to it. In this university
there is a lot of people who work to serve the students ans make them feel
comfortable.

At Um Al Qura there are the famouse faculity it’s Alshareea faculity this
gradule most famouse Islamic leader in the world.

I attended that university since 1986. My major was social work. I graduta
from that university since 1990 with grade 3.286.

To srun what I have wrote, Um Al Qura university is pupular university in
Saudi Arabia. Most of the Islamic leaders graduate from that university. Itook a
chance to study in that university and I graduate with very good grade. I think I am
very lucky because I graduat from the most wonderful university in the Islamic
world.

165

Appendix L

Subjects Arabic Essays

166

Appendix Ll

Ahmed Arabic Essay (Al)

MA)“ on)“ .111...»

"HI-tr "'01 sol 04 “sh m o—t 1.4-rt ’4; 0H4 141)“ ’1 oil-n11 e1)“
«,9 1431,11 guilt 0. (931311 ”.11 .9 nail ALA ga- 11,. «w» 41152., 411.,
«1” ol Dbl £0111 ,9“ «2‘; 13341 “d 10)! M1 394411144 Mall «at
9,42. Aim 9‘0 w L531! Han AltL “all dbl M23, 1m mean Juan!
1.31”; .133): I“; Wait “reﬁt 1.1 might MAI x...“ ml; mull,
A‘s-2A 09-0313“ LA» HM an)» 1‘1“» M m ill-11 Ml» Hr“, «an,»
.14, x-‘o «*1 it» «e-u M W

$1,119,: an harm, ”a. um... 01 111 Outer, La, 0Lk mat i.-.,t
.1931, ARI/mil?- 149 [31131-1
LLyhkdlkW!4hh,x,-Hhuﬂlﬁyolﬁdldlnvl~,
k3; Lilo-3m «931,311+ o-k as!» W eh“ 1‘1 vii-11 1AM “we“ “2““

167

Appendix L2

Ahmed Arabic Essay (A2)

as)“ on)“ .111“,
n.1,, alll ‘1’.) ell. 91.11, “.11, £111 hull

thdlseHleleﬁe-ybrlJ‘Lda-fodlhhrlLilli-0110141«10141341th
MMIM’IWA,Moar-lu‘lolglm1 Mumhildyw.mt.tl
.aftwthwar

wasn-lab {9.5le luJ» Althkr¥l,)r.lnll~.u,1“l Lin. 2.31) amaze. bl,
Kuhn-4641.5...)alklul)tholqﬂhatﬁullgﬂl”Alma”;lla3kl¢l,¢gll
614301mmﬁumanxwlaulanywhere-.mamaulwrut,
Wegtmutarsoihzuagamu otrtaumaalmauwaihmrg
‘1 Lula (#141411 WllmwrhlmleUIMQ-bwl hlyeAe-i-Idhlrl
.hﬂnllllqgfall

H1...“ M, ant .11 autumnal; Quart .u centennial .111 51'»;th .1115.
as an sum 1... at auto-«wwwtamw- Lad, 414ml ~341wa
..m up Qamlyoﬂ, up. 1...», (an 1.1.11 an; 1251,11 1.1.1 mgr, M1 ”1.1
@JLLAI(MIOAL”a-l &L‘1)h)e‘,thI—'Uiklldmg «as» (fall 91,11 mum
4.41 tunwrmt .1311
“111“,...113qwﬁA)lLbl,§HolhaelaLL-q!m,ulal09,)mhLl-lznulu
..,.,1.tsraggmtoriqgmuetaaolmsmirmh»
Wldmwml-nllrml-‘vmbeir d-rukmlel-erﬂldbhotAa-uwll
.(Ht an) Llutlua‘golL or; eat 411's. 693)th ”1.1 .m,.,u.m,,1_m
yum; urn etytw),ut1mm,.),~mu.1mmu1¢urol,yal¢
99'3“4115it’lM9‘2-ﬁ-“91MWeAWOMmQ’AF9ﬁl-HMH
1&1 0L1, -L4Mlhlbln¥1m»okdeﬂl ﬁldrﬂlmw‘romhwnhwmy
“Ase-N)» )LrnlJ-nsu-‘a Ire-Lu“ 4431-4431-an w» «1 MAME
eh»- w—I‘N 015-11 911-11er x1411, 4411 Abbi ell-i 013-; ")9" orhWér-I-d-s‘ll
«WWIMIJsgglluMhLQlclMllm@Jbuh)hnl¢len,lu
Mérmlh'mmwlw-ﬂwlwdhhml“:db£d)9rruttdhabw
M43MM)NIJva-LrJ-“men-lrtwmh‘ﬂﬂﬁﬂldmlokml
0‘9th leAJll ILA, 541,11 9,141 In 4.4.1 arms-.1. )u‘a-lﬁlq'owﬁmll In
...u hUlwlgzongmn-zlalll

168

01 1,4. )1, 5,.“ «an. as on “11115..“ “2.1 .4, Mt “an «nut 0‘ int, 1;.
UL» «1131,41 441-», MM -‘¢-r 0‘ #2331 r1 ‘33-; .3 vii-1

169

Appendix L3

Ahmed Arabic Essay (A3)

“us-run Lwll 3.2.1.41 «eh-h e4 car-rd m4 (LL94) Lu all «'1 01 J.»
a» M as. am In «em «rue e—x a» an In» mm m and»,
0-4 DU- Ml tin or)» 0‘ 13"- 32149 m e3 03-44134 Jerri-11 04-“
abs-rill Jun-t1 a...» Kori-ll “u enl A.» «24)», 111-; blur £01 w]
HMJulwurwiehrt-JIQMIWIMHJMHM
sir-ill 0-1 4-1m .14....11, 995 «a» «r («in») t-.,l, 4.211., Ash #9 (“ﬂ-b)
1'. “'1 J1 fol-194W 04.,“- oi ,1 «rah-9. sub 0-!- 321+!» L431 AA #111 a: e41
Lab, 0,4.»th up our h—a an» 1‘1 15.1311 Tori-ll 1.1 Abn until 1‘01; he?
Mawlamamamuixmwlm Llamas-M»:-
kt ebb-81

mm L—n mmmlﬂl rum LA an,» «.d m not an whit will
Hr)“, OHM LA; 0U- Lid-r {4 34311-11 W *9 v49 0‘“ )3“ «9‘ ill-“r
111-11 15.. «H but“ «up w out“ M «a» 441 a» we we {eel
Sui, 0a; .1 1.31 aﬁaall m, Jygll 15.x 01:39.11 1,1311. that was but
@mlwlﬂebaﬂlh,¢3gﬁmﬁmy hoghyhﬁlﬁlllllha
qurymrmt gﬁthJA‘oqlm‘ @«lclﬂtﬁgﬁlﬂ-ﬁﬁdl, mu.
«rd “A 42-51, 4'41“, wt, hill “bl; «la-1+3: -O»£l- 141)» 4114‘» 13‘
1.2.3qu ﬁlmmwl mwuoitpraulatsuwtr
.11,“ gull

170

Appendix L-4

Suliman Arabic Essay (Al)

an)“ 0.1,111111...
.1...... L3.»0,1...»11,.1,,31114,11..11.L.11,111.11,.,,.11.11..,1llu.11
ml 1..., ‘11 our 911-, «1‘ 411
‘4!“ s93 01-31 m" W‘Ml eel-1’41 1.11 «1351—1 M1 01 hi1 1111-111 «1‘0
..,1 3.1.1141)“ 4.1.x» -~.a,11 1,1.- mm a. (.3 01.1, 191.11 1;.
1.1.1,.11 1.....11 <14 9'11““ M1 «14 ’4’ soL-sl M (91.11 «ea-ll 43-1 01
-= 41-13111» )rh J-l 0‘ ml tbs- 21,51 All: at 0,4311 it» r“ 41)“ u-r-M
)r-w «1,11 13,1111; 01““; is)" All: at or?“ r» «ti-)5“ ,,..11,1 Jr“ ,,..11
13,111“, IAIN «2411 #12191 an 140 {-1 01 13.”. err-db 1.1. 8'01
“~41 H» ell-11+; 1AA 011314“ «16114259111311 #13 the: 211‘ 41th we
1,,L...11 61,111 13,111 0-9—34 1.1).. M" 13,111 1;. 111..., .1,. .3,A. 13,111
1431*- cur-U" ‘3er ‘13”er AWL?“ 04 «Mill. i-ht at“ 13,2111“
414‘ 91-1er 1W; ”.1” Jens we)“: L41 Hm ‘4 h—a +11 3M «2"
(4)431 1.3,:11 guy-x, Lat aQ’iL'Oh-l, (9)131 (1,3,3...) 01 115,13 isﬁi. M, el,‘
Jr“ rib-ll «H £0411 nil «24’ 351.41., M 1.. «kl—ill a-luLp L-k «1W
1.1.11 ..1..1,..1, 1_.1.11.-.1.,1._..11 .11 13,111 1a. \,1. 61.11., 1...”, (.1.../.111)
.1.-.. 1111.11 v..,1..., 1.1. «9‘3 61,111 13 ,211 1.1 mm 4.11,
{-121 c» orb M (M )th-ll) uni-11 1.31 M r» «31311)th u-r-N 1.1
{913-11 all Karl: “)1 131....11, am; 411;; it,“
”4 “)1 1., h-m ’19-‘11 04 .1141 0-H «19 st“, ,,~_11 1H «1'0 «1er 1311.111
11.4 1...”, .Lnll 0.. .31).;1ﬁ1 11,3...1, 1.1x Sol a“; 1.31111 13,111 1.1 .1}...
«'41.er “1.3.1 “‘1’“- AM- 1., hm; «$1,141 will at 93'- 3.1.11, brill
.,,.111u. ..3 1.,.,.11.3,111 ”1113,1111“. ”as, 4.211.... 1., 1...,1,
1.131, v1,1... L-k 1.3,:11 1a., ...1111..,3. 13,1 4.3 1:11:11 13,111 a”... 1.1
“94 ”rill .1.., vim-112145349 ~41 L-lk L3)?- 04 h—r Y .1... Jul-111
(”In Jib-r - r») 11,1113... at 11.1.11 .3ka

171

1414331 hum 141” ,,1.11 M or» .93“ 141111“ —.11,1,1113,1.11 o-r-be 1.1
(”11.1 .1” 13,11111..1 131.113,:1111.., ,,..1111.. .3111 51.13 11,,11 Mb
0,111., .1115; iv?- wl at <1,“ 3‘3 4:111:11 231-11 o-r-M 1‘1

£0111 .1311 04 M13 13,1111“, 3131-41 at “1.110,“ 1411- e» 111.111.3111
“)1 1., H» 13,111.14, "‘er L3)“ a-il Law-r 191‘ M.“ 8‘0 1313 1.11
bull» 1... 0M .3,. 045-1110441141 w an 11... «w 13114 1121-
193 14“ omit-e 045-1150344113“: 19311 51141113391 6H “AL“ ‘5‘ «a! )3»,
drill «A? «9111 Amie“ 6H 13,111111. «23 23m «bull

11,311... 1,11 13.11.11 13,2 ...31111111 13,111.,.,1,1131113,111 ,,.,.1, 111
1,311 £0,139 l-lxll Alahidl at» its)» JR)“ 0‘ 1111111

L... 11:1 11,. Wt. 1.1-1 13,1 ,m 13,11111.,(1111111)1.,1,11113,1111,,11,
awlmwlwwwméﬂ

ck". l-b-ll 1114,1311 4» km 9 13,11, 31- 11,1111. in» 1,411,

1,1.11 4.1 011.111.1111.. (.3 1.,,1,.,111.11.,.J,1111.,1 0.11 13., 01111..
1g,l:1.ll 0a

...1... 1.1 .13 will 11. 1.1.11.1 1,1. 1.11.1311 1» 13.11 1.1 13.341 .13
4-1 <11 Jim its» 03-41 set-J1 «ea-ll Jxla- erl (,1 1..., 6"! 1,1111. €041
{3,111 11..

J—‘xhr 111- 4.11.. «1.1-311 1541 0.11.. MM ..1,11 lrl-x 4211.. M 19311111”
114-11 111-111 e-lt 019-14qu11 «12.11; H» ...11 «all 4—1 1.11 1.1, .1»
04 H .3,. ref-11 4:11.111 04 u-U-ll .11., 1.1.1.3 1.1111111 l)“; 11,31 1)“
11..., <1.1.11.1. 1111.111. .1......” 1,3. 1.» 6111,. .91..” {,1.., 411.111 11..
LI“ 1.11, ),’- 04 <1th «I»A h-m «hull 0-H all; 1111')“ «has 3‘ .111..11
<14 1111. .1». 1.1,, 1.11.,1,1.1,11\.11, 131141.11) an .1 111m:- 1» <1,“
Ltl "em 19111191" ml A1311 In ...L-, 014m- 41-1 H)” ,1,.1 (4)1
all 191)“ sail-1 on“ «1‘0 «811-33311 1... «4'» r“ em“ «91‘ set-11 1,111-11111
J» H» 1111)“ 111-4 41-11-3- 421)“ M» 191)“ irks Jﬁdl 18‘ 31-1 r" Jil-
.1314 an» 19.1)“ em all; «1113-3-13 w bull 18‘ 1111-, or)» (,1 or“
«91% 9.11111 9,41 0-H 15‘. 011)”- 0‘

172

131-13,311 J-u)‘ 1.111 o-t M1; 1113-411 0A ...,.11..11 1.1.11 191)“ d-r 18‘ 013-
)b—t ‘13-‘11 «1A 111-3 {-11 Jﬁdl -..-.-.,.11.-..,1 u-ﬂt «91-1-1 0‘ 1.911311 011113;
11,111,111 .11.. 111.111 ,1 1...... - 11,111 1.1.11

.,1,1.1 1:11: 0‘ be“ who

Lew M1 L“ 1.1.1.11 L313» ‘01 (4)1 11%“ 1h w r» J-4 111-3 H»,
.,,1.11 1..., 1,...111..,1111

#1111111... 13.11 0.1 «1.11. 1.111.111.111. ~11. 131.11. ,1. 1.1,, {11:11.

173

Appendix L-S

Suliman Arabic Essays (A2)

11.11.,13.3-31.1o-thtaeraawh-uu-wmmwuw
1a. 1.11 1.,L1311 c,. ”32.11, 1111.11 ,1, 1,111.11 111,111 .11 1,311.1,111 111,111 0. 11.3.1 111,111
119-‘3 «14‘ ,1... L. Ltd-1L1 1H +31“ 0» 93)“ 91-1 01; All 141-11- 9‘)“ «la-ii <11 «013311
41231311 113141 an nth-3.11 null 1» 133-1»

i,,_11..311..,11111.11,.11.31.,11.1,111 111,111.931513111 Memorial “1.3,.
1.1, <,., ...111... .11.. 1.111. 1.11 (11111.11. H... 34.1.11. 1,111.11 111,111 1111,,11111111,111
a 11.,111 “3»41 .4 3.113311 311141. Law on .1311 «re/““11 1H- 1.1.11 ..,. .131
Ambit 111,111

1a,.11111_.,1.111,,3 91,11 .311 ,111L3,31 .3, 1,..1 113.». —.L,11.1,1111.11,.11 -.111
1.9.1.111. ell 4115-, 91'!- 04 M19 tar-Ml 0‘ 9‘)“ «31 M ~39 ‘93-‘11 ll» £11513!“
nul- «113 12811, 111-38 04 3133-11 1911 1,3 o! «rt-‘11 11.. 1131 .-..2. «311-1191 91)“ 33-113
9‘11, MUM «Al «IL-313 91-3413 0431 N19 9)“! «13:11 111.,. air.» 013- nl £313 dell!
“Le 1949 In)» 011- 1911 “U1 £33331; «rs-A11 18‘ £33131 311311 ”)4! own“ ”.111 c»
H)” 1930 11.31111 ..,L.1 ant-11 013-, ram vi- e? “933‘ «lb-1 1.1.1 01-1 4313 whit
.19.. )1le 5113,11

out-‘11 «a on 1.1 .311 3111-11111 .3». om 3.113311 311.111. 11.31 1 .311 ova-‘11 1.1
.31., r 1.311, 1.311 ...11 .11.. 131.111,,11 1.1.11 01 .1111 5. 1.13111, 1. ,..11, 11.111, 01,, .J,11
.gtnwtsmwammmmewmt 11. .1,11.11,1,.,1..111,.1.11¢1;,;.111.1
1,1.193,M1..,...11‘.11 s,1._11,,.1.11 £113,111,.1,,12..~1313,..11,,,z,..11.,.,,..,01
1.,11 when 11.91,,1311 11...,1 ..111 “11.11.341.11 u.,.111 ..,1.1,1.,...11
.1111 .3 1a 1.11 1131113.. 3111-11111 m 3.2-1.111311» «1311.13.
1.1111,1,.1,.,¢,,.,1..11.111,.11mwtmmmmgﬂmmtmmr .1111:
1,111. 3.111.111.1111.” \..11 ”.3111 1.1111 111,1..11 1,. .11., 011 11,1111. or 1,,,1,.111
H1611 «1.1-‘0 am“ 1.1.31.1 1.3.1.. om 1.11.11 WI; “are“ 11.. l»:- eu 41H 013-; 43111-11
om ~33 L-u .1 31-111. mm M11 3.1m 1,11,, 1.11.11 .31 0-1 33311 i1... .33. 1,.
.1,-,,1..1111111111.1. 1111,911311, ..1 ,1111 11.. 1.11.1111. 1.11.., (,1 53.1111 ,9;

.31 3321. 311-3 on 1.1 311 311mm .1». .33 mm .1. .13 on 111-11 wan 1.1
1.3111611.11..1,,1.,.111,.,ral1.111111..._3,J.311.111.1,11.,.,1.1111.0,2.,
...1 ,..11 11..

o. u!» .u it.- ..»Lan s. can. .111 .31 new 11.. .13 1313111 man no.“ 4:11:
11am,o,.,.nte.aumro.,,ra111.1.11.11,.1111...11113.,,,.,1111<,.,1._.11.11
.11 L13 0,1,..11 11m 1» .11, .11.. on, .11 wt. 3.1-13.1.312- nudt «3- .3 own“

174

91-3111MMﬁrJ-ﬂlthlhdoweuheudtkuoma‘eutilWIu-ws‘r
1.31.1111 11111, ,111 ell-1 01 1,1.1 .11.. 41112., e,111111311... ,111 ,a,1.,.1.1 1;.
1.11.1.1” 113 1,11,.u1,,..111111

175

Appendix L-6

Suliman Arabic Essays (Al-R)

Hull on)“ .111“,
9.1....“ WWﬂl,¢L»3m a»1w.m1, ath, (”41:11 4,413.41
and w; d1 «1‘, ’11" Hit .m
my «95‘ 01-21 m" easy-n11 cad-1,41 ~41 «ssh m1 oi ml Illa-Al «3
H1 (”p.11 41)“ 4.1411, 15,11 Mr 113-“114* «a? old, MUN-1‘
u1.1,.ut......1t wmxdlﬂ‘u‘ll Q4 F, .oplmeut «did-101
-: 42-331“; m- J—‘- 0!- Aha-31‘3” )ba-l A1: 0‘ 0,13: 4,, #3 e1)“ 0-H
x—w elm will, 09““, ‘01 A93 0‘ wit s» eh)“ ”:41 ,1 J,“ ”~11
uﬁll 54» Lulu: @411 #1219159“ 143 am at hay-I 0M1; l-k ml
“.4, M}! 81-19; 141-.“ \9-11 sl-N «11:1,;le H3 6"“ M 4:9”- but
x),L...dl $9421 ugh «Pr-N 1.1/m fxf r0111 sh at“, A” 4;. 13,111
L‘hlh «All 101*“; din-91, 92L?“ 04 «M91; L-k «943 “#11 ‘U
423‘ 91.11.” Ina-w ﬂht)’ 4...“, oaﬁk 1‘; Hm LA h-A «J1 I»?- e"
«A91 ”#11 u-r-N 1‘1 «Uh-1; «wbl w 01 haw: wk “9 4»
MI )9th «H .0411 »--’-I «A, slum, M u 4an a-h-AL; L-k «a
14.11 3.14194, L-hll .31. )13—“11 4.; uﬁn .s.‘ 63 91.11., H”, (9,91)
.1... mull “,1” at: Q". 9‘ A91 13):“ 1.1 mm 4.41,
(4)10: orb ’43 (Him-11) 055911 m M ,9 «9131‘ ”=41 u-H 1‘1
{2131 all MA 1'0» “lbw-9h hm; 4115-1 ‘01
M4 1'01 L4, h-m ’19-‘11 04 HL-ll 0-H «at! e" ”th 15‘ «.9 «1’3“ 139*“
‘5‘, H”, 4411 o; gal/qtyt leunl, 11.1: a): Q“. 1.31m 13,111 1.1 A)“
malwhll H831 hi AMI. LA; Hm «Audi «‘11 c» 95"- z-NL‘ will
”ml 15.. Q; “mat man ”L1 rum .u m, .mn 951., u, {5,1,
L431, “,1“ 1.1; Lb/all AM, ”4111...,“ 13;; ea mull 13,211 9”.» 1.1
£5.94 3.3/an a.” v..,,u._ll )lim! ...‘1 L-k L01 0‘ L, Y A.“ JLaLYl
(”In «131-v - ))-) 4193“ an at Jl‘ol-Yl 5.ka

176

Q...“ Ant 15.,“ bull ”.n [m 0}“ M LA ‘9‘; -211.,l)1133)ill 9”.“ 1.1
W1“ ..m 13,111.“ um mm “.4, ”Al M 33131 9:. mt Mb
oath; All-‘- &0)?» wl 0‘ wk #3 Adult ”’41 u-F-‘N l‘l

lib-ill ,w-‘l 04 M13 will *9 Jul 0‘ U-l-ll m «41‘ Q" salﬁll will
U)?- lq hm ”ﬁll .54, “Ml, “)1 cal-31 l-M-‘w «ll aw?- 8'! W lull
mu tau 0% .-.,. o—zl-ll awn m w «ax-1 M «w x»; M-
«:3 l-m om val-ll we‘ll on: eﬂl ahklﬁalll an will Ah «ab )3»,
4,,11 u-n «sill islalrulll an will Ah «so )3», bull

51,313.“,ng 12.-Hint: 13,2 wwmmﬁt «,1th 13,441 0.,“ m
9,311 dot; 1.13.11 Aklﬁdl 8"” by)” JR)“ 0‘ 1131211

La. Ju A» Wt, L—h :02 Mr.- mm .H, (mun) 34,111 min {$1,
.aL-wtmwlwweamhw

M, mm MAI 4" M» 9 ran, 9.- JM hm Dal,

bull 4.4 01 Lngdl n.‘ Q3 .91, .Jslhll 0‘ del 01- wk 4., 01A 13.‘
Qﬁﬂl 0A

L.1¢L-.,n 43 0,4111“ Mm! {)L; H1 Um 0‘ bull 0,4 13,341 ‘93
Jﬁ-xl do» Jul «eh-ll sea-ll slalh 013.11 0‘ 1..., 6‘: Jﬁ‘ll'v 9"“ «us-N
{0.11 In a-l 01

J-Ah’ M— JAM «94“ ll-Al «kn H”, mull Uh Jim W «Lu-ll Jun
«mutual 6m 019111443 «A» a»; u-u «all 4-1 but bl, -»»
»—¢-ll Jun 0‘ «mm m. hm dull an Us» mil Us: m-n Jun.
«an-ll Shun 411:. up tn 50‘ l)“ 1“ «ll» «9M2, lﬁ-a J'u-‘ll llm c» )‘i #0»
”=- 04 0% J)“ H» J‘Aull on all; «elﬁ‘ JAM ;‘ «hull l5" call
J)“ h—m l-Hl )l-all «it, -é)l-‘l~ll «l; A Lil «Al—4h 0‘ wk Lab at;
HA1 *4" ml iwll lh ml» milk H H”, )l;-l e-vl 0A orb
«ail-2 ml 44 «as-ll «#1 m «m; w m1 «It «till «I’ll «+11 kl Rea-u
«I» M AM «I»; u» e1» 41» am um «4 m J»- «at «I»
self: 0-»: «ll; «la-1» w Jﬁnll llm «Al-s w)»- 0‘ as“ J)“ A»
«elm u-llhll 9"“ wH ll“ m»:- o‘ J)“ hm

177

”ﬁll J—u)‘ t-lll 04 «Hal; Jl'r-ll 04 Asyll-‘ll «A «elﬁ‘l 4» ll-A 01$
)lH ll'M-ll «e—x «ii—'0 6": J)?“ ﬂimll 4-,l 0.31. xel-tl ol hull ml cl J»,
um 1,1; 4;... nun 0. 1.9.“, - .1)..11.......11

~2l’hl $393 0‘ «bull 0,43»

L4“, )e—r‘ll l4“ o—ull Lilw £01 eul bull ll“ 04 ”=- l‘ Q3 h-m’
. ”1.11 ha, 94.3.11 1.93“

unit 04 bull 0,4 mu, L-wt 4mm u H)! mu 9“ u» lx-xl;
.mvnl

178

Appendix M-l
ESL Teachers' Interview
Suliman’s Teacher

1 What part of English do Saudi student encounter the most difficulty?

T: Well, I’ll have to begin by saying this is my ﬁrst time to teach writing and I
had only one Arab student, which is Khalid. I had one Jordanian, but that, I think, is
a little bit different. He’s an Arabic speaker, but he seems to have a little bit
different idea about how things go, uh, so my one studen -- would I perceive him as
a good writer? I would--I don’t know ifI can say Arab students are good writers,

based on one student.

2 Do you consider Arabic-speaking students good writers of English?
T: Through writing? Or--
A: Yes, writing.

T: Okay. Writing, I think, it’s the rhetoric. From what I can understand and I’ve
talked with the students about this a little bit, that they come from a writing rhetoric
that structures things very differently than English? Having never--I’m not able to
read Arabic. I’ve never read it myself; I don’t know. But, um, they have said, “You
want to put a lot of detail in and kind of circumvent the idea and get to the main
point.” And in English it’s not that way. It’s much more direct and, um, they feel
very pressured to ﬁnish writing, like, the big thing of course is the exam. We must
pass the exam and they think the 30 minute thing is a real crunch.

Um, personally as a writing teacher, I think a 30-minute exam is terrible, but that’s
nothing I can change to (unclear) by myself.

A: Okay, then from Khalid, --

T: I can only generalize about one student right now.

2 Do you think that Saudis, in general, are good writers of English?

179

T: Um, he seems to try,but the whole audience principle is something that not
only he but the whole class was having trouble with. Who are we writing to? For
what purpose are we writing? Um, he did make an effort to understand that and I
could see as his writing developed, that he was trying to focus a little bit more on
that, but he had so many writing skills to work on that, uh, that one didn’t become
extremely focused.

A: But is it part of the curriculum to teach them?

T: Yes. Yes. We did, well, the main thing when you’re teaching like the writing
of an essay, the ﬁrst thing that you would focus on is what is the purpose for this?
Who is the audience? And he was beginning to grasp that, but I think it still needs
some work. I couldn’t get--it’s a difficult principle to convey and being a ﬁrst-year
teacher, I had trouble knowing how to clarify it for the students.

3 Okay, part of your curriculum, uh, back to your curriculum, did you, I mean,
gave them exercises or something to write for speciﬁc audience or always at all?

T: Yes. We did, um, a couple of speciﬁc lessons talking about audience and
purpose and how you would write in difﬁerent ways for different people. We did
some role plays where I gave them a situation and they had to do some writing for
that speciﬁc situation. They would read it out loud and the class had to guess what
the purpose and the audience were. For example, writing a letter to your rich
grandfather to ask for money for college. And so those things helped them to
concentrate on it more, but still with the general essay, when I gave them a sheet for
doing a peer edit, often it said what is the purpose of this writing? And they would
say, “To explain about a t0pic.” You know, to explain about Thanksgiving. Who is
the audience? General. So that was, it was hard to get more focused on that.

4 Do you believe that if a student is considered a good writer in his native
language that he is also a good writer in L2?

T: Not necessarily, because there’s a difference in rhetoric. Um, you know, I
have a lot of experience with Japan and Japanese and what’s good writing in
Japanese directly translated into English might not be worth much.

5 Does the Arabic language help Arabic learners, Saudis in particular, master

180

English writing? Why or why not ?

T: Having not had a lot of experience, it’s hard to say. Um, the Arabic-speaking
students I’ve had--they’re not all necessarily from Saudi Arabia. Uh, so I don’t
know if there’s a culture difference involved. Um, I think from what I have heard in
the teachers’ lounge, from what I have experienced, that Arabic-speaking students
have a more difficult time learning English. The writing structure seems to be hard
for them to become comfortable using and spelling is an extreme problem. It can
cause words to be unintelligible.

6 How do Saudi graduate students encounter problems different than other L2
learners?

T: Well, I think, um, one would be in the spelling, because graduate students
often have to do a lot of writing and if their spelling is really bad, that will begin to
cause obstacles and problems with writing and communication that way. Um,
reading, I think, from what I can pick up, is the strong point. They understannd a lot
of what they read, but trying to express themselves in the American style of writing
can be a big difficulty, so the self-expression, focusing in on topics the way that the
American rhetoric perceives to be “correct” is a problem and then the spelling, the
mechanics. A lot of times, just commas in the wrong places and stuff that change
the meaning and so I think those are obstacles, those are things I think the students
themselves have identiﬁed. You know, Khalid has seen that and he has mentioned,
okay, I need to work on this point and I think they’re aware of it, but it doesn’t
make it that much easier to correct.

A: How we can improve this problem?

T: Just memorization, I think. There are a few techniques that might be helpful.
I think, uh, many arnericans have trouble with spelling also. They could, uh, when
an Arabic student, for example, my sister has mild dyslexia, where she puts letters
in the wrong order. She has a little machine that she can put in a misspelled word,
you know. Ghost, you know, ghost, I want to spell ghost. G-O-S-T. Well, that’s the
wrong spelling but she can enter it into her little machine and it will come up with

many different spellings and she can identify the right one.

181

Now, as a native speaker, she can see that and know that’s the right one. For the
Arabic student, they would probably then have to open the dictionary and check out
the words, so in the end it just becomes memorization. Um, an elementary school
teacher might know some other tricks, but I don’t know.

7 How do you teach writing?

T: How do I teach writing? Hmm. Well, I begin by helping the students to see
that--well, we focus on the process. On very much a process rather than product
writer and I want to teach the students that writing is part of communication, part of
themselves and in the beginning one of my goals as the quest begins to develop is to
make them comfortable writing so that they realize that the writing is an extension
of themselves and then also help them to realize that correcting, critiquing,
improving writing, that these things are working on helping them to express their
ideas and that I’m not attacking them as a person. I’m not telling them that they are
iuncorrect. It’s just that the writing needs to be changed. Those are some of my
personal philosophies.

Um, but like going along with the ELC curriculum, we teach them, you know, from
-- well, it’s kind of bottom up. We teach them paragraphs. There’s a separate course
for graammar but of course grammar becomes involved in the writing and then
teach them the structure for long pieces and do a lot of guided practice.

I also try to ﬁnd funny assignments that will help them to work on the writing;
rather than just doing a research paper, we’ll do a lot of little assignments along the
way that build up to the research paper and I try always when I have them do some
writing to give them a purpose for it. Not just, it’s due, but you know pretend that
you are--I had a couple the other day where I gave them some roles and they were
actually practicing in grammar structures, but I said, you know, you’re at the north '
pole, you’re there alone for the winter. How do you feel? And they could do some
creative writing.

My background is also--I’m a high school English teacher by graduation. I’m never
actually done it, but I taught creative writing for a while and I think that sometimes
a student who’s having a lot of trouble with the technical stuff, if you can get them

182

involved in a different genre of writing and give them creative writing or some
other assignment to hjelp them break through those barriers. And then by the same
token, I have a lot of science students and I like to bring them into the creative
realm and just give them a chance to express themselves in another way.

Um, I think that writing needs to be constantly taking care and you know, as I keep
telling them, it’s a process and they can look back now if they’ve saved their papers
at the end of the semester they can look back at 5 or 6 essays and they can look at
all the drafts of how they developed them. And then they can move on from there
and say, well, I have procgressed in these ways. I’ve learned to look at it critically
so I want them to, to...my goal is for them to have conﬁdence in their ability to
write. And because they have conﬁdence, they will work on it more and they will

continue to improve.

183

Appendix M-2
Ahmed’s Teacher Interview

1. What part of English do Saudi student encounter the most difﬁculty?

T: Khalid had a very hard time because he was, there were two students out of
(mumbles and door slams) lowest in my class in terms of knowledge of English and
in terms of --comprehension and um, grammar that he wasn’t really familiar with.
So he had a very time and I think I did see the kind of, he did improve in his ability
to write longer things. Um, the ﬁrst, when he started writing, he wrote very, very
short things, although actuallyg I suppose for the last number of weeks, we haven’t
anything been writing in class, so...So I think that for the things he’s been doing
longer have been things that he’s done at home. But they have been--I had a lot
more--I had quite a bit more contact than when he started writing. He started writing
very little and very repetitive things when he was doing in class, writing. And his
writing has gotten much longer.

The two main problems I would say is one that he has a rather limited vocabulary
and he refers to a dictionary, brings a dictionary along and he often comes up with
very wrong words, because he’s, you know, just looking up some--you know, he
likes to come up with more academic-sounding, more, um, more speciﬁc
vocabulary and it’s often wrong. So that’s been one problem.

The other problems that he’s, he just has a hard time, I think it’s just the basic, um,
basics such as the verb-object kinds of things so that he writes very long, very spare,
frequently run-on sentences and misunderstanding if it’s a verb or a noun, how
those get confused.

A: He cannot distinguish between verb and noun?

T: Quite often, which could be that there’s a lot of, of words that he uses that he
doesnt’ really know so that (unclear).

A: Khalid or another Arabic students, what do you think those parts of English
they feel is difﬁcult? Or what’s difﬁcult part for each one?

184

T: Well, spelling is a problem. With, with, with Khalid, it’s a deﬁnite problem.
He has a really hard time with spelling. And that probably structure. He seems to
have a hard time getting words in the right, the whole different noun with the verb,
getting all of the proper elements.

2- Do you think that Saudis, in general, are good writers of English?

T: I think that I have only had, I have a difficulty making a generalization. I
taught writing once at the 300 level and (unclear) and then I taught writing here as
well as (unclear). In terms of stylistic things, um, from what I’ve seen, sometimes
they have a difﬁculty coming to the point of you know where in English we want
the thesis stated right off and we don’t want any introductory things that aren’t
directly related to the (unclear). So I notice they have some difﬁculty with that,
although I have one writer, one Arabic student in the class who’s very good with
topics and he has that down very clearly. His paragraphs always ﬂow well. ButI
would say in general they do seem to have very good content and, um, yeah, I
would say that what typical problems for them--making the point clear. How
(unclear) the statement, topics, that would probably be--I would say I’ve noticed
that.

A: That’s for Arab students. What about (unclear)? They share the same things
or something more speciﬁc?

T: I have only had Saudi students.

3. Do they demonstrate concern with audience in their writing?

T: (pause) I’m not...I don’t think I’ve noticed any particular difficulties with
that. I haven’t noticed it. I think with the students I’ve had, I don’t notice them as
being particularly fantastic about it, but I haven’t noticed any problems.

A: but you feel they are writing for speciﬁc audience or sometime (unclear)?

T: In general, most of the assignments that I would give them are, are teacher-
focused for the audienced. That there’s not--I haven’t given any assignments that
they speciﬁcally have to think about, speciﬁcally which audience, you know, things
that would be different. The--the only kind of thing I did that for a brief time in this
class, but I think that we’re doing (unclear) not very difficult todo that with.

185

- Do you believe that if a student is considered a good writer in his native
language that he is also a good writer in L2?

T: I’m not sure I completely decided for myself. It does seem like there are
some things which are culture speciﬁc in terms of what things are desirable, as a
good writer. It does seem like there would be a basic accomplishments that would
be tractable. That would be my assumption. That if they are, if they are good writers
in one language, they would at least have the skills to be able to ﬁnd out very
quickly what it is that would be expected of somebody in a new language.

5 Does the Arabic language help Arabic learners, Saudis in particular, master
English writing? Why or why not ?

T: Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about Arabic syntax. The only thing I
do know is, is it has, it does seem like the writing system is a major problem. But I
don’t know the syntax well enough to --

6 How do Saudi graduate students encounter problems different than other L2
learners?

T: Well, you know, I actually, I did have an experience where one of the
students that I had in my 300 level class had continued on in this and was in a
writing class for someone else and I happened to see something that this person had
and it was typewritten so I didn’t know who the buddy was and I knew that that was
that student’s, um, and I don’t remember what it was about it that told me it was,
that was him. But it did seem distinctive, so it could be that there are, that there are
distinctive things which carry over that make it identiﬁable and

A: From your experience, how do Saudi graduates (unclear) a problem different
than native speakers?

T: I’m drinking about (pause) it could be that there is a, in terms of graduate
students in general, I haven’t thought through this enough to link this to other
graduate students that I have, but looking at graduate versus undergraduate and I do
have undergraduate and graduate Saudi students, um, it could be that some of the
problem with, um, you know, as I was talking about having problems with keeping

the structure intact and I think that Khalid (unclear), there is a—-I do get a feeling of

186

style, of you know, that he wants to produce more well-connected, longer sentences,
whereas a lot of the undergraduate students, other students, keep things more
controlled as to what they use, much simpler sentences. I have one student who
turned in -- he was actually a graduate student. He’s Japanese and he turns in
practically perfect paragraphs, but everything is subject, verb, object; subject, verb,
object; connectors and all. So there, there could be a degree to which being graduate
students, that they’re accustomed to a level of writing, to a quality of writing in
Arabic that is frustrating for them not to be able to do in English. And because of
that, they might try to do earlier things that they just aren’t prepared to do and that
they can’t control the language well enough to link whole clauses and phrases, you
know, for appropriate transition and all of that. That may just be a point to which
they are used to academic writing or would like to be able to write a similar quality
in English.

How do you teach writing? What approach do you use in teaching writing?
T: Um, seems like there’s different things that I would do at different levels.
Um, (pause) I do focus a lot on content. I am process oriented and I do, um, I like to
do pre-writing activities. I have, I have like the writing booklet we’re using because
it gives them a lot of--they do exercises with the kinds of things that they’ll need to
do for the, whatever the assignment is. But they do that before they write that, so
before they get to the writing, they have content. You know, they made notes about
it, thought about it, um, and they’ve looked at particular issues, whether it’s topic
sentences or organization of facts to opinions or details, the use of adjectives or
things like that so they have that available for them to use when they sit down to
write. And I do --
Another thing that I have liked about it is it has gone through two revisions. Mostly
content and organization and once they’ve done that, then proofreading and editing,
with 100 it’s difficult to get very much to get into content and organization.
Sometimes you just can’t understand what it is that you want to do. But I deﬁnitely
go through a constant organizational revision at the 300 level.

A: Great. You don’t have speciﬁc approach?

187

No, I don’t. Process is basically--

T: Um, in what?

A: Teaching writing?

T: Do you have a list of--
A: No.

T:

A:

I like process. I’m also process-oriented. My writing teacher. To conclude, do
you think Khalid improved from the beginning? When he start, his English was
terrible. That’s what they heard from him, but I ask him about it and he said that he
learned a lot.

T: Um, it’s kind of difficult to tell. His --he had a very hard time when you
involved, when you were learning things, because a lot of times he didn’t know
(unclear). He had done, what we were doing. He did do relatively well in grammar
passages. Um, he, and his writing deﬁnitely did get much longer. And but it’s kind
of difﬁCIIlt to tell because as I’m sure he’s learned and progressed, but he started
very low, and so it’s hard to feel like he’s signiﬁcantly better. He deﬁnitely did
learn and progress. I do have some concerns as to how he’ll survive. And this is
directly related, but his reading comprehension is extremely poor. It’s extremely
difﬁcult to survive in an English-only classroom when everybody else is
understanding and you’re not, so it’s difficult to gain as mucha 3 you might if
you’re not understanding right.

A: Thank you so much.

188

It is important to mention that part of the stimulus recall and interview
have been taken out as requested by the subjects themselves as they are

concerned their identities or their own opinions will be revealed.

188

Appendix N

Subject Ahmed Stimulus Recall & Interview

189

Appendix N-l

Ahmed Stimulus Recalls

(1) Arabic Essay (A1)

You know writing for a teacher is not like writing to yourself or to other
people. I do not know but I feel as if the teacher will evaluate me and ﬁnd out all my
mistakes and then my writing has to take a different way. It is clear that I am writing
the ﬁrst time as an experiment. I have never done this before. You know if anybody
told me to do such thing I may say No because it is as if I am telling that person about
my personal things. But really, I do not know why I said YES to you.

I start by reading the question to see if it is clear and I think this question is a
direct one. To answer it I have to tell you or the readers what does my house look
like. I was little conﬁised from where I should start, Do I need to tell you about my
house from inside or outside, or what should I say?

I was also thinking about the title. What is a suitable title for this essay, but
ﬁnally I said the question did not ask about a title, then why should I write a title? I
start by mentioning the name of ALLAH, because as I learned in my school that
anything started without the name of ALLAH is incomplete, therefore I chose to write
the name of ALLAH at the beginning of my essay.

I am trying to be clear to the reader, so when he or she tries to read he or she
will not ﬁnd any difﬁculties, while reading.

Are you writing to anybody, or in other words how do you identify your
readers?

See, I do I take care of my readers. They are my ﬁrst concern.

You mean you can tell me who is your reader?

Well, it is clear that I am talking to you and trying to know what should I do in
this experiment. I am reading the prompt trying to ﬁnd out what you, It is obvious

for my readers that what is written is a description of my old house.

190

Let me tell you more. I did not ﬁnd any problems that might have stopped
my writing. I am trying to be clear. In the English writing that I wrote for you last
week, I was little unclear, but now, it is clear to me that I am writing about my
previous house, and you will read my essay. Therefore, because you know my culture
and you know the things that I will talk about in the essay it will be essay for me to
choose the words that will tell the readers about my topic without difﬁculties or
differences.

In the ﬁrst paragraph I tried to tell the readers about the house from inside.
How many rooms do we have in this house, the kitchen, the sitting room, guest room,
and so on and so forth? Then I tried to tell my readers which room is the largest, and
which room we use the most. This is to make the idea of the house description more
acceptable to the readers. It is my habit to tell the readers about the most signiﬁcant
thing in my topic. For example, in this essay I told the readers the best thing about
my house, which is the sitting room and the guest room.

You know, it is important in my opinion to tell people about a recent thing that
happened, and I chose to say something about my furniture. I chose to tell them that I
had replaced my furniture for the purpose of being a good hostwhen my guests come
to my house. I ﬁnd this is signiﬁcant, therefore, I should tell them that.

You know, I will cross out these two words and I will stop for a moment to
ﬁnd out what are the best replacements.

Why did you cross out these words?

Well, it is important for me to make myself clear to my readers and no
confusion will happen, so when I found these words might lead them to another
meaning I decided to change them for another word which may not cause confusion.

It was not hard for me to write, because it is my native language. I felt that
this language is easy to speak and easy to write. I do not feel that I need to stop to be
sure that I am writing well. I never stop to check my spelling or my sentence
structure. I feel I am a good writer, when I compare my English and Arabic writing.

It is a way of gaining pleasure when I write.

191

Do you think that your Arabic writing may affect the way you will write in
English?

No, I am not sure that I understand what do you need, although your question
is clear, but I still unable to tell what you need exactly.

I mean when you write in English, do you feel that your Arabic writing
knowledge may affect your English writing?

I am conﬁdent that the effect is not that too much, but still I may use my
Arabic knowledge when I write in English.

I think what we learned about English in Saudi Arabia is nothing compared to
the Arabic writing knowledge, also the way we practiced Arabic writing is much
much greater than the way we trained ourselves in English.

I felt I learned Arabic more than usual, and I learned English less than usual.
This to tell you that we need to learn English writing and we need to master English
grammar and English reading, we need to be professionals in English as well as
Arabic.

How do you write in Arabic? Do you have a certain way or certain methods,
let me know?

It is not a method actually. It is a matter of practice. If you practice writing,
then you will become a writer, but if you learn how to write, but you are unable to
write or do not have the time to write then you are not a writer. The writer is the
person who writes everyday, and almost every moment; he is the person who employs
all of what he has and all he has learned to be used and practiced during writing, and
that is should be on daily basis.

192

(2) Arabic Essay (A2)

This is my second Arabic essay. I am writing about a person who participated
in building my knowledge. I felt as if he were providing me with his own knowledge,
and made me a copy of him. In this essay I felt as if I am writing from my heart, not
from my brain. I feel as if this person is available to me when I write, his face, his
hand movements, and his facial expression. I am able to tell you anything about this
teacher.

I start by praising Allah, the one who gave us the opportunity to live and be
able to write. When I read the question of this essay, it came to my mind that the only
one that I can write about with feeling and courage is this teacher. First I started by
giving my readers two types of teachers, one type which I hate and the other one
which I love. In the second type, I started talking about my beloved teacher. This
translation leads me to start specifying my writing about the person who is the topic of
my writing today.

How did you decided that you will go through these stages?

It is easy, before I started I said in my mind there are two types of teachers:
bad and good and what is a bad teacher and what is a good teacher. Once I ﬁnished
this I asked myself a question, what is your next stage and I said it is my teacher, then
I decided about my beloved teacher.

Then I explained who the teacher is and why I feel that he is the good teacher
and why this person is good teacher. I provided you with many examples why I felt
that he is good teacher and what are the best ways to be a good teacher.

Then I moved on to tell my readers if he is a good teacher and what proﬁt did I
get out of that. I told them that because of that I loved his class and I became the best
student in his class, I still love him and I still remember him

Back to your essay, you are now writing the last page which is page two.
What is in your mind right now?

I am trying to sum up as I tried to tell the reader why I felt that this teacher is

an important person in my life.

193

I arranged my topic to talk about the second type to make it an easy, to make
it, a take off station when I talk about my beloved teacher. Then I made my judgment
why he is a good teacher. I tried my best to supply examples and supports to prove it.

I learned Arabic writing in Saudi Arabia, and we wrote on almost every topic.
In religion courses we were asked to write some essays about some certain topics. For .
example, you know they sometimes tell us to explain a certain issue in writing, which
is actually essay writing.

But how do you write?

I write by understanding what do I need to write for. In other words, what is
the purpose of my writing. Is the information that I want to tell my readers about
available? Do I have all the documents that I need to examine before my writing.
Once everything is clear, then I need to start my writing by presenting facts and truths
with evidence and proof. Then I give my readers a clue that I am trying to close out.

It is also important to note that I am a student and I still need to learn about
writing and reading and all language skills. I love learning and I feel that I have no
job except to learn. Actually, I am trying my best to work hard and acquire the latest
theories about my ﬁeld before I go back to my country. I am eager to start. It is not
easy to do that without learning and learning. I will work hard and I will show those
who trusted me that I am capable of doing so.

I feel that learning in America is the best place for many reasons: one of which
is the availability of information and sources. Learning in America will give me a
broader sense of knowledge because many well known scholars are in the ﬁeld of
Sociology in the United Sates of America.

I like to go back to my writing. I think it is important to note that if I am not
good in English this does not mean that I am the same thing in Arabic. Because the
differences are not in the ability, but the differences are in the practice. I have been
writing for twenty years, but English was in the classrooms only. I am reading Arabic
almost everyday, that is because I read the holy Quran and the Arabic newspapers, and
everything around me is Arabic therefore I am ﬂuent in Arabic, but, you know

194

because English in the classrooms, does not become strong because I do not practice it
enough.

Do they teach you English using English instructions or Arabic?

What do you mean by instruction?

I mean the teacher who teaches you, what language does he speak in the
classroom?

Humm, yah, that is good point. They always use Arabic to explain English.
That is ﬁrnny. I am sure most of them do not know how to speak English correctly.

Let’s go back to our topic.

Yes, I am trying in this moment to ﬁnish my writing. I want to ﬁnish, because
I felt as if I have completed the whole topic.

Thank you

Thank you.

195

(3) Arabic Essay (Al-R)

Well, it is good experience to write one thing two times. I feel like I am
giving my writing a new dimension. I could not ﬁnd much to say, but I could say that
I feel that my Arabic writing has got some new features from English.

What do you mean?

I think learning English in America has its own effect on my Arabic writings.

In terms of what?

I think the techniques that we learned in the writing class that I took this
semester have added something to my writing knowledge.

Such as what?

Umm, in terms of writing organization. I mean the way we talk about the facts
and opinions. What should I start with, a fact or opinion, and how to make your
readers believe that what are you saying is acceptable. It is an art to know these
techniques and use them in your writing.

Okay, Ahmed, tell me how do you ﬁnd your writing and how you approach it,
I mean look toward the TV and try to tell me exactly what is going on.

Okay, uhmm, I feel, like you know, it is the matter of following ideas that I
made last time and try to enhance them. I read the whole essay and found out that I
can write better than that.

Excellent.

I read it and spotted all the weakness in it, then I decided to write following
the same lines that I made in the writing, with some changes in the style and the
examples that I used. I wrote three pages, while I wrote one page last time.

I found out that this writing needs some explanation as to why this room is
important and why I changed my carpet, and why I feel that house is my dearest place.
All these questions must be answered before I submit my essay.

But how do you ﬁnd out these weaknesses? Do you learn something that leads
you to ﬁnding out these things?

Really I do not know but if I were asked to write this topic now I may add

something else I did not mention it before.

196

Okay, Ahmed, let’s go back to your essay.

Yes, I am writing following the previous writing. I read each paragraph and
then I made and decided what should I change and why it is important to change it. I
asked myself the following question “Is it clear to the readers what I am saying?”

Do you ask yourself the same question always, before you learned English in
the USA?

Well, no I was not asking myself this question, but I ﬁnd it is good way to
approach writing. My teacher taught me to ask “So what” when I read or write
anything. I like to follow that always.

Okay, now you are reading your essay, why you are doing that?

I am reading to ﬁnd out the information that I provided in this essay is
connected to other part or is there is something in between that needs to be followed
up. If I found that some information is missing, I, I feel it in and if I ﬁnd that
everything is connected to each other then I continue writing.

Nice, it seems that you learned something in your classroom, can you tell me
exactly what do you learned?

Well, I feel that I learned lots of things and at the same time I feel as if I have
learning nothing. I still need to learn English especially writing. I need to write
ﬂuently but I need to stop opening and checking my dictionary. I usually opened it
more then twenty times when I wrote, and I think this is a problem. My teacher told
me do not consult a dictionary while writing as this is a waylof making your writing
weak. The best way, she told me, is to write whatever you need and when you ﬁnish
go and check your dictionary as much as necessary.

Do you follow her advice?

What do you mean?

I mean do you listen to what she said?

Yes, but sometimes it is difﬁcult to do that. Sometimes I found myself
needing to know the meaning of certain word immediately and this desire makes me
stop writing and go look the word up in a dictionary, but when I come back to my

writing I ﬁnd it difficult to remember what I was trying to write about.

197

But was it really difficult?

Yes, I feel as if this strategy is not valid. I need to learn that no dictionary
should be used while writing is in process. But once I ﬁnish writing I will go and
check in the dictionary.

I did not ﬁnd any difﬁculty in my Arabic writing as I feel I am writing
normally and there is nothing that may stop my writing.

Okay, do you need to say anything else?

No.

Okay Ahmed, thank you very much

thank you too and I hope you will succeed in your study.

Thanks.

198

(4) English Essay (El)

Look, let me say some thing. I want, you know, I am trying to ﬁnd out what is
the best way to approach this topic. I am thinking what should I write and how. Now
I am writing. If I think it will not go smoothly, because I will stop right now. The
second line that I wrote was not easy. I crossed out the words, the sentence, I will
cross it out, I am going to cross it out sometimes. I felt as ifI were not doing the right
way. I did not like these words and you will see that I will cross them out, it is will
happen soon.

Why did you stop?

I stopped here, and I crossed out the word because I found that I had started in
the wrong way. I was feeling that this was not a good start. It is important to note
that when your students do not ﬁnd the good start they will fail in their writing. Once
you start correctly, then what else comes will be successful. I think that is right.

Why are not you writing? Are you thinking about something that you need to
add in your paper?

No, I am thinking about the title of this essay. I am not sure if it will be good
if I leave it without a title, and what is the best title for this topic. I want to explain to
my readers that I am a but do you think that it is easy for me to write.

Why do you start saying that “Place my school is ...”?

-You know if I need to give a clear picture about my school then I should start
by saying where it is located.

See now, I will cross out the whole title. I found out that the spelling of this
word was not correct, which makes me uncomfortable, and I feel as I am not able to
write.

Oh, do you take care of your spelling?

I hope, I, I, I am trying to do so, but you know .. I feel like it is not easy, but
and, but and, I am really serious that I hope to get rid of this problem [spelling
problem] It is confusing to know a meaning and not have the word or you know what
you need to say but you can not write the word. I feel like it is not easy to write a

word if you do not know what its meaning is. Ispent all this time trying to ﬁnd a

199

word which ﬁts the appropriate meaning of the ideas that I want to express. It is sad to
tell you that I never learned spelling or what are the best ways to master English
spelling; the only thing that they stressed in our schools is the handwriting techniques
and what is the best way to write cursive.

Okay, Ahmed, tell me how do you usually write?

How do I write? I hold the pen and start writing. I think it is obvious that my
writing is similar to your writing, but there is a little difference in that you know how to
write very well and I know little. I think you know that when you hand over the question.
I ﬁrst read it carefully, then decide which is the best way to enter into the topic and what I
have to do, then I start writing. It is an easy matter.

But what about planning?

It is important, I mean I need to , you know I felt it is important to be learned and
used. Do I need to explain more?

I feel like, you know, I am not yet, you know, but, Yes it is something that you
need to learn while you are writing. If you write about your childhood, for example you
can not be aware of everything, but when you talk about one thing, this thing may remind
you of the things that are related to it.

No, no, I understand what do you mean. But I think it is important for any
writer to put forth something to write about for himself or herself. You do the same
thing?

Well, I started writing putting in my mind few ideas that I may be able to
explore, but when I found that such ideas are not expandable and may be changed I
changed them. It is not easy for me to adhere to an idea or continue writing about it
clearly with many words which may help making making each idea clearer. It is a
matter of vocabulary. If I have a good number of vocabulary I will express myself
clearly and strongly.

But what about putting a line or a way of guidance that you will follow when

you need to write, do you understand me?

200

Yes, yes, I do I think it is matter of practice. Making a plan before writing is,
no doubt, a good way for learners. I believe that planning is the best way to produce a
well organized essay with little or no weakness.

Um, I think you took much time to think about your topic. Do you know
you took more than two minutes thinking about the title?

I will show you, I will leave this paper and I will change it. I think this is not
the right way to write, and if I am a good writer then I do not need to spend all that
time thinking over a topic or a title.

I think it is possible that because we do not learn much English in our country
we are very weak in English. Actually it is obvious for anyone who learned writing in
Saudi Arabia, that in Saudi Arabia I feel that the education system writing is not given
much attention. I am positive most Saudi students who learn English in Saudi Arabia
will face the same problems and they will not be able to start their Academic
programs without help in English. Students learn the basic elements of writing and
aﬁer that they are not exposed to writing. In my university I learned new writing
techniques which did not help me much, but once I started learning English here in the
USA I felt the difference.

Now, Ahmed, you said in this essay that there is a separate room for the
manager, what do you mean by manager?

Manager means the person who directs and supervises things, which is
manager or principal.

Do you have the information that you need to present to your readers?

Yes, of course, I do, but the problem is, as I told you before, that the number
of words that I knew are relatively small, and some of them are not easy to spell in the
right way.

Moreover, Ahmed, do you think about your reader? In other words, do you
think that the people who will read your paper will understand what are you saying?

Yes, I was thinking about who will read this essay. That is why I said in my
essay that this city is the origin of Islam, because everybody knows such things, and

thus I consider this topic is known to my readers and nobody will ﬁnd difficulties in

201

reading or understanding it. I think that readers are an important element in writing,
because if the readers do not understand the meaning of the essay they will say that
this writer is a stupid person, because nobody will understand he saying in his writing.

Do you think that changing your plan while you are writing is necessary or
not?

Yes, it is something that you need to learn while you are writing. If you write
about your childhood, for example you can not be aware of everything, but when you
talk about one thing, this thing may remind you of other things that are related to it.

Okay Ahmed, what does this mean? Now you have completed your paragraph
about the subjects and the topics that the school covers in an academic year, but why
did you shift to another topic without giving your readers any hint that you will shift?

You mean the second time? I think, you know it is the same thing that I am
still talking about the same school. When I completed my explanation about the
topics, I talked about the time, which is also related to the school in one way or
another.

Now let me go back to my essay. I am trying to ﬁnd suitable words and
expressions that will add to my writing. I tried my best to give the readers all
information that they need to understand the importance of this topic. I tried to be
clear why this topic is important for me. I tried my best to tell the readers that I
understand that they are reading my essay, so I take care of them and I hope they will
understand my topic. I tried to use many examples and supports which will help my
readers understand my topic very easily. What I have learned is that supporting is the
way to give your writing credibility and that can be done by giving examples and
reasons for what you are trying to say. Without such support writing may be weak.

I also want to tell you that one problem that I think all of us as Saudis face is
that we are trying to express ourselves in another language. I learned that if you need
to express yourself in English you have to do two things: ﬁrst think as an Englishman,
and second express yourself as an Englishman. I mean it is two duties in one task.
You need to express yourself and you need to think as an Englishman, I think this is a

difﬁcult task. Training is, in my humble opinion, the only solution. You know, it is

202

not easy for a person to write in another language with inadequate vocabulary. Before
I came to the USA I thought that I had enough vocabulary to let me survive in this
community, but unfortunately, I was mistaken. I was not able to talk with people in
the airport or in customs department. I could not buy milk for my kids in the ﬁrst day
without my friends’ help. It is not easy to be ﬂuent in English, but it is easy to
pretend to be a ﬂuent. You know English is not like Arabic, therefore I think it is
important for us as second language learners to master and understand all the
grammatical roles before anything else

Okay, Ahmed, what about your ﬁnal part in the essay. Do you try to make a
sort of ﬁnish or indication that you are trying to put an end to you essay?

You mean explaining to the readers that I am trying to say the last words. I
think that is a necessary part in writing. It is recommended that each writer should
ﬁnish with a sort of conclusion. If you end your topic with appropriate words will
make it easier for the reader to understand that you are ﬁnishing. I think it is that if I
ﬁnish with words which explain to my readers what was my own purpose in the
writing of this paper. And it will make it clearer that I will write nothing more after
these words, which will tells them what was in my mind.

Okay, I like that, what else.

That set.

Let us understand your writing ways. How many drafts do you usually give to
your teachers or when you want to write a piece of writing how many copies do you
write?

You mean in English?

Yes, I mean English.

It is a tough question.

Try your best to answer it?

Okay, I will give it a try, and I will be honest with you. I know that you need
to reach a way or so to make writing easy for us, but I think it is important to note that

we never write in English.

203

I was a student in Um AlQura University, but the amount I writing here in the
USA is much greater than the amount of English that I wrote in Saudi Arabia. I think
it is because the subjects that we were studying were in Arabic not in English as a
language, and the teacher in the English course trained us to write short paragraphs

It is clear now that writing in Arabic or in English is a way of communication.
It is not easy to write one page or two pages if you do not have the knowledge and the
information about the topic you are trying to explain to your readers who are willing
to know the truth from your writing. I understand that writing is not easy in one copy.

You mean you do write more than one copy?

Well, I am sure that it is important for me to express my ideas whether in one
copy or more. But we should put into our minds that it is not easy for students to
write more than one copy, because students need time to think about the right answer,
organize ideas and seek samples and supports. It is more difﬁcult to write more than
one copy for students who write in a different language than theirs. I have difﬁculties
ﬁnding appropriate vocabulary and tenses, which make it difﬁcult for me to ﬁnd time
to copy my writing into different draﬁ.

Okay Ahmed, do you know that English articles are different than Arabic. Do
you feel that articles are difficult for us?

Of course, they are the most difficult part in English. If I master article usage
with tense usage, English will be easy enough to learn and master. You know we
were exposed to a lot of things and it is not easy to learn and remember everything we
have learned. I think subject-verb agreement is a new thing for me, but I am not
positive.

What about English grammar, Ahmed?

You know our grammar is not like English, there are , as I told you before,
there are differences and similarities, and you know we need to know all these
differences and similarities. If it is not easy then we need to learn it as much as we
can, so that is what I am trying to do now. I am studying English reading, and English

writing and grammar in my school and in my house in order to understand this

204

language. You will not believe that my children are learning English much better than

I am and can talk even without the teacher.

205

(5) English Essay (E2)

Before I start talking about this writing at this moment, I would like to say that
I feel that I am changed. I am different than before. I can write English with little
hesitation. I can talk with other people and understand what they say.

You mean many writings and you were practicing writing almost everyday?

Actually it is obvious for anyone who learned writing in Saudi Arabia, that in
that education system writing is not given much attention. Students learn the basic
elements of writing and after that they are not exposed to writing. In my university I
learned new writing techniques which did not help me much. But once I started
learning English here in the USA I felt the difference. This does not mean that we did
not write, we practiced writing, but with no guidance at all. I feel that what were are
doing nowadays is like giving a measurement to use when we write. Do you have a
topic sentences? Do you have a clear thesis? Do you notice that you are writing to
American? and so on and so forth. It was not writing three or four or six pages, but
how you approached your writing.

Okay, Ahmed, since we are talking about audience, how is this matter
important to you? On other words, do you think this is an important issue and do you
need to consider it every time that you write?

It is clear to me that each writing has its own readers. I am writing for you in
this essay, and I was writing for my teacher in the university, but if I write an article in
a newspaper, then I am writing to different people. It is clear that readers are
important. Believe me, I think most of the writers do not take care of their audiences.
They write to themselves, so nobody will understand what do they write. IfI wrote a
piece of writing, I would make sure that my readers are clear about my topic, if I am
writing to American readers about Saudi women I have to watch my words, but ifI
am writing about ‘love’ then I have no problem.

Back to your essay, you are now writing the last page which is page two.

What is in your mind right now?

206

It is important for me to understand the usage of punctuation. If I am able to
do so then I will have no difﬁcult time, but as you know it is a problem. It is a fact
that I need time to know that I should put a comma here and a semicolon there

More over, it is important to know the difference between ﬁnishing up or
telling the reader that I am ﬁnish.

What do you mean?

You mean you give a conclusion, do you know what a conclusion is?

Yes, it is a way of ﬁnalizing your writing. You ﬁnish with words which
explain to the readers what your purpose was in writing this paper.

But in this essay you did not provide us with a conclusion, you said that the
prophet was born in Macca and he started his call from this place, but you did not sum
up or give us a clue that you are concluding

Yes, but the ﬁnal words always tells the readers about the feelings of the
writer, and I felt that the important element in my writing was the prophet
Mohammed.

Okay, Ahmed, let us go to another part of your writing, which is grammar, did
you experience any difﬁculty?

Grammar or any other part of the English language, we need to learn it and
practice it as much as we can. It is not our language and we can not master it in 24
hours. ' You know English is not like Arabic, therefore I think it is important for us as
second language learners to master and understand all the grammatical roles before
anything else. I believe that practice is the only the only way of mastering second
language. If I were an English teacher, I would ask every student to read and write as
much as he can as each needs to practice writing and reading and speaking when ever
possible. I do not want them to memorize rules and ways of reading or writing. I do
not need them to say if X equals Y then Y equals X. I do not need them to do that. I
need them to speak, write and read naturally. I’

But I do not know Ahmed if you are able to rewrite your essay or do you think

it is complete in one draft?

207

It is not necessary to write more than one draft. because the way I write is like
actually writing three or four drafts.

How does this happen?

Well, I am sure that it is important for me to express my ideas whether in one
or more copies. But we should put into our minds that it is not easy for students to
write more than one copy, because students need time to think about the right answer,
organize ideas and seek samples and supports. It is more difficult to write more than
one copy for students who write in a different language than English. I have
difficulties ﬁnding appropriate vocabulary and tenses, which make it difﬁcult for me
to ﬁnd time to copy my writing in different papers

But Amed, Do you think that planning is important for you?

Making a plan before writing is no doubt a good way for learners. I believe that
planning is the best way to produce a well organized essay with little or no weakness.

Okay Ahmed, how is your English writing now? Do you feel that it is easy or
it is not yet clear to you?

I am sure that English writing is easier than what I thought. Iwas thinking
learning English writing would take a year or so, but with a teacher like mine I felt
that it is not that difficult. It is easy for those who have the willingness to study and
learn to acquire English as soon as they put their hands in the road.

Nice to hear this.

Thank you

Do you want to say anything else?

Well, no I said what I think enough.

Okay Ahmed, Do you think that we have covered everything or do you need to
add anything?

No, thanks

208

(6) English Essay (El-R)

What is the most important thing that you need to tell us before you start
talking about your essay?

I am really not sure if what I learned in Saudi Arabia was English or
something else. ............................................. But It is my feeling that I was far away
from English. The way they teach us in Saudi Arabia is not the way we learn here in
the USA.

Of course, that is because the main concern here is English while it is not
English only in Saudi Arabia. You study many other topics besides English.

Yes, you are right.

Okay, Ahmed, let us go back to your writing.

Well it makes me feel like I am able to write better than this essay that I
submitted three months ago. I am conﬁdent that I can write better than that.

The way that I wrote my ﬁrst essay made me feel that I needed to improve my
writing, and I hope your study will add something that will help all students and
teachers as well learn more and more about writing and how to make writing easier
for learners. However, I believe it is not an easy task. You need to work hard and
change many things in the systems and in the policies as well. I feel like that you may
end up with saying that the way English is taught in Saudi Arabia is not adequate and
needs updating. But it is not easy task. I ask Allah to help you and all those who care
about their people and help develop them.

Thank you Ahmed and I hope I will help all those who need to learn and
succeed in their academic life. Ahmed is it possible to talk about the way you written
your essay? Tell me everything and try your best to go deeper when you explain
anything related to your essay.

Of course, I will try my best to let you know everything. It is important to do
that and it is important to allow you to understand everything related to the writing
that I have submitted today. But I will do my best, and I hope you will ﬁnd what is
related to your study, In terms of writing, I started reading my essay, you know, it

209

took me a while to ﬁnd out what were the weakness of this essay before I wrote it. I
was not sure that I was the one who produce this writing. If this is my previous
writing, then I can assure you that I learned a lot of knowledge. I learned many things
which will be seen in my new paper. I am sure you will ﬁnd many differences and I
am sure they will help you making good judgment in your study.

As I told you I read the whole essay and found out that I was not sure about
many things when I wrote the ﬁrst essay.

You mean your English essay?

Of course I am talking about the English writing ability right now. I will try
my best to talk about this essay before anything else.

First of all I did not put a title on this essay, simply because it was not a part of
the question, but I think it is necessary in any writing. I left that out but I am not sure
why I did not put one, but I did not put it, on , butif you will allow me to put a title I
will do it now and I may suggest that “A journey in my elementary school.” would be
good. Do you like that title?

Ahmed, it is not important to choose a title now, but it is important to tell me
why you did or did not choose one or why you choose one.

Okay, I will explain that when I talk about this essay. Back to the essay. I did
not put a title, because I do not know, or actually I was amazed by the level of writing
that I used before I started my English program. I think that is the reason.

I started as you see here in the video tape by reading the whole essay, and I
tried to make the kind of lines that I would need to follow when I would write a
second time. I made sure that I understood all the main ideas that I was writing about
in the ﬁrst essay, then I started organizing myself in order to rewrite on the same
topic.

How did you do that?

Actually, it did not take much to ﬁnd the main ideas. I tried my best to ﬁgure
out the most important ideas that I needed to talk about then I started writing about the
same ideas that I wrote about the ﬁrst time. I started with an introduction, which is
the main part of the essay, I started by telling all the readers that I will write about my

210

elementary school. I said I would write about my elementary school time which
happened long time ago when I was very young, about six years old. After that I
found it important to tell the readers about the location of this school. I mentioned my
city, and the quarter of the city that the school is located in and then the street. The
reason for mentioning all these places is to be more precise and more accurate than
before. I learned in the writing class that writers always have to be accurate when
they make any descriptions. I should not say for example “I was a man,” without
mentioning who is this man if he is important to the essay I am writing, or I should
not say that the weather is cold without mentioning the season. You know, Um, I
can, you know, I am talking about, is it winter or summer or what. Then the
important thing is to be precise when you make any description. I learned also to
present facts before opinions, and that is what I tried to do in this essay.

You know, it is important, you know, I tried even to be more precise when I
mentioned the name of my school. I did that to give the readers one choice, because
more than one school is in that street.

Okay.

Then I went on talking about the school from the inside

Before you go to the other paragraph, let me know why you crossed out the
word in the ﬁrst line of the second paragraph. Yes, it is a matter of tense, I was
planning to say “was,” but I remember it is a fact and this fact should be in present.
The name of the school is a fact if I say the name was so and so, then I am trying to
tell the readers that the name of this school right now is different than before and that
is not true.

Then I went on to tell the readers about the school ﬁ'om the inside. I tried my
best to give them a good picture about the number of rooms and the differences
among the rooms. I tried to tell the readers who is on the ﬁrst ﬂoor and who is in the
second. I did much to make the readers aware of many things related to the school

In this paragraph you mentioned the name of the prophet Mohammed peace be
upon him without a capital letter. Is that the way you write names?

You mean I have to start with a capital letter when I write names?

211

I am asking you if you do that usually?

I am sure that I made a mistake here but why, I do not know?

Let us go back to your writing.

I am not sure if there are any problems that you feel need to be solved
regarding the way you handle spelling. Is it difﬁcult for you to write with no spelling
mistakes. Is it possible that you tell us about the difﬁculties that you face when you
write with English words, or do you think that you do not have any problems with
English words.

Of course I do, even my teacher does. She told me once, “Oh Ahmed, you
know it is not easy for anyone, even we, as Americans, we face spelling difficulties.”
If she faces these kinds of difﬁculties, then do you think I may succeed in learning
English without any spelling difficulties. I doubt it. I think that learning English with
no spelling difﬁculties is impossible. All my ﬁ'iends and those who study in our class,
have many difficulties in English spelling.

If you need to try to solve the spelling problem in our country, you better
check and try to ﬁnd out why it is not given much attention. It is sad to tell you that I
never learned spelling or what are the best ways to master English spelling; the only
thing that they stressed in our schools is handwriting techniques and what is the best
way to write cursive. “This letter is written like this, and that word consists of these
letters, period.” These kinds of things that we learned in our schools. You better
focus on these matters in that place.

Okay, Ahmed, let us go back to our tape.

Yes, I think I am writing the second, no the third paragraph. It is the same
paragraph that I have written for the ﬁrst essay, but I am adding few things that I did
not remember that time. I felt this information is important for the readers to know
therefore I included it in this essay.

Okay, do you think that you have an adequate vocabulary that may help you
write in English.

You know, it is not easy for a person to write in another language with

inadequate vocabulary. Before I came to the USA I thought that I had enough

212

vocabulary to let me survive in this community, but unfortunately, I was mistaken.
The best thing is to write with much vocabulary. If I learn English with a very limited
vocabulary, then I am limiting myself to limited expressions and writing.

How did you ﬁnish your essay?

I ﬁnished it, let’s see, I think it is sort of an excuse. I tried to tell the readers
there are many things that I would like to say, but my memory did not help me much.
Therefore, that is what I found. This type of ﬁnishing up is what I believe is the way
of telling your readers that you are not happy, and this is incomplete essay, and that is
because you are a human being and a human being is always incomplete.

Okay, Ahmed, let us understand how did you wrote, or in other words, how
did you go from step to step when you write. Or say whatever you think will help you
in telling me about your essay.

I am not sure if I will be able to tell you that.

Let’s try it.

I will try to explain it.

Go head Ahmed.

Okay, I read everything related to the essay, such as the question and
assignment, etc. Then I tried to tell myself, what should I say about this topic. Then I
start gathering my ideas about the topic that I was asked to write about and and after
that I wrote the essay, and then ﬁnished my writing.

How do you write?

I write as usual, starting with the topic and its importance to the readers and to
me and give the facts that are related to it plus tell my opinion, and ﬁnally tell the
readers that I am trying to ﬁnish the essay.

Do you check your writing before you submit it?

To be frank, I do not do that, and that is because I read my writing many times
before I ﬁnish and try to make the ﬁrst draft correct.

213

Appendix N-2

Ahmed Interviews

214

(1) Arabic Essay Interview (Al)

1. Describe how you write in Arabic?

Writing in Arabic is something that I love more than anything else. I think
the way I write in Arabic is important for all students to follow. I start by deciding
who the readers are and what the topic is before I think of anything else. In this essay
for example, I found out that I will write my essay here in America and I will write
about my old house which is in Saudi Arabia, but I will write the ﬁrst essay in Arabic
and the readers will be Arabs including Saudis of course, but the writing will be
different than usual writing because of the location and the readers.

Usually when I write I start by thinking why should I write this piece. In
other words what is the purpose of my writing. If I feel that I have a clear purpose
then I will go for it, otherwise I will not write unless I have a clear cut purpose. Once
I establish this purpose I will think about what should I write. Then during my
writing I think what are the most suitable ideas that may add to the main idea that I am
trying to explore in this essay. If I ﬁnd this work unintimidating then I will ﬁnish my

essay in the time allowed and then I submit it to my instructor.

2. Do you think that Arabic writing teaching is adequate? If not what is the
best way to teach writing in your opinion?

To be frank I am not able to tell you what is the situation in Saudi Arabia. 1
studied writing in my elementary, secondary, and high schools. During my college I
did not have a speciﬁc course that targeted Arabic writing.

But to answer your question, in elementary school, I feel, and that is my
opinion, that teaching writing is not adequate, because the way they approach writing
is not that good. They teach writing composition one time each week and sometimes
this course is the last one in the day. If the schedule that day consisted of seven

classes, the seventh is always composition.

215

Moreover, the way they teach us composition in Saudi Arabia is not like the
way they teach writing in this country. In my country they teach us without
emphasizing the techniques that tell the students how to write, but instead they tell us
how to write about certain things such as describing Spring, or describing a day in the
desert etc. I felt that what they emphasized in my country is the way we ﬁnish and
complete a certain issue, while here in this country they teach students how to write
using the tools of writing.

3. Do you encounter difficulty in Arabic writing?

No, I have no difﬁculty, but this does not mean that I am good writer in
Arabic. I feel like I am learning Arabic writing by practice, but not as a result of
learning in school or in speciﬁc settings. I write Arabic because I write all my
homework in Arabic.

When I was studying in my elementary school I was writing almost
everyday. In religion classes, history, science, and other subjects. I was practicing
writing always and almost every minute, so I think it is a way of overcoming any
difficulty in writing in Arabic. If I write English as much as I wrote Arabic, then my
English writing will be more perfect than most of the learners.

4. What is the most difficult part in Arabic writing you think that you need to
improve?

Well, as I told you we do not learn Arabic writing in classes as they do here
in the United States, and I learned Arabic writing by practice and this make the chance
of difﬁculty improbable. But it is worth mentioning that the way I start the topic is
the most difficult part of writing. I feel as if I need to practice how to enter into a
certain topic and then I can write very well with fewer problems and less trouble. In
my opinion, writing is a way of communication and each communication depends on
the two ends of the communication scale. If I communicate with you you will
understand many things, because we share the same language, culture, and
background, so communication between you and me will be very easy, but if I

communicate with somebody who does not know anything about my culture, it will

216

be difﬁcult to communicate with him and this is one thing that I need to learn to

enhance my writing,.

5. What is the best way, in your opinion, to resolve Arabic writing

difficulties?

That is good question. I like to talk about the things that will enhance my
country and develop the ways that we teach our students and learners to make them
more capable in helping in the development of the country. I noticed that teaching
Arabic writing in my country is not adequate and needs a lot of treatment and
enhancement.

First we need to teach teachers to adopt the best and most recent ways of
teaching and how to deal with students in the classrooms. This will enable the
teachers to understand their students and to know what are the best ways to approach
them. Once we do that teachers will be able to pinpoint the weaknesses of the
students and what they should do in order to enhance their classroom environment.

Second I think we should not leave Arabic composition as the last class in
the daily schedule as the students will be tired and they want to go home to eat, and
take a rest. But if we change the time and put it in the middle of the day then we are
giving them a chance to learn and understand the best ways of writing. Writing is a
way of communication and students need to communicate through writing in all
classes. In religion classes students need to write clearly and nicely. Students need to
learn how to convince others by writing. So we need to tell the teachers to choose a
good time for the teaching of writing if they are, you know, if they are allowed to
make the decision.

Third, teachers should teach their students how to use writing as a tool to
write and not to single out a topic and teach them how to deal with this topic without
telling them that this topic can be approached using such and such techniques.

What do you mean by such and such?

I mean the way we have to organize our writing and the way we, you know,

217

develop our ideas during writing is the best way to teach students how to write.
6. Writing in Arabic is not similar to English. Do you agree or disagree with
this statement? Explain

In what ways they are similar or not similar?

I mean do you write like you do in English or do you approach, you know,
English topic differently than you do topic in Arabic?

Well, I think that each language has its own specialty. I like to write in
Arabic using poems and sayings better than in English. In Arabic we use many
quotations ﬁom the holy Quran, and in English I never use anything from the holy
Quran. I feel that when I write in English I should take care and watch my language
because I am writing to different people. We do not share anything in common as our
culture is different, our life is different and even our beliefs are different. Then to
answer your question there is no similarity between Arabic and English in terms of
writing.

7. Do you consider yourself a good Arabic writer? If yes, why?

Well, I think I can not evaluate myself, because I feel like I am saying that I
am the best or I am the worst person. But I feel that in Arabic 1 can express myself
clearly and easily as I can tell others what is in my mind and I can argue on a certain
topic or certain issue. I am able to discuss any matter if I have interest in it and I can
tell people what my position is on such a matter. All this can tell you if I am a good
writer or not.

But what about your feeling towards writing ability? Do you feel that your
writing is good in Arabic?

Yes, it is good in Arabic because I do not encounter any difﬁculties in
Arabic writings. However, I am right now learning English writing and I am sure
what I will learn in English will help me to improve my Arabic writing. Also this will
tell you that I do feel that I am not bad in Arabic writing as my writing in Arabic is
acceptable in terms of quality.

This leads me to raise an important issue in writing which is the respect of

218

the readers. If I am a good writer I should care of my readers and present to them all
the truth I know and treat them as if they are better than the writer himself. If I do so

then I am good writer.

8. Do you think that planning before writing is important? Why or why not?

Of course, I think that planning is part of the writing itself. I like planning
and respect people who plan before they write. I want to practice this activity, but it is
matter of practice. I never do plan for my writing, but I hope that I can do it in the
future.

The reason why I do not plan is that I was not encouraged to do so in my
school. Every time we write we do not look for the things that will make the writing
seems nice and well-organized, instead we used to talk about the topic and about the
features that will help us to master that topic alone, but do not we learn this to write

on other topics, unfortunately no.

9. Do you think that revising is an important part in writing process?

Sure. Why not? I am conﬁdant that without revision students will produce
bad writings. I remember that when we completed our ﬁnals, teachers always asked
us to revise and they gave us time to read our essays before we go outside the
classrooms. It is a matter of practice, and if we learn that revising is an important part
of writing then we have to practice it and apply it when we are writing.

Writing without revision is always incomplete, and I do revise. For
example, in this essay I revise many times. I do that when I complete the ﬁrst part
and I do it when I complete the second part and so on. This will make my writing
stronger than before and will make it more powerful.

lO.How many drafts in Arabic languages do you usually write before you
submit your ﬁnal paper?

First I have to tell you that the importance of drafting is not a priority for
me. I feel like if I write in a good manner and I meet all the requirement of writing

then I am doing ﬁne, whether in two drafts or three , or even one draft. Then the

219

main point is not how many drafts, but how is the writing, and what does it look like.

It is not the same. If I have the time and I feel that I need to write more
than one draft I will do so, but if I feel that this writing is complete and no change in
the draft is necessary then there is no need to rewrite it again and again. But if I feel
that my writing is not good in the ﬁrst draft, then I will ﬁnd out why it is not good and
then try to ﬁx it in the second draft. But if time does not allow me to do so then I
should not do another draft but rather I may ﬁx my ﬁrst draft and present it as is.

I feel that these things were not emphasized in our schools and nobody
teaches us explicitly the importance of drafting or revising. I do not recall such things
when I was in school. But I remember that the most emphasis was in the way the

topic should be treated and the ideas should be presented in clear way.

11.Do you identify your audience before you write in Arabic?

Yes, I do. In my writing I always put the readers in front of my eyes. Actually
I respect them and I do my best to tell them all the truth as it is the best way to treat
your readers. Thus I am conﬁdent that all the readers in this case will be happy when
they read my essay as it is a good way to tell your audience the truth of the ﬁrings
about which you trying to tell them.

Audience is the third part of the writing process. I am sure if this part is not
treated well then the whole writing process will be unclear. It is a fact that readers are
not in one level, and some of them will read what is between the lines, and others will
read the grammar and style of the writers and the rest will read the main ideas.

So to treat your readers well you need to write for the three types of readers
and I do write for all of them if I am writing a general article, but If I am writing an
essay to a class I write to the teacher as the main reader and then to the students

because they share the same goal.

220

(2)Arabic Essay (A2)

1. What do you like the best about writing?

I am not sure if I could answer this question because I like all parts of
writing and I do not have a preference to any part of writing, but I can tell you that I
dislike one part of writing which is the beginning. In writing I have difficulty ﬁnding
the way to start. I think this the most difficult part of writing to begin with.

Writing is one way of telling people about what is in your mind. I like to
write and I hope that people, I mean readers, will enjoy my writings. When I write I
feel like I am preaching. I feel like telling readers about what I love and what is the
best way for them to do the same thing. Writing to me is not coloring, it is something
different. I like to tell people about my own life and there is no way to tell them that
except through writing. When I write I feel like I am delivering an important
message, and people may beneﬁt from it.

But I feel different when I write in English. That is because I am faced
many difﬁculties which may make my writing similar to a boy in an elementary
school, that is in terms of vocabulary and expressions. I think I need more time to
learn English writing and then I can tell what writing in English means to me. I also
hate to ﬁnd myself stopping the writing process because a wordlor an expression is
not available to me to tell people what is in my mind. I like to write about many
things but one thing makes me feel like I am unable to write and that is vocabulary.

When I write, I like to tell people about my own opinion then tell them
about my beliefs and why I am writing to them about this topic. I feel that it is my
duty to tell people about what I feel and howl feel.

2. Do you think that your Arabic writing has changed after studying writing

in America?
Um, not really, but I feel I have learned many things that will help my
writing in Arabic or in English to be better than previously. But the main point is that

the way I approach writing is different than the way I approached it before. I mean

221

that I learned that if I need to address a topic I have to prepare myself before I write.
My teachers in the ELC told me that writing is not like speaking, the difference is that
you are using your voice, face, and hands to tell people your message, but writing is
different, therefore, I have to tell people everything that is related to the topic. I was
not doing that before, but now I am trying my best to follow this theory, which is that
a writer has only one way to tell people about what is in his mind and that is writing.
However, a speaker has many things to tell readers about his idea, such as voice, face,
and hands.

One more thing that I want to tell you is that you will see the result of your
speech immediately, while your writing may take ages to be noticed, which may help
the writer to be more careful when he writes

I feel like I have learned many things which may help me make my Arabic
writing looks presentable and readable, and that is what I will adopt in future. It is
important to tell you that I have made some changes but it is not enough to claim that
my writing has changed. It is true that I need to learn more and more about writing
and that is what I will do in these days. I have planned to continue learning about
writing and its techniques and once I found myself mastering writing, then I will write
from many bases.

3. What is the biggest difference between how writing is taught in your native

country and how you have studied writing in America?

This is good question. I believe there is a difference, and we are agree that
on, which will lead me to talk with you freely. I know you are a teacher, but you like
me to criticize you and tell you how I feel towards you and those who teach English in
my country. I feel like we were unable to learn English as required because of the
teachers, and the materials that are used in teaching.

Teachers in my country are not native, which will make them unaware of
many English facts especially in speaking and writing. This is what I think, because
the one who taught me English in college was not native speaker. If you compare my

English to one who graduated from King Fahd University of Dhahran, you will see

222

that we are different although we share many common things because of the way the
university approaches the teaching of English. In Dhahran there are many English
labs, and there are many English sources, such as student libraries and tapes and so on
and so forth. Teachers who teach in Dhahran are native speakers of English,
Americans or British.

Moreover, the way many students in Saudi Arabia approach English is not
helpful. For example, I think nobody reads English outside the classroom, and
nobody likes to read books and magazine that talk about English countries.

Moreover, the way they teach English here in the USA is different than the
way people teach it in my country. I do not know why. But it might be because that
people in my country do not have access to English teaching research or because
English teachers take care of teaching English as it is their native language. I agree
and admit that English is taught better in this country and much better than the way
English is approached in my country, but it is your duty to enhance it and make it
similar to the way English is taught in this country. I think if you apply all the
techniques and methods of teaching that teachers used to teach English then you will

be able to teach English similar to the way teachers teach it here.

4. Do you think that writing for speciﬁc audiences will enhance writing?

Well, it is obvious that every person when he write he or she is assuming
that somebody will read his writing and this is true for me. I write by all those who
may get access to my writing putting in ﬁont of my eyes, and I think of what they will
say when they ﬁnish reading my writing. I always put myself in the shoes of the
readers and ask many questions that readers may raise when they read my own
writing. I always remember myself when I read others’ writings. I used to say this
writer means so and so and that writer is aggressive. I sometimes think of the writer
as if he tries to say something to me but it is not clear, which means that he is writing
to different readers. I am not among them, therefore, he should not write like this or I

should not read this writing, but what I should do if this article is in a daily

223

newspaper, and I am one of the readers. This writer does not have the ability to
measure all his readers, therefore, he failed to satisfy me as required.

I think it is important to put in your mind your readers when you write to
speciﬁc readers and when it is for general readers, such as in a newspaper article or
story. You should tell yourself who the readers are and what will satisfy them and
how you should approach your topic accordingly. If you do this then you are able to
maintain your readers but if you do not then you are telling your readers that you do
not care about them and you are not able to write as required.

I hope that my teachers in Saudi Arabia will consider teaching their
students to write for speciﬁc readers because this will help the students to focus on the
topic as that it will be understood by the readers, and if there is an idea which the
writer feels that his readers will not understand without explanation then he will put
this idea in a different context will make it seem more understandable.

I also encourage myself to make every single idea clear enough to my
readers, especially if I am writing to non-Arabic readers and writing about a topic
which is not familiar to them. In this case any topic which is not related to my readers
I will have to put a speciﬁc introduction which will introduce my readers to the topic.

Moreover, I feel strongly that if I explain an idea or a topic to my readers I
feel that I respect them a lot. This means that if I give an introduction to a speciﬁc
topic without telling my readers about the background of this topic then I am telling
them that their understanding is not important.

Okay it is nice to hear that.

5. Do you think that adopting English writing techniques will enhance Arabic
writing? Explain.

Well, to begin with, it is important to emphasize the fact that each student has
his own learning ability. I like to learn if there is something that motivates me, and
other students, for example, like to learn if there is some relationship to their desires
and what is being taught. It is actually the learner’s choice to learn about the
environment around him or her. For me it is different. My family pushed me toward

learning, and I felt that it is my duty to become similar to other family members and if

224

I do not do that I will be down-graded by the others. It is like being pushed by them
all the time.

I think the only thing that I need to emphasize is the importance of learning. I
learned many things from the English Language Center, especially writing techniques.
One fact that I have learned is being clear in your writing, and to do that you have to
plan your writing, revise it and put it into the ﬁnal shape. You know if you write a
piece of writing and you want to make sure it is clear for your readers, you must check
your writing. In my schools I did not learn how to make revision when I learned
Arabic writing, because nobody taught us writing techniques. Usually I check my
Arabic writing from time to time during my writing, but I did not allow time for
editing. Here in the USA, I learned that to produce a strong piece of writing, you need
to allow time for revision. I believe that writing techniques are important.

That is one thing, and another thing is that students when they come to the
USA their learning habits often become similar to Americans. In other words I mean
that they adopt the learning style that Americans use to do such as library searches,
long time studying, and self-dependency. I like that and I hope that I will be able to
adopt this style because I love it and I think it is better then my previous way of
studying. I feel like I am trying to change my study habits and become Americanized

in terms of learning.

225

(3) English Essay (El)

1. How long have you been studying English?

You mean in the regular school and throughout my academic studies? I am
a regular student, and I have nothing special to tell you. Iwent through the regular
Saudi schedule. I learned English as any student in the country. It is important to tell
you that the English that I learned or anyone in Saudi Arabia is not enough to read or
write in an acceptable way. I am a student who ﬁnished his elementary school with
no English at all. I went through secondary school which is called middle school
here. I like the American name more than secondary, because middle school tells you
that there was a school before this school and there will be a school after this school. I
am conﬁdent that this name would do better in our culture, because it tells you that
those students are in the middle stage of their lives. They will be responsible very
soon or as they call it here, independent.

In secondary school, however, I started learning English, in the ﬁrst year we
learned the alphabet, and how to write letters, and how to pronounce them. Then later
we learned how to make words out of letters such as “man,” “door,” and other words
such as “cat.” It took us one semester to go over these things. In the second semester,
we started learning words and the teacher tried to force us to memorize the words
without telling us if they are nouns or verbs or adjectives. We learned and
memorized most of them, but unfortunately we “lost” most of them because we did
not practice using them and putting them in context. And I think that was the most
serious problem of teaching English in Saudi Arabia as that is not putting theory in
practice.

Later in the second year of secondary school we started learning the English
structure, how we make sentences, and how to form questions. Then we went on
doing the same thing with some emphasize on the memorization of some words such
as “sunny,” and “weather.” I remember during the ﬁrst year we covered many

materials which I think were important for us as beginners, but unfortunately during

226

the semester break we didn’t practice them, so we totally forgot them, and that was the
worst thing.

However, when we we stated our third year, we began to learn other types
of English, and realizing we were not able to produce good sentences I mean in terms
of writing. It took us many times to learn how to produce sentence, even though these
sentences were full of grammatical mistakes.

When I went to high school and there I started learning some grammatical
rules which explained how to speak good English and to make acceptable sentences. I
did okay in this part, but when the composition part started I found myself unable to
do anything as I was seeing things differently. It took me ages to ﬁnd out that the
problem was not the language itself, but it was my readiness to learn English.

During the three years of the high school time, I learned about English rules
such as direct/ indirect speeches, Yes/No questions, and other important parts of the
English language. I learned that English is not like Arabic in terms of vocabulary and
sentence order, but unfortunately nobody emphasized this fact. We learn that English
is a matter of understanding and not a matter of memorizing words and rules, but
again there was not much emphasis on this rules. I was able to understand this
theoretically, but practically nobody taught us these things.

In the college we studied English in the ﬁrst year. It was one course with
around 40 students in the class and the teacher reviewed what we covered during the
high school and nothing else. It was one-way lecturing and no form of interaction
task place between the teacher and students. We were learning English as if we are
learning ﬁ'om a radio or television, because the teacher did not allow us to interact
with him as he was trying to cover all the materials that he had for us.

2. How many English courses did you take at your home university?

I told you in the previous question that we were taking only one course and
that course as I told you covered all the materials that we took during high school. I
tried my best to understand all English that was covered, but it was our ﬁrst year in
the college we needed to learn and understand many items beside English, especially

the courses that related immediately to the area of social work. I was busy learning

227

and trying to understand all these things and English was secondary to me. All that
semester was full of courses and to be open with you, English was not important to
me at that time. It was enough to get 40% of the mark to pass the course and that was
more than enough. We were working hard to get high marks in other courses and we
left the English course behind.

Moreover, the teachers in the English department did not allow professors
to teach English instead they send either a teacher assistant (TA) or regular teachers,
which make the course not important for us, but if they choose to send professors to
teach English to us the case will be different and we may get different opinions about
English.

3. Do you read English at home?

Not that much. During my studies after the ﬁrst year in college I did not
read or write anything in English. All my reading and writing were in Arabic after the
college and after the ﬁrst year of college. It is important to tell you that English was
not given much emphasis at my university and that is why we are unable to master
English as required.

4. Do you read books, magazines, or newspapers

I told you that it was not my habit to read any English materials during my
life. I felt that English was not that important and would not help my academic
courses so I had no reason to waste time or make more reading effort. Also I was
busy with my courses which would help me understand and go over all the social
work I needed to understand.

5. What is the best way, in your opinion, to resolve English writing
difficulties?

It is not easy for me to suggest what you are trying to research in this study,
because it is known that any solution if it is not based on empirical facts is under
question. However, I feel that we need to ﬁnd out the nature of these difﬁculties
before we discuss them, and then we have to see what is related to these difﬁculties
before suggesting any type of solution.

In my opinion, the problems that most Saudi encounter when they tried to

228

write in English related to the amount of English they have had when they learned it
as a core course in middle and secondary school. I suggest teachers should be trained
how to teach English either, as they did with you, sending them abroad to study and
enhance their teaching abilities, or design a teaching enhancement program and make
this program a requirement for promotions. Thus no teacher will get a promotion if he
does not pass this enhancement program.

By doing this, we will have our teachers always up to date in terms of
teaching and in terms of language knowledge. I am conﬁdent that this method will
change the way teacher looks at teaching, and their teaching ability will be different
and that will take no more than one or two years.

Second, we have to check the materials that students cover during the
English time. If they have anything that is not related to their understanding and
ability it should be eliminated and replaced it with what ﬁts their abilities and needs.
That means it is necessary to go over the curricula from time to time to ensure what is
being taught is really needed.

In terms of resolving writing difﬁculties we need to enhance language
learning, so English language teaching in Saudi Arabia, is developed properly, It is
better for the teachers to understand the differences between the two languages and
then teach their students accordingly. For example, I am not yet aware of the
differences between Arabia and English articles. I am confused when to use “a” or

“the.” I believe in teaching students such differences.

6. What is the most difﬁcult part in English writing you think that you need to
improve?

Well, I think I answered this question indirectly, but let us face it, when we
are in Saudi Arabia we do not have much emphasis on writing, because this skill was
not taught alone. We teach English to students in Saudi Arabia during forty-ﬁve
minute periods where we are required to learn writing, speaking, listening, reading,

and communication. If students need to learn “perfect” English then teachers need to

229

speak, listen, read and write perfect English in only forty-ﬁve minute before they can
teach others how.

I think difﬁculties come ﬁ'om the way we learn English in Saudi Arabia. I
am sure if this way changed then the difficulties would be less and the learning ability
would be higher than it is now. I am sure that if emphasis is given to all skills, anyone
would face any problems in future. Ithink it is impossible to do all these skills and
make them really mean something if we do not allow time for writing, and other
skills.

To answer your question you should know that we are unable to write
clearly because nobody taught us how to use support or examples in our writing. We
don’t end our essays with a summary which tells the readers about our main points.
Unfortunately, we need to improve our Arabic writing besides our English writing,
thus we need to improve our curriculum, and ways of teaching. We need to be native
like in our writing and understand the main basic roles of writing before anything else.

If we need Saudi students to be excellent in all English skills then we have
to change the way English is approached in Saudi Arabia. I am sure this will help a
lot and students will change their attitudes towards English. They will learn to love it
and practice it because they will have a purpose for their learning.

If we try to improve the way English is being approached then we are
telling students that changes can be made and students change immediately. Most
will follow the ways that teachers will direct them and also they have no choice. I
believe that teachers have to realize the problem ﬁrst, then they have to apply the
change to their way of teaching, and then students will follow.

7. What does planning mean to you? What kinds of planning you do before
write?

Planning, you mean how to approach the answer of the question or the topic
that assigned for me .. I think anything in this life needs planning, but in writing .. yet
it is important, but, to be honest, I did not get used to it. We need, as students, to
learn the best ways to approach writing. I love writing but I feel that I am not yet

writing in a good manner.

230

I have to tell you that I have no doubt that planning is one essential part of
writing and that good students have to do planning before they even start writing. I
believe that planning is the guideline of any writer if he wants and needs to be a good
and well-organized writer. But the problem is, as I told you earlier, that students in
Saudi Arabia, and I am one of them, do not practice these techniques, because there is
no emphasis in writing at all, and this will not encourage students to learn anything
related to writing and the best way to pass English courses is to get 40% of the grade
and that can be obtained easily.

I do plan sometimes and I love to plan, but it is not my habit. I feel that
planning is important, and that is because it allows the writer to focus his writing and
to know the different of stages of it. The writer can know when he or she is going to
change his idea and start talking about an other idea because of the plan that he or she
has been made for himself.

8. What does revising mean to you? What kinds of revising you do before
write?

Revision, I think revision is the way you check your essay and see if it is
complete and nothing needs to be added or dropped. It is making sure that what you
produce is strong enough so that people will read and enjoy it. I think it is a way of
judging the writing and giving it a type of approval before allowing anybody to read it

or give an opinion regarding its quality.

When I write I do revise. I revise when I ﬁnish one idea and before I go tot
the following idea I check my previous writing, and correct what needs to be
corrected and added and changed. I think this is not good way, because I have heard
my friends say it is recommended to be after you have ﬁnished writing, and have put
the pen down. Then you should go and read the whole essay and change what you
feel needs to be changed I love this idea, but it is hard for me to do such things. I am
conﬁdent that this is good way of approaching any editing types, but for those who

face the same difficulty I experience can not do that. Most of us have insufﬁcient or

231

enough time to ﬁnish the essay writing to begin with, so if this is the case then we will

not be able to do revision after the essay is completed.

9. How many drafts in the English language do you usually write before you
submit your ﬁnal paper?

To be honest, I do not submit more than one draft. That is because I do not
have the time to write more than one draft. I think that because of the way we treated
writing is not good. I personally faced many problems because the way I write is not
the way which help writing more than one draft. It is my habit to spend a long time
thinking how I could start the writing and it took me ages to ﬁnd a good way to start
which wasted most of my time. I am really in need of understanding the best ways to
write and the manage my time during writing.

It is important to tell you that when I submit my writing I do not feel that
there is something I can do after the writing is ﬁnished. I am sure that writing itself
has nothing to do with the number of drafts and if I am able to write one draft with no
grammatical mistakes then why should I do submit another.

Many people say that when you write more than one time you will enhance
your writing more and more. I believe this is true, but what I am concerned with is
the way we treat writing. I believe that writing in one draft is the best if it is revised,
but if you feel that during the revision that you need to write another draft why not?
But If you feel that after you revise your paper and found that your paper is okay and
there no major changes, then I am sure that one draft will do.

10.Do you identify your audience before you write in English?

Writing as you know is three parts: the writer, the topic and the audience.
If I am the writer and write with no experience then my writing will be inadequate,
and it is the same case if I am writing with a clear-cut purpose. Let say what will
others say if we do not take care of the writer ﬁrst and train him or her to be good
writer, I am sure they will say this writer does not have a sense of audience, or does

not care about his audience.

232

The other thing is the topic. If I write in a newspaper in a city like Riyadh,
and talk about the compound of Cherrywood Apartments, then I am singling out a
speciﬁc location for people who do not know where this place is, thus they will say
that this person does not have a sense of audience or he does not care about his
audience.

So what I said in one and two is true because the three things are related to
each other and it is important when we treat any topic we should do that looking at the
three aspects (writer, topic and audience).

Then it is clear that what I should say as an answer to your question that:
Yes. Yes, it is important for me to identify my readers and to know to whom I am
writing. If you do not write to speciﬁc readers, then you are writing for blind people
or those who cannot read. I feel that readers are one angle in a triangle, and if you

neglect them you would neglect an important part of your triangle.

11.Do you consider yourself a good English speaker? If yes, why?

You should say if no, why? It is important for those who research in the
ﬁeld of second language learning to identify why second language learners and those
who would like to learn another language why it is difficult for them to learn another
language? Is it because their mind ability? Is it because of their age? Is it because
other things? They have to tell us about these difficulties and provide us with the
right solution. I have learned that learning is difficult if you are more than thirty years
old and when you get older the chance to learn is less. I would like to know if this is
true or not.

I am not good speaker of English and I think I tried to answer this question
when I answered the other question. I do not have the ability to speak and write like
English speakers, and I if you asked me why I would say that is because I was not
exposed to English as required, and I am still in need of learning and understanding
of the English language. It is not yet the time for me to say that I am a competent of
English. It is not the time to start expressing myself using English.

233

12.Do you consider the amount of English that you learned in your home

university is enough to begin academic courses here at an American universities?

To answer your question you should know that we are unable to write clearly
because nobody taught us how to use support or examples in our writing. We don’t
end our essays with a summary which tells the readers about our main points.
Unfortunately, we need to improve our Arabic writing besides our English writing.
Also We need to improve our curriculum, and ways of teaching.

Among many things I feel I need to learn the differences between English and
Arabic writing techniques. .. The amount of English that I learned in my county was
not enough to begin graduate studies. We do not know the differences between the
subject-verb relationship in Arabic and English. Are they the same? or does English
subject-verb relationship have speciﬁc rules. As you know an Arabic verb does not
need to agree with the subject in number, and it is grammatical to say in Arabic (he go

or they go), therefore, I am not sure if the same thing can be used in English.

234

(4) English Essay (E2)

1. Do you consider learning English in America different than leaning it in

Saudi Arabia? Why or Why not?

Let me start by emphasizing the fact that it is clear to anyone in the world,
either literate or illiterate, that leaning a language in its place is 100% more logical
than anything else. I will provide you with an example. If you go to a hospital and
tell people that you need to use the hospital to celebrate your marriage or to hold your
marriage party in the hospital, people will say “are you crazy!” Or if you go to a class
and tell the teacher that it is time for your lunch and you start eating and asking
somebody to pass the salt and an other person to bring you some cold water and the
professor is holding his hands and looking towards you. I think he will say “This is a
crazy person.” It is exactly the same if I say that learning English in Saudi Arabia or
in any other non-English countries. The reason why this is not acceptable is that
learning English is like learning about another life. You should know who are the
speakers of this new language, and what do they live and what are their costumes, and
who do they eat and etc.

I do not reject learning English in Saudi Arabia, but I think it is better to learn
English in an English-speaking country. It is better, because no other language would
be used in the classroom and students will learn the language in the house and in the
street as well as in the classroom.

I am sure that learning English in America, for example, is not like learning it
in another foreign country.

It is recommended that students are to be encouraged to study in the USA or
UK and not in the country where they are not speaking this language. If we do that
then we are giving the students an opportunity to view the language and to learn it
from its main source.

2.What is the biggest difference between how English writing is taught in your

native country and how you have studied writing in America?

235

There are many things that I learned here in the United States. To begin with,
I learned how 1 can write in a way that will please my readers and myself. I learned
that it is my own decision to write well or badly. I can write well if I follow the rules
and directions of writing.

It is important to tell you that I did not feel that I was able to write until I came
to the United States of America. I found myself able to write in a way that could tell
the readers who am I and I was able to ﬁnd myself.

One important fact that I learned here in America is that do not put your
writing on the paper and give it to your teacher without rereading it one or two times.
I used to read my papers during my writing, and many times I found minor errors and
I used to correct them, but when my teacher returned my paper, I found that he caught
many minor errors that I should not have made. I realized that it is because I did not
edit my paper before I handed it to my teacher.

Another important difference is the teachers who teach English. In the United
States of America, American (native speakers) are the teachers of English, and in
Saudi Arabia Arabs, such as Egyptians, Sudanese, Saudis, etc. Those who teach
English in both locations are certiﬁed teachers, but the difference is that in America
teachers are teaching their own language and those who are in Saudi Arabia are
teaching a second language.

It is not easy to say that those teachers are the best or those teachers are better
than other teachers, but in general I like the America teachers because they are

conﬁdent about the language they are teaching.

3.Do you learn new writing techniques?

Yes, I do. I was able to start mentioning facts before opinions and I was able
to tell the readers that I am able to write. I was able to ﬁnd out that the readers are not
looking for the value of the things that I am trying to present in the essay, but one way
to please is to write with no grammatical mistakes. I am able to understand that
writing is not the writer only, but the writer is one part of three components. In the

writing process I. have learned that I should use an introduction which will tell my

236

readers that I am writing about “X” and that “X” is the topic of my writing. I was able
to understand that writing is a way of pleasure, and it is sharing your mind with.
others.

One thing that I felt that, you know, umm, but I think I learned here is the way
I guess words from context. This is not related to writing but it is a way of knowing
what to use when I write English. For example, I heard people saying “Give me a
break.” But I did not know what that it meant until I lived with it and experienced the
meaning myself. Thus I was able to understand that when you write about something
you should be clear enough so that your readers will understand what is you are
saying.

4.What are the most important strategy did you learn in approaching writing?

There are many things that I think I learned many things, you know, ﬁom my
studying in the English Language Center. One thing is that is important to know
before you write is to be aware of your writing and what you will do before you
approach it. My writing before I came to America was not that good, but I learned
that I should write a list of ideas which I will use in writing about the topic, such as
organizing my ideas or prewriting. I think I am ready to use prewriting (planning) in

my future writing.

5.Please explain in details the methods your teachers used to teach you to
write?

It is hard for me to tell you everything that we have learned and covered
during the whole semester. I was not sure that somebody would ask me this question,
but, I think it is important that teachers tell the classes that writing is not something
that one can master by memorizing rules and techniques, but it is a way of practice
and living with writing. To write, the teacher told us, is to put the idea in a clear way
so that your readers will understand what you are writing about in this or that matter.

I think the teacher class was trying to tell us that writing is a way of
organization. She was able to tell all the class the to write you have to practice and to

be perfect in your writing you need to be perfect in your practice.

237

Writing is a matter of allowing readers to understand the idea about which you
are trying to argue. She told us that when you write put yourself in the shoes of the
readers, and once you do that you are half way into the writing process.

Also she was telling us that the role of the writer is to present the idea or the
opinion the writer is trying to present in a way which will the reader to understand.

Once he or she has done that he or she is a good writer.

238

Appendix Q

Subject Suliman Stimulus Recall & Interview

239

Appendix 0-]
Suliman Stimulus Recalls
(1) English Essay (El)

I am preparing myself to answer you question at this moment It does not take
me long time to understand the question. I found that I am able to provide you with
all necessary information that will help answering the whole question. I am trying my
best to be speciﬁc as I can. I read the question and ﬁgured out that I need to talk about
three different things which are my academic schools in the beginning and my
secondary school and the elementary school as a third part.

But do you think this is the question?

What do you mean?

I mean, you know, I am not sure if your answer is what the question trying to
obtain. Instead you provide me with more than what is being asked.

Well I read the question and I answered it. I found out that it tells me to write
about my university, secondary and elementary school, therefore, I told you about all
these schools.

No, no, it does not tell you to tell us about these three schools. It says that tell
us about “a” school and the question was about one of the three, either college or
secondary or if you would like to tell us about your elementary school.

I see, then this is the question. I was in a hurry and I did not realize that.

Okay it does not matter, but next time read the question before you start
answering it.

Okay, I admit that I was mistaken.

Okay Suliman let us go back to our essay. Tell me what are you doing right
now.

I am trying to talk about my university. It was still in my mind, because I just
came from there, and I chose to start with the college because it is the mentioned ﬁrst
in the question. I told the readers that I will talk about the university and I told them
that this university is Um Al Qura. I told them that it is Um Al Qura because there are

240

nine universities in the country, so it is important to specify this location and tell
people that this is what I mean. If I do not mention its name then I am trying to let the
readers guess what the university is, and some of them may not have any clue about
Saudi universities. Moreover, it is important for me to tell the readers that this
university which is in Saudi Arabia is located in Macca and speciﬁcally in Al Aziza
area. To be more speciﬁc it is located on Al Sitteen Street. This is the location and
the name of this university.

However, I told the readers that this university is where, I started learning in
this university since 1986 while I was studying social work. I told the reader that this
is my specialization to put into their minds that I am a student in this university and I
was specializing in this area to know which type of studies I was doing in this
university. To save time I tried to conclude in this paragraph by telling to the readers
that I was graduated in this college the year of 1990. Not only that but I obtained
GPA of 3.3 out of 4.

Okay Suliman when you cross out a word in the ﬁrst paragraph do you know
why you do so?

Yes, I was planning to say that “I attended the school in 1986,“ but I was not
sure that is the right expression. I feel this is a problem that other Saudis and I may
encounter, because we think in Arabic and try to twist the expression to look like
English. I did that also in the second paragraph. I tried to tell the readers about the
name of this school, but I say “realized such not important,” and then I chose to do an
other sentence. The third cross out here is spelling mistake. I was trying to write
give, but I wrote it gave, and so I crossed it out when I realized the mistake.

I feel that like, but, you know, I have an opinion that writing is something
special. Writing is a way of telling people about something, but it is good for the
writer to make sure that his writing is well connected and with out mistakes. I believe
that it is good for the writer to pause from time to time and read his writing, and then
correct it.

In the third paragraph I feel like I was trying to give the readers new
information as I started talking about my elementary school. I started by saying

24]

“third,” then I realized that it is not grammatical, then I wrote “the,” then I say that it
is not grammatical to say third, but I decided to make it the third. I followed the same
order of the previous paragraphs as I gave the readers information about the location
of this school and when I attended this school and when I completed it. I added other
information about is the type of school. Because in Saudi Arabia we have two types,
Governmental and commercial.

The school that I was studying at is governmental because it is designed by the
government and funded by the government, and all teachers are employed by the
government. While the other type is run by a private owners and are according to
their own philosophy, but they have to meet certain government requirements.

I feel like I had ﬁnished my information before, you know, that, I mean. I went
on to talk about an other topic which is the English language and I told the readers
that Elementary school is the stage of studying where I started learning English as any
Saudi student does.

Do you mean you learn your English in elementary school?

Did I say that?

Yes, you did.

I am really sorry. I thought I was talking about my middle school. This is
because I am not giving this writing much attention or I am afraid to be rated less than
usual.

Well, Suliman you know this will not be given to anybody else, and nobody
will use it for any other purposes. And I promise to destroy all these materials after I
complete this study, so there is no point in being afraid or to feel insecure.

Okay, I meant that during the middle school we started learning English.

In addition to that I was writing about the things that I obtain beside studying.
I said I have met many ﬁ'iends from different parts of the area, that is because we are
not allowed to go outside our house and play with other kids, so meeting ﬁiends in
school was nice. Those ﬁiends are not classmates, but they are from different classes.

Finally I was trying to tell readers that was what I was talking about and then I
provide them with my summary which tells them about the whole thing.

242

Okay, Suliman, one thing that I felt that you need to tell me about is the
relationship between your paragraphs. Do you pay attention to connecting your
paragraphs when you write?

Well I think that when I write I write things that are related to each other. In
my writing I give a historical background about my study in the Saudi schools, and I
feel I follow the order of the question.

Okay, Suliman, I feel that one problem that many Saudis encounter is the tense
problem. I mean that when they write they do not follow the English tense rules. Do
you think that tense is one of the difficult problems that Saudi students face in
particular and Arab students in general?

I am positive if we are talking with our ﬁiends we would master English. My
brother works with the Saudi airline and they used to talk in English, write in English
and communicates using English. He is English in everything even his thinking. He
breathes in English therefore, he never faces any writing difficulty when he
communicate in English. So, if we have the same opportunity, nothing would be
difficult.

Believe it or not if the students had the chance to practice English in the other
environments then they will master the English language in general and not only in
tense or verbs agreements. I am positive that most of them would be more than you
expect.

Okay, Suliman I feel that you have to learn subj ect-verb agreement because as
your essay indicated that there are many times that you did you know you did not
match the verb with its subject.

I recall that this was one area of grammar, but in writing, I am not sure. I am
not sure did you say subject and verb should agree in number and , I am not sure.
They taught me that, but I am not able to use this knowledge here.

Okay Suliman I feel that you do not use many supports in your essay. Do you
believe that supports are important in writing?

I am sure that is true. Supports are important in terms of reaching a common

ground between the readers and the writer. If the writer does not prove that what he is

243

saying is true then there is no way to force them to complete your readings. Frankly
nobody will believe you if you do not provide them with supports. Nobody will
complete your essay and you may not be allowed to write again if you are a

newspaper writer.

244

(2) English Essay (E2)

Yes Suliman this is you and I am sure you will like this situation. Let us
review what you did in this hour.

Oh course I will like it. I am happy that I am one of your subjects, I feel like I
am providing you with an important data.

Yes, I appreciate it.

I am writing know the ﬁrst page of this essay. I feel as if I am thinking which
the best way to approach this topic

Okay, how do you plan you writing? Do you set a speciﬁc planning lines that
you will use in the writing process?

I believe that putting a guideline for the write is an important. I did not put a
guideline for myself, but I did plan in my mind. I feel that it is important to have a
planning guide. Planning is like a shopping list, it gives you direction where to go in
your thoughts. I learned in America how to write using guidelines and points before I
do my actual writing.

Studying at the ELC made me feel the difference. I studied new English and I
learned a lot of things. Do not you think that we spent long time doing nothing. I was
thinking that I will not understand what will go around me, but it was not true. I
learned a lot of things and I adopted many writing techniques that will add to my
writing. I am positive that what I learned here is important and I am sure it will
enhance my writing. I am sure what I have learned in ELC classes will help me write
well in English and Arabic, it is important for us [Saudis to adopt this knowledge
when we write in Arabic I recall that I was asked to produce good sentences which are
clear and grammatically acceptable. In my country, teachers were not that excellent in
teaching. The emphasis was not on the grammatical parts, but was in how you
paraphrase a sentence or summarize a paragraph. They taught us some grammatical
rules, but there was not much emphasis. But the situation is different here in the

USA. I felt as if I am thinking, writing, and working with an English brain

245

Why you stop writing from time to time? I noticed that you need to wait for
sometimes to think or to do something else and then you complete your writing. Is it
possible to tell me why?

I stop writing to make it clear for my readers to understand what I am saying.
Making sure that what has been written is grammatically correct and spelled in the
right way is important for making writing clear. See if I write without knowing what
was at the beginning then I may repeat things or can not connect my writing in away
that the readers will feel as if this is one piece of writing.

However, I started writing about one place that I love, and I would like every
one to come and visit. That is the beloved Macca. I am happy to express my deepest
respect and love and put it in a paper. I started by saying that 1 was asked to write
about one place in my country and I chose Macca to be that place. Why I chose this
place I said to the readers because it is the holy city and it it also the center of all the
whole world.

Then I went to write my next chapter by addressing the location of this city
which is Saudi Arabia and more speciﬁcally the Western area. I mentioned that this
city contained the oldest house in the world that house which was built by prophet
Abraham Peace be upon Him.

Okay, Suliman why you cross out that word?

I was trying to capitalize the word city, but I found out that this word is not
capitalized. Only the name of the city needs to be capitalized and that is new thing
that I learned in the ELC.

Okay, Suliman how do you contained writing your essay? What are you doing
in this moment?

I was trying to use supports to tell my readers that this House which was built
thousand of years ago, is the reasons why many people come from different parts of
the world to visit and pray in front of it.

Do you use supports in your writing?

246

Yes, I do. I ﬁnd out that writing without support is nothing. It is not
documented if there is no support.

Okay, what did you do after?

I went to the third chapter. I tried to introduce my readers to the times that
people come to Macca to see and visit this House. I said that they come two times
once in the Holy Month, Ramadan, and the other one is at the end of the year which is
Hajj time.

Why do you cross this out word?

Well, I tried to enhance the style. I was trying to say that when they come to
repeat to make Hajj, but I found it better to say that :perform Hajj.” I felt that perform
is more stronger than prepare.

Next I talked about the city from inside. I said it is the oldest city in the world.
I gave the readers an idea about its climate, and what does its weather look like. I
tried to convince the readers that this city is worth visiting and it is a great chance for
anyone who is capable to visit Macca. I provided the readers with an example of the
things that they may visit when they come to Macca.

Why you do that?

It is a way of support.

What do you mean by a way of support?

When I claim that Macca is worth visiting I have to convince my readers why
it is worth visiting.

Okay, I get it.

I told Muslim readers that this place is the place of the prophet Mohammed
peace be up on Him. I want them to be more alert when they read this essay. And for
those who are not Muslims I mentioned something that may make them interested
when they read this essay. In the following paragraph I told them about the university
of Um Al Qura, and most of the Islamic scholar were graduated from this university.

I found it important to tell the readers about the main points of this essay,

therefore, I made a separate chapter to tell the readers about the main points of this

247

essay. I started by saying that in sum 1 have talked about my beloved university, and I
am glad to do that.

Okay, Suliman it seemed that once you ﬁnish writing you submit your paper.
You do not review it and you do not rewrite it again. Do not you feel that this thing is
not good in terms of writing?

I do not agree with you I think it is not important for me to submit more than
one copy, unless there is a reason for that. I am trying to tell you that if my writing
seemed very organized and easy to read then there is no reason to rewrite it.

Okay Suliman I feel that there are some words which you do not use in the
right place, do you think that is because you do not understand the meaning of them or
does it mean anything else?

You think I can understand all the used words in few weeks, It it is my
assumption that learning is not by memorization, but by practice. Once I am writing in
Arabic, I feel as if I am talking. I am ﬂuent in my Arabic, so there is no need to

rewrite it, but it is necessary to rewrite my English essays.

248

(3) English Essay (El-R)

I think it is a clever way to ask me to rewrite the topic of the previous essay. I
found out that it was full of mistakes.

Okay, Suliman, I need you to explain what are the nature of these mistakes.
But do you think that the essay, which you just completed better than the one that you
wrote at the beginning of this study?

Well, I think, you know, it is clear, I mean, you know, that is obvious. Of
course this essay is better than the one that I have completed three months ago. What
do you think, in fact, you know, I was amazed when I realized how far I was ﬁom
English. I started thinking that my previous level of English was bad and I was not
able to tell the readers about what was in my mind. It was a way of saying

Okay, Suliman, tell me about your English writing how was it and how did
you ﬁnd your writing today?

It is good question. I was unable to express myself as required, but now I feel
that I am clear in terms of writing. First, I was unable to put a plan for my writing,
but now I am able to do so. You know, I was writing without any guidelines, which
made my writing look unclear, unfocused, and many times far away from my points,
but once I realized that writing was not putting ink on paper, but a way of expressing
oneself and talking to people. I think that writing without planning is not adequate.

What do you mean? Is it possible to clear what did you say?

It is important for the writers to realized if they are developed or not. On other
words, it is important to check each writers knowledge what did he gain and what did
he lose.

Writing without planning, or organization is not reliable. I feel that making a
plan for myself before I start writing will make my writing more organized. Before I
came to America I used to begin my writing without thinking about how I will write,
but I would stop in the middle of my writing and I did not know how I complete it.

249

Sometimes I ﬁnished writing without completing all its components, of course,
because I do not have enough ideas about it. My feeling is that following a sort of
plan will make writing more organized.

Okay, then you feel that you have changed once you completed your ESL
training?

Of course, I was able to developed and changed. I am really unable to tell the
readers about my own feeling before I started learning English at the ELC, but once I
studied and learned many things, I found myself changing gradually, that is because I
learned many things that I was not aware of before and this helped me to focus my
writing and make it more easy to understand.

One thing that made me mad is the question that I answered at the beginning
of this study. In that time I did not understand the question as required, and I wrote
about three different things and this led me to be unfocused, but at this time I chose to
talk about my university which made my essay more focus and more organized.

You know if I did not learn and did not change I would not be able to focus
my writing. I feel like I am developing and using more support and I feel that my
paragraphs have more relationship that before. I feel like I am producing new things
that I could not do at the beginning of this study.

Okay, Suliman do you think that this knowledge that you gained in the United
States of America can be provided in your country?

I learned many things in my country, but things like editing, planning, and
drafting are not addressed there. I admitted that I learned a lot of things in this place
and I have gained a great knowledge about the English writing, and this is because I
was following many things that people will not have in the university in Saudi Arabia.
But the main point is that there are many things which are not available in my country
such as computers, language lab, and other important devices.

I learned the best things of writing techniques. Learning became more nice
and I feel like I am doing great job. One thing that I learn is that as a writer I have to
share my writing with the readers. When I write I do it from my own point of view as

a writer, but when I read my own writing I place myself in the readers’ position,

250

where I can say yes or no to what is presented. However, I realize that editing is an
essential part of writing.

Okay, I like that I feel that you are happy and you feel that you achieved
something and you are broad of this achievement.

Exactly, I feel like I add many things to my life. I feel like I am not Suliman
the one who came from Saudi Arabia. The reason is that I have changed. I learned
many things that are valuable and important.

But what about spelling?

It will come in future, and as I told you practice is the main point. I admitted
that spelling is not easy for us as nonnatives. I believe that even native speakers are
unable to master the spelling of their language, because there are many sounds which
do not match with the letter that you write. For example “knife,” I used to write it
without ‘K” letter, because I do not hear it. I will tell you the truth that I and all those
who come from my region will continue learning the spelling of English even after

they completed their Ph. D. studies.

Do you think that writing in Saudi Arabia is treated as it is treated here in the
USA?

Writing in my country is not as important as in the USA. I used to learn
writing once a week, and sometimes the last hour in our schedule, so when we started
this class most of us are tired and unwilling to hear ﬁom the teacher. Ironically, this
period many time was used by other teachers in my school. For example, if the
physics teacher could not ﬁnish his syllabus, he would borrow writing period to be
used as a physics class. More important is that teachers who used to teach it are not
professionals. They are from different ﬁelds such as Islamic curriculum or social
studies and so on. I think the most obvious fact is that the concept of teaching writing
in my country is not taken seriously.

Is it possible to tell me how you feel about your writing in general?

251

I am not yet mastering writing, there are many areas that I need to develop
especially spelling and tense. I feel that I need to understand many words’ usage
before I can say that I have mastered my English writing.

I think it is your job to enhance the way writing is taught in Saudi Arabia and
my job to develop my writing here in the USA. If I understand this rule and you

understand your rule, then we can change many strategies in our country soon.

252

(4) Arabic Essay (Al)

Well, at the beginning I tried my best to read the question and make sure that I
understood it fully, then I tried my best to put a guide lines that will help me organize
my essay. Then I started writing a description of my house. Of course, I started
describing my house. I said how many ﬂoors are there and I give the readers an idea
about what type of house is this house. I explained to them that this is a Saudi house
and this house is located in Macca AlMukararna, and the house is in the area of
Asuﬁa. I added that this house consists of three ﬂoors. I started talking about the
ﬂoors and I am a Saudi person.

Why you give the readers all these information?

I wrote this essay in Arabic assuming that my readers are Arabs or at least
understand Arabic and knew what does Mecca means to them, moreover, I assumed
that those readers knew what kind of city Mecca is, and what the weather is like.
People who will read this essay believe that Mecca is a holy city. I felt like it is
important to speciﬁed these information for those readers as I am trying to be
truthfully and I am not trying to tell them that I say something which is not
understandable to all of you.

Now I am writing about the ﬁrst ﬂoor. The house is consists of three ﬂoors
and each ﬂoor consists of four rooms, two of these rooms are for, you know, for the
dining rooms and sitting rooms. Moreover, there is a kitchen and two bathrooms.

I feel as if you have all these information and you did not stop thinking or even
checking your writing, does this mean anything to you?

Because I was imagining the house while I am writing.

Your ﬁnger was moving does that mean anything to you?

There was a piece of information in my head and I was trying to verbalize it
related to the ﬁrst ﬂoor, then I succeeded which made me happy to do that . Because I
was doing all the effort to imagine the house and the differences between the ﬂoors
and so on. I was doing my best to be accurate. It is my own habit to be accurate when

I write.

253

Why did you cross out this word?

It is a grammatical mistake, Yah, I think so, it is a grammatical mistake, htat is
the reason, but, you know I have to .. , I But, I should write a word, but I found it did
not ﬁt with the grammar of the sentence, therefore I dropped it. I was trying to tell the
readers about this house and the different parts of it. I started telling them about the
rooms on the ﬁrst ﬂoor. I told the readers about what is inside the rooms, and for
what we use these rooms. For example, we use this room for what and that room for
what. I did that to allow the one who reads these three pages to understand what my
house look like.

Reader, what do you mean by reader?

Anybody.

Anybody, Arabic speaker or Other speaker?

It does not matter if he is an Arab or not, providing that he is able to read
Arabic. If he is able to read Arabic and understand the various Arabic grammar roles
then this will help him to understand what does my house looks like.

Now I am writing about the last room in the ﬁrst ﬂoor.

Um, Suliman you told the readers that there are many things on this ﬂoor and
you have a large cupboard that you use to keep things in. Later you start another
sentence talking about the air-conditioning. The ﬁrst word in this sentence is “Of
course.” Why did you use this word?

Well Macca is known as one of the places that the degree of its weather is
more than 45 degree. Therefore we have to use an air-conditioning. And our house is
very close to the holy Mosque and the government tell us if you need to rent this
house you have to provide the renters with air-conditioning.

I meant why you said “Of course”?

I mean it is a sort of emphasizing the fact that we have to have an air-
conditioning in our house. The weather is hot and it is a fact that air-conditioning is
an important device that we need to use if we need to be in a good mood. I mean that
those who knew Macca and its weather, then they of course will assume that there is

an air-conditioning in most of the houses and my house is one of them.

254

There is a cross here what does it mean?

This is a grammatical mistake. I added a vowel to this word and I should not
do that, but because I was imagining my house I was not giving the spelling much
attention.

I notice that you ended your paragraph without putting a period. Does that
mean anything to you?

No, it was a mistake, but usually I use periods when I write.

Well, I am still writing the ﬁrst page. I stopped here because I ﬁnished talking
about the ﬁrst ﬂoor, and then I moved to the second ﬂoor, but before I started the
description of the second ﬂoor, I stopped to gather my ideas and the things that I am
trying to write in this paragraph. I have a lot of things that I need to write but it is the
matter of which comes before which.

Suliman, I see there are many stars in this essay what does that mean?

I need to draw the attention of the readers that these things are related to each
other. Each star is a room description.

Now Suliman you are starting writing your second page.

Yes, I do I am writing the second page, because I feel like I want to tell the
readers about the second ﬂoor. I started my description talking about the ﬁrst room I
call it the ﬁrst room because it is the ﬁrst room in the ﬁrst ﬂoor. If you go up stairs it
is the ﬁrst room that you see. I described it as I did with the other rooms and I
ﬁnished it and I went to the second and told the readers that this is the women setting
room, and in this room I said there was a Suva set and a television and the other
important staff.

I see you trying to read something in the ﬁrst page what was it, and why did
you do so?

Well, I was trying to follow the same description order, so I need to know
what did I do with the rooms on the ﬁrst ﬂoor before I talked about the second ﬂoor.

I notice that you wrote about your house location at the beginning and later on

you went describing you house location another time does that mean anything to you?

255

Well, I am not sure if there is any signiﬁcance when I say that, but it is a type of
information that comes to my mind when I was remembering the house discreption. It is
important to put each information with what is similar to it, and I was not sure that this is
related to the information at the beginning of the paper.

Writing to me is not like anything else. I usually write in one way. First I have to
prepare myself in terms of information. If what I need to write about is a question, then I
have to read the question and then make sure everything which is related to it is available,
then I have to start reading and also it is recommended to read and read and read the
topic before I ﬁnish it. Then make my essay complete by supplying the readers with a
summary about the whole article.

Okay now you are trying to ﬁnish your essay is there is any form of finishing
that you try to follow when you write. Do you have a conclusion?

Conclusion, you mean the last part of my writing? .. I know that it is
recommended for writers to end their writing with a summary where they make it easy
for impatient readers to know what does the writer want to say in this piece of writing.

It is needed to tell the readers that you are closing and the main points of the
topic that you are trying to cover in this essay are almost done and you are saying that
you have covered everything in the essay.

Thank you my friend Suliman and I hope I can help you in the future. Thank

you very much.

256

(5) Arabic Essay (A2)

You know it is an important fact that we should not leave our writing without
giving it more attention and we have to try to understand what we have done if it is
acceptable or not.

Yes, you are right, but do you feel that your writing has been affected by what
you do learn in the American school. On other words, does your English knowledge
that you learned and gained in the ELC have any effect on your Arabic writing?

I know what you mean. Really I can not tell but let me go over this essay and
I will explain what may answer your question. At the beginning, I feel like I am
reading the question as you see in the video right know. I mean the time that I used to
spend reading the prompt is not like now. I feel like I am reading the prompt many
times and thinking what should I say and how I do say it.

I started by doing all this thinking.

You mean the mantel process?

Yes, you may call it mantel process, but I feel this mantel process is deeper
than before. I feel like I am doing something great. You know when I read this
prompt, I decided to talk about one teacher, but I think that is not enough, then I
decided to talk about many teachers that is to make the amount of information more
and much than if I do it with one teacher. Idecided to do that in three stages, and
each stage I will talk about two different teachers. One is a good teacher who
succeeded in forcing us to respect him either because his way of treatment or his way
of presenting his topic.

Once I decided to do that I started to tell my readers that I will divide my essay
into six paragraphs and, each school or each stage will be in two paragraphs. The
reason is that will make the readers understand the differences between the two
teachers. I do that to make it easy for them you know to get my point.

The ﬁrst paragraph was an introduction about the topic. I started by talking

about a general thing which is the education system in my country where we start at

257

age six and this life, I mean the life in school leads the students to make relationships
with teachers and students. Some of them you love and others you hate.

This particular thing leads me to tell my readers that the purpose of my writing
is to tell them that I have many teachers whom I love and I have many teachers that I
hate. This approach makes it easy for me to talk about my teachers in this way.

But Suliman do you think that you were not able to do these things before you
come to the USA?

Yes, I was not able to do these things as clearly and easily as now. I may have
had the sense of comparison, but it was not clear then as now.

I am not saying that you do not have the ability to compare things, but the way
you organized your essay is something that you may have been able to do before you
came to the USA, don’t you?

No, not as clearly as now. Oh my ﬁiend, I was not able to reach a conclusion,
and I was writing about something from the West and I follow it with something from
the East. I was not really organized in my writing. It was like I was holding
everything but nothing was clear. My learning here opens many gates for me that will
help me write in a clear way.

Okay, I say your hand is covering your front, does that mean anything to you?

I have a pain when I talk about that teacher who treated us like animals. He
always thinking that we were a bunch of stupid people and he had to teach us. I think
that this the reason why I was feeling sad.

Okay, tell me what are you doing now?

It is my third paragraph and Iarn talking about math teacher. He treated us
like animals and always wanted us to be silent. Nobody dared to speak or say
anything. We do not participate in the class, but we listen to him and we do not
answer any question unless he asks us to do so. We hated his class and that is the
reason I do not like anything related to math.

When I ﬁnished this paragraph I moved on to the fourth one. In this paragraph
I talked about my life in middle school. I started with the good teacher who treated us

nicely and therefore we loved him and his topic. He was a teacher of English. He

258

taught us the meanings of words and how we should pronounce them. I remember
when he was trying to show us the different between the letter “p” and the letter “b”
and how it is easy to notice that difference.

Later own I tried my best to explain to the readers that the next teacher was the
worst teacher of my life but I was not able to express myself in this chapter, because I
hated that person and I felt like I was sick just because I remembered his name.

Then I went on to the third stage where I did the same thing, but I did not
mention any bad teachers, simply because there were none. I was happy to announce
that and I was glad to tell my readers that in this stage there was no bad teacher.

But you did not end your writing with a conclusion?

You know, Umm, You know, I mean that, I have, I mentioned in the
beginning that this essay was about the good and bad teachers and I mentioned that.
Don’t I?

But it is important to end your essay with a conclusion indicating such to your
readers that you would close this essay.

Do you think so? I feel like I need to do that in my writing, but if it is an
English essay, I will conclude my essay, but I do not know why I do not have a
conclusion.

Well, let me know if there was any problem with choosing words or any
difficulties when you try to spell words?

Not at all. I am writing without any difficulty in choosing words or ﬁnding
the right spelling. It is my language and I have learned the rules of this language.

How do you rate yourself as a writer?

I think that in Arabic I will be able to write with out any difﬁculty. I can
explain whatever comes to my mind and. I am able to write many pages and pages on
any topic because it is my language.

But do you think that English will be the same?

No, it is not the same. In English I have to think many times before I write a
word. I feel like I am not yet able to tell the readers that I am able to talk with them in

259

English. I have the sources and I have the required knowledge which will help me
focusing my writing, but the problem is vocabulary, and choice of words.

Is Arabic easier than English in terms of vocabulary and tenses?

Yes, Arabic, at least in my opinion, is less difﬁcult than English in terms of
vocabulary and spelling. Also, I think many letters do not correspond to the sounds
that we produce. For example we do not pronounce the letter ‘w’ in word like write
or the letter ‘k’ in word like knife and so on .

But do you have any idea how teachers could teach these differences?

Yes, of course. It is not that difficult. First we need to know how many
differences there are, and then how many similarities, and from that we can do our
best to put all the effort on the differences so this will make students more familiar
with these sounds and ﬁnally teach them with some conﬁdent that they will learn

these, you know, these sounds.

260

(6) Arabic Essay (Al-R)

As you can see I am trying to ﬁgure out what I said in this essay.

You read it for what?

I am trying to recall what the main ideas were.

To do what?

Actually, it is important for me to decide if this essay is okay or not. If yes,
then I have to do some minor changes, and if not, I have to rewrite it and produce
another essay.

What are the features of the good essay in your opinion?

I think if a person writes a well-organized essay with clear ideas, good
supports and nice examples, then this is the good essay, but if he or she wrote unclear
ideas, without support which will tell the readers that this fact or that opinion is true,
and if he or she does not allow the readers to believe what he or she wrote then this is
a bad essay.

What about yours? Especially the one you wrote before the beginning of your
ESL training, is it good, in your opinion, or is it bad?

See, when I wrote this article I was trying to use all the knowledge that I
learned and obtained when I was studying in Um Al Qura university of Saudi Arabia.
I put all writing features that I learned in this article. But now I am reading this article
using two types of knowledge the one that I used when I wrote this article ﬁfteen
weeks or seventeen weeks ago and at the same time using the knowledge I learned
here in the USA which is for sure different than the knowledge that I used when I was
ﬁrst writing this article. The result based on the new knowledge that I gained and
learned here in the USA is obvious, that this writing does not meet the requirement of
the writing. The reasons are that, writing has to be done under certain procedures and
this producer is different than what I learned in Saudi Arabia. And this procedure
should be met during writing otherwise the writing is not good. Another reason is that

my previous writing was not considered good because the facts that I presented were

261

without many examples and supports and most of the time I did not care about my
readers.

Great, it seems that you learned a good deal of knowledge and this is a good
indication that the new experience was useful. But let us review your previous
organization and compare it to your essay that you have produced today.

You mean I have to tell you about what are the weaknesses and positive points
in the essay? .

No, just go over your previous essay and tell me what does its organization
look like?

I am not clear what should I do in this.

Okay let us go over your tape and tell me what you did?

Okay, I am reading the previous essay. I was really unaware that this was not
like what I could produce now. I thought that essay (the one I wrote at the beginning
of the study) was not that bad, but it could have been better. If] were asked to write
about the same topic today I am positive I could produce better. I read the whole
essay and wrote down the main ideas of the essay. I found myself writing about my
house. I described it from the inside and the outside. I talked about the neighbors,
and about the markets beside our house. I added many things which were unrelated to
the t0pic that I was talking about. I talked about what is in the roof and this was not
needed. I feel that I could write better than that if I were asked to write it now.

And that is what you did, didn’t you?

Yes, I rewrote it with some changes in the details, but I kept the main ideas
and added some supports which made my essay more reasonable.

Okay can you tell me about these changes?

Yes, I will.

Do I have limited time or is it open?

It is not open-ended, but take your time.

I read the whole essay as you see in the video-tape, and wrote down the main
ideas of the essay. I found that the main ideas consisted of four main points. One

about the location of the house, the second about the description of the house ﬁ'om

262

inside, and the third 3 description of the house from outside. The fourth was a kind of
a conclusion, but I do not like it.

Why you don’t like it?

I felt that it is a kind of a repetition of what I have said, and there is no reason
that I need to repeat what I have said.

What is the good conclusion in your opinion?

I think it is a way of reminding the readers of the purposes of the essay. In
other words, I have to tell them why I have written this, and that is the meaning of a
conclusion.

I see, I like that.

Then when I ﬁgure out , you know, when I ﬁgure out , I mean, the main points
I decided to rewrite the essay again and I.

But why you did decide to rewrite it again?

I feel that there are some details that I do not need to mention because they are
not related to the topic that I am trying to present in this essay. So I decided to rewrite
it again and remove all these extra sentences.

Okay the video-tape shows that you are unhappy Is that because you are
thinking of your essay or of something else?

I like to say that this writing was done when I just arrived here in this place.
The knowledge of the teaching of writing that I gained in Saudi Arabia as I told you
many times is not that excellent. Thus we do not learn how we can use supports and
how we can use examples. It was difficult for us to master writing, without this
knowledge.

Okay, do you think that you are able to write better than before?

Yes I am able to produce better than before, and this essay compared to the
essay that I wrote at the beginning of this study is the better example.

Okay, you start writing now, don’t you?

Yes this this the ﬁrst paragraph. Here I tried to tell my readers that I will write
on this topic to give you an idea about my house ﬁ'om inside and outside, and I will

try to shed some light on the social aspect of the Saudi family because that will

263

explain why we have a separate sitting room for women and why we should not mix
with women.

Excellent, I like that, but don’t you think this is not related?

No I am writing in Arabic and my readers are Arabs or at least those who can
read Arabic, whether Arab or non-Arab, so when I talk about some Islamic
regulations, I should be clear why this happened and what is the result.

Nice, I did think of that, but it seems that your area of interest is coloring your
writing, did you think?

Well, it is necessary to tell the readers why you have two sitting rooms in one
house.

Okay, let us continue.

I am trying to ﬁnish this part right now and then I will go from one room to
another.

You examined the previous article. Does that mean anything to you?

I want to be consistent and what I have said in the previous article should be
present in this article unless it is extra information.

Excellent.

Let me ﬁnish, I feel that this article is a clear idea about the writing knowledge
that I learned here in the USA. I learned a lot and the result of this learning is that I
produce better than I did previously. At this moment I was trying to ﬁnd out the best
way to tell my readers about the house from outside. I described the color, the shape
of the building and the appearance of it. I mentioned it is in a secure place which tells
the readers what kind of people we are and so on.

But do you think that the way of organization in this article is better than that
of the previous one?

What do you mean by organization?

I mean the way you present your article to the readers, do you organize your
ideas in separate paragraphs and each idea followed by a support and or example, and

so on?

264

I wrote this article considering it is the second or third time, because I am
building upon another article, so the ﬁrst article is the ﬁrst draft of this one, and then I
am doing another job to enhance the previous job. I feel like I am doing something
good and better than before. I felt that the idea that I present in this article is more
reliable then the one I which presented in the previous one. You can tell or isn’t this
your job?

Yes, I like that. I felt that your essay today is better than that one you wrote
some time ago.

But what about spelling problems, do you think that you faced any?

No, I am writing in Arabic which is, as you know, is my language and there is
no difﬁculty in this area. I felt like I am using the right words, and do not avoid using
any word because it is difficult or I do not know what does it mean.

Okay, what about the other writing difficulties, do you think that your writing
was enhanced in terms of writing difficulties?

Yes I am able to present my opinion with examples and supports and this was
not my way of writing before.

You mean in Arabic writing?

Yes, I was not used to doing that on large scale, but now it is one of the
fundamental ways of presenting facts or opinions to the readers. I learned also to
place my ideas in order, so that I begin with the important ones then go to the less
important and so on. Moreover, I learned to put what can be called a conclusion
which tells the readers about why I have written this article or essay. These things I
feel are important for any body who wants to write in a way that reﬂect his ideas to
the readers, and this is the best way to reach Arab minds.

Okay, great, I am pleased to hear that you are learning and getting more
enhancement.

Thank you.

265

Appendix Q-2

Suliman Interview

266

(1) Engilish Essay (E1)

1. How long have you been studying English?

I think that most Saudis have had the same experience with English unless
they are specialized in English or have studied extra curriculum. The typical Saudi
student will start his English language studies by the beginning of middle school. I
spent three years studying English language at this type of school.

Next I went to high school where also I spent three years, learning and
studying English, most of it grammar and speaking activities. We were trained to say
some speciﬁc words and expressions and when we mastered them we graduated.

Then we went to college and in the college I studied English for one course
which was required and without it. I could graduate. But to be honest, we were
studying English to pass the course at all levels.

2. How many English courses did you take at your home university?

I mentioned that to you in the ﬁrst question that we were required to take
one course which is an introduction to English in general. There was some emphasis
in reading, listening and speaking and some things about writing but not that much.

I admitted that our learning of English is not adequate, and you know, I
have said that to you before, also we need to improve the way English is taught to us.
I need to say most students are aware of the importance of this language because it is
the language of this life. People are speaking English all over the world, and if a
person does not speak English he is actually, what I can say, I think he is behind.

3. Do you read English at home?

What do you mean by reading?

I mean do you read any materials that are written in English?

I read what is related to my studies. During my college time I read English
as required by the English teacher, but once I left college I did not reading anything
in English because I did not have time to read for pleasure. I was too busy studying

all my classes and I read what was related to the college.

267

4. Do you read books, magazines, or newspapers

Well, I think I addressed this matter in the previous question didn’t I? I
have said that it was not part of my daily schedule to read anything what was not
related to my classes. I was too busy to read anything, but my course work. I didn’t
read newspapers or magazines. However, I would like to that these days.

5. What is the best way, in your opinion, to resolve English writing
difﬁculties?

Language difﬁculties, is a big term. I think I can make it to mean the
difficulties that I met when I write in English. I think the answer should start by
saying do I have writing difficulties. If yes, then what are these difficulties, and once
we ﬁnd out these difficulties and what is the nature of these difficulties then we are,
and at that time only, able to discuss the ways of resolving them.

I admitted that my country’s education system did not provide us with
strong tools to be good writers. I remember in composition classes we spent so much
time learning how to write about the desert, or describe our street, schools, and
houses, or talk about our friends and relatives. We did not have guidelines of how we
should observe a time line or use many grammatical techniques when we wrote.

The best way in my opinion is to say yes there are many writing problems
that stopped us from reaching the level of excellency. I admitted that there are
problems related to spellings, grammar, tenses, commas and question marks, and
other important writing rules.

One way to solve these problems is to list all these difﬁculties and put them
on sheets of paper, each problem beside the similar one. For example, grammar
problems will be in one side, spelling in the other side and so on. Then we should
discuss each problem in isolation. I mean let us take spelling problems alone. In this
case spelling is our target and here will give solutions to spelling only. Let us ask
what causes spelling problems? I think the answer is, because it is not our language
and we do not have the rules that tell us when to write or not to write this letter. In
this case we are telling the learners that the solution is to learn the rules and to

overcome the things that are not mentioned in the rules and so on.

268

I have another suggestion. One way to overcome all language difficulties, 1
mean listening, speaking, reading, and writing abilities, is to develop learning English
writing, I am sure it is important for policy makers and English teachers to teach
students the usage of English tense, verbs, and articles. Above all, they should master
English spelling. All these can be achieved through a set of programs which will help
overcome all troubles and difﬁculties.

6. What is the most difﬁcult part in English writing on which you think you
need to improve?

Oh, I am still in the ﬁrst step of learning English and I think that I need to
learn everything. I am a learner who needs to master everything. You know I think
spelling is one of the areas that I need to master before anything else. I think this is
the most important because if I do not know the spelling of a word like “fundamental”
then I will not use it in my writing. Also there are words which are similar in one
letter and you hear this letter differently and then you may misspell it and that changes
the meaning a little. '

However, I think there are many things I need to learn and thus improve.
There are many parts that I need to learn and improve in English before I become a
good writer. For example, learning vocabulary and its different meanings and usage,
mastering English tenses and verbs, and understanding what is suitable to English
speakers, are not part of my language. You know I have to understand how I can
make my writing appear to be in good shape.

7. What does planning mean to you? What kinds of planning you do before
write?

I understand that life is a way of planning. In Islam, for example, we are
encouraged to make a plan about most everything. For instance, if you need to go to
Macca you need a plan. If you want to marry you need a plan. Also in writing you
need a plan. If you write without a plan then you are not writing, because you should
know what was before this and what will come after it, and that is impossible if you

do not have a map or a plan or a guide line. I like to make a plan, but it is a matter of

269

organization. I never write with a complete plan, but I feel it is important. Nobody
taught us how to make plan for writing in Saudi Arabia, but I feel it is important.

The worst thing is that we did not hear about writing plans in our college
and we did not get used to adopting it. I have always felt that planning is part of my
life and without it I am doing nothing. A plan is important but this seemed
unimportant in the minds of those who taught us English in my country.

It is necessary for me to tell you that I learned English in an introductionary
course which was not meant to teach writing techniques, but I think it is necessary to
teach these techniques, but it was not necessary for the teacher to teach this
techniques. However, in Saudi Arabia the teacher’s main concern was how to teach

the language skills which are the curriculum that he was asked to teach.

8. What does revising mean to you? What kinds of revising you do before
write?

Revision is a way of checking if your writing is correct or not. I like this
way, but I am a human being and I may forget to put a period, or a comma.
Moreover, it tells you how your writing is. I am a learner and in this stage of the life I
need to make sure my writing is okay, and the only was to do that is through revision.

But do you revise?

Yes, I do when I write, I sometimes stop writing and check my writing. If I
found that there is something that needs to be changed I do it immediately and ifI feel
that there is something which is not correct, I correct it. It is a matter of checking and
making sure that the writing is correct.

But it is important to understand that if I do not revise it does not mean that
I am not a good writer. I believe that there are good writers who do not revise. For
example, a friend of mine, has a blind father, who always asks ﬁiend to write a letter
or an article the father used to dictate. Thus the son writes what he hears and this
happens many times but there is no revision.

I do not mean that revision is not important, but, what I mean is that, it is

not a necessary for everyone.

270

9. How many drafts in English languages do you usually write before you
submit your ﬁnal paper?

You know, I told you that, I mean I could do it. It is important for you as a
researcher to understand that we are not specialists in the English language. I am a
person who needs to learn English and I am at the beginning of my journey. I used to
write very little English and most of the time just one draft. I tried my best to
understand the meaning of the things that I am trying to write about and through that I
can make my writing as good as I can. But I do not write more than one draft.

Do you mean that you are satisﬁed with your writing?

Well, I think you know my writing level. It is not that good, but I think this
the best that I can do. I feel I can write in a way that people will understand the main
point of my writing, so whether is it important to have another draft I am not sure.

But to be honest with you I am happy that I am in the United States of
America, because this chance will not happen always. I came here believing that I
will learn English and will be an expert in this language. I need to read everything
related to my area, and that is not easy without English, therefore, I decided to come
here to study and complete my degree. It is important because most of the
publications that the ﬁeld have been written by English authors and to be up to date in
your ﬁeld you have to read these publications and to read them, you need actually to
read English. I am here to do so, and I think you are one tool of enhancing this
matter, and you will make it easy for those who can not come to this place to learn
this language in their home area.

10.Do you identify your audience before you write in English?

I am happy you asked me this question, because I remember that the most
important thing in writing is the message and if the message is not speciﬁed, nobody
will understand its meaning. I am sure that most of the problems that people have is
due to the difference between the readers and the authors of the books. I am sure if
the writers care about their readers then there will be no problems, but you may ﬁnd
some body writing about a problem in China, and explaining to the readers that this
person has respect for his God and his God is the powerful in the area, while he did

271

not realized that the readers are from Saudi Arabia and they believe that there is no
God but Allah. They will believe that that writer is talking about their God, Allah
(SWT). Such a writer is not observing the importance of the audience in his writing
and that is wrong.

I am sure that readers are the most important factor in writing process, and
they have to be observed if writing is meant to be read.

I agree with you but what about your writing?

I do observe writing audience when I write. I think the best way to respect
readers is to assume that they are present when you write. If you need to respect your
readers then ask yourself, as a writer, do they understand what I say? Do they know
what does this concept mean? Is this part of their beliefs? Once you do so then your
terminology and your expression and examples will be understood and you will be
quite sure that your message has reached all the readers.

11.Do you consider yourself a good English speaker? If yes, why?

Before I answer this question, I would like to say that the meaning of
speaker is not the one who knows the language and its use. The speaker of the
language is the one who knows how to deal with the language before anything else. I
mean, you know, that the speaker of the language is the one who knows what do the
others mean when they speak the language.

My native language which is Arabic, of course, is easy for me, and you can
say that I am a good speaker of this particular language, because I know what are the
best ways to use it, and when and how. I feel like this is the only language that I am
speaking right now, and I am not be able to speak English as I do with Arabic.

More over, I am a student, and the way I approach English indicates that I
am a student. In terms of student ability, I am an English speaker. If it is in the
general term of English speaker, I am not yet developed in this matter. I feel like I
need to understand the matter of learning and speaking.

12.Do you consider the amount of English that you learned in your home
university is enough to begin academic courses here at an American universities?

No, and one thousand times no. I think the English thatl learned in my

272

country was just a door to enter the main place of English language. I have not yet
completed my language studies which indicate that I am not yet able to speak and
Write English as required.

Learning English is not completed in Saudi Arabia, otherwise they would not
have allowed me to come to the United States of America to learn. If the amount of
English that I learned in my country is enough then there is no reason for come to the
United States of America. I am sure this answer is the answer of every person who
has learned English in my country.

I mean that the English that we learned in my country was not enough to start
the academic work here in the USA. I feel that the English that we were learning is
not that strong to let us start to read and write on the academic level. I feel as if it is .
part of a scale and we have to meet all the points on that scale and what we took in
Saudi Arabia was the ﬁrst point on that scale.

Believe me language we learned Saudi Arabia could be covered in one
semester and the amount of English that we learned in the college is a type of

repetition of the materials that we covered when we were in pre-college schools.

273

(2) Arabic Essay (A1)

1. Describe how you write in Arabic?

Writing is a way of telling people about one’s innerfeelings, therefore,
writing to me is putting my own feelings and ideas in front of my readers to convince
them, suggest, argue, or sometimes telling them about myself.

Writing, according to my understanding, is not just telling people what is in
your mind, it is actually a way of communicating with others. It is a two-way
communication.

I used to write in a way that is similar to any Arabic-speaking students who
learned Arabic language in my country. I start by ﬁnding out what should I write. I
start learning and preparing myself to write about the topic. Then I put my writing in
stages. Each stage is an equivalent to an idea After that I start writing, and during my
writing I add new things to my writing or drop something that I planned to write.
After that I submit my writing to the ﬁnal station whether it is a teacher or a publisher.

This is the way I present writing. It is as I said like any Saudi students, I do
not have anything speciﬁc. I believe that writing is a method of expressing self, and
at the same time it is a way of telling people about what they like. In my opinion the
best way to reach people agreement is to be truthful. Through this the writer whether
in Arabic or English or any other language, is able to reach people heats and
agreement.

2. Do you think that Arabic writing teaching is adequate? If not what is the best way
to teach writing in your opinion?

As I told you teaching Arabic composition has not received a great deal of
attention from the education policy makers. I told you that the schools teach writing
once a week and they start teaching composition in the fourth grade. Before that they
concentrate on teaching them the alphabet and the basic sentences structure, but
composition teaching started when they reached grade four. During the fourth and

274

ﬁfth grades there is not much attention is given to methods way of organizing and
presenting students writing. I think this is not a good method of teaching writing. I
have heard here in the USA universities provide Ph. D5. to teach composition.

Of course, even theories of composition and also departments of
composition are available all over the U. S.

See, I feel as if I am not sure what I am talking about, but it appears that in
Saudi Arabia the methods are not useful ways of teaching writing. Also in the middle
and high school no emphasis is placed on the ways of organizing and presenting the
writing piece whether it is an article or essay or a home work assignment.

3. Do you encounter difficulty in Arabic writing?

If you mean the difficulties that occur because of the grammar and
vocabulary, then my answer is no, I do not encounter any. That is obvious, because it
is my native language and I practice writing almost everyday. But in the matter of
organization, I think yes, some difﬁculties exist. I can produce a good essay in short
time and it will look like good essay, and nobody can see any problem, but if the one
who examines my writing is an expert, then he or she may ﬁnd some problems related
to organization.

But other types of problems I do not see them in my writing. Actually, I
think most of us who graduated from college in Saudi Arabia have no problems
related to vocabulary or ways of writing, and most of the problems of the Arabic

writing are in the area of spelling and the area of organization.

4. What is the most difficult part in Arabic writing you think that you need to
improve?

I told you that the matter of organization is the most difﬁcult part, because
we do not learn how we are supposed to organize our essays in writing. Once we
master this difﬁculty I think then writing will be nothing. Writing is not presenting
ideas, but it is how you present them, and what is the best way to present them.

In college the writing was actually everyday. Iremember that when we
were studying history the teacher asked all the students to write about a topic and

275

present the topic within twenty days. I wrote about twenty pages on that topic. I
wrote about the importance of studying history, and I got 100%. So I do not see that I
faced any writing problems. The difficulty, as I told you, you know, is in the

organization.

5. What is the best way, in your opinion, to resolve Arabic writing difﬁculties?

Arabic writing needs more attention in school. We have many topics and
many subjects that students have to cover during their study time such as history
geography, religion, and other science subjects. All these need writing and need types
of research. Therefore, students need to be ﬂuent in Arabic writing to be able to do all
these, so, I think it is necessary to put more stress on the teaching of writing.

It is fact that we are still behind in terms of teaching writing, and I admit
that my country’s education system did not provide us with strong tools to be good
writers. I remember in composition classes we spent so much time learning how to
write about the desert, or describe our street, schools, and houses, or talk about our
ﬁiends and relatives. However, we do not have guide lines of how we should observe

a time line or use many grammatical techniques when we write.

6. Writing in Arabic is not similar to English. Do you agree or disagree with this
statement? Explain
I agree that these two languages are not similar, and therefore the way we
approach writing in both languages is different. I think that the way I approach
writing in Arabic is determined by the culture norms that my society has adopted. IfI
write for Saudi readers, I should observe all these norms and writing according to
these norms. But when I write to English-speaking readers the case is different, as I
should observe some cultural beliefs and norms that the readers admire and respect,
and I can not attack these norms or beliefs. But when I write for Saudis, I should put
certain things in my mind when I write, and I should not violate any social norms or
boundaries. Therefore, it is important for the writers to address these differences when
they write in the two cultures.

276

Moreover, it is important to notice that the readers in both cultures have
different tastes. In many parts of the world, for example, some people do not like to
hear or listen about crimes which are not part of their culture. Then also it is

important to notice these differences between the cultures.

7. Do you consider yourself a good Arabic writer? IF yes, why?

I think I am a writer that how knows how to deal with writing in a way that
many readers accept and admire. I do not violate the norms of my society, write
topics that they hate, or not accuse them, or try to downgrade them. Therefore, I think
I am a good writer.

But what about your writing process, do you think that you are able to deal
with topics and present them in a modern way?

Process, I think you mean the way I organized my topic. Let me tell you
something I think is important to understand. I am a writer, and I used to write many
things in Arabic. I told you that many times, and I do not have a procedure on howl
can present a topic or how I can organize it. It is a matter of experience. If I have the
experience, then I will doing ﬁne. If I do not have the experience then I am not good
writer. but I do, so I am a good writer.

Writing, my ﬁ'iend, is not like anything else. You may think yourself a
good writer, but readers will be not happy to read your writing. I think that is part of
the deal, if you are a good writer people will be more than happy to read your writing,
but if you do not have the power to produce good piece then nobody will care to read
your articles, even if you write about topics that people like. Once they will see your
name on the piece they will skip the page and read something else.

8. Do you think that planning before writing is important? Why or why not?

Planning is something as I told you before many people love and admire. I
like to plan and I like to follow planning. I think nobody will say anything about
planning. but is it necessary, and writing will be destroyed if we do not plan.

However, I think it is not necessary.

277

I think it is a matter of practice and a matter of habit. I know many people
can not open their computer switchout manuals, and others do not look at any
manuals. They knew where the parts are and how they can reach the different parts of
the computer. This is exactly like planning.

If it is my native language and the topic that I am writing about is a familiar
topic to me, then I think I have no need to plan, because the ideas and ways are clear
to me. But if you ask me to write about the life in Lansing before I came to America,

I will sit down and think about the ideas that I will use in my writing.

9. Do you think that revising is an important part in the writing process?

When you need your work to be completed and without errors, revise it. This is
what many people say and I believe that is true. The reason why I believe such a
saying is that it is important for the writers to reduce the number of errors, and one
way to do so is through revision.

Revision is a way of sending a radar to check and ﬁnd out if the writing is complete
or not, and if it is not complete then what is missing. This is exactly what revision
does. I used to send my radar many times during the writing time and check the
whole writing and ifI found any grammatical error I would correct it before I went
on to the next part. And that is revision, I do revise as I told you but it is an inner
revision.

Yes, I do revise, but I did not do it until after I ﬁnished writing. I stopped writing
sometimes during my writing and checked my writing, and how ideas were
connected to each other. And if I had any mistakes or unclear ideas I would
immediately change them. I feel that I should not leave my writing without some
changes.

278

lO.How many drafts in Arabic languages do you usually write before you submit your
ﬁnal paper?
I think for me it is not important to write more than one copy, It is not important to
write more than one copy, because ifI am able to express myself in one copy then
it is not necessary to write another copy
You mean by copy, a draft, correct?
Yes, that is right, it is the same meaning in Arabic, you produce your writing as the
second or third time.
However , the most important thing here is that is your writing is clear. If it is clear
then what is the point of writing another copy, if you may have limited time? In
exams, for example, I never write more than one draft. I tried, but I could not.
Imagine that within two hours you are required to read a question or two and to
respond to these questions, and then read them and ﬁnd out the errors, and correct
them, and then rewrite the whole essay again. I think this is impossible and nobody
will do it.
The most important thing is to pay attention to the message that you need your
readers to understand. So if you can deliver that message in one draft then do, but if
you feel it is necessary for you to write more than one draft then do.... I usually use
one draft, but as I told you if I need to do more than one I will do it.

11.Do you identify your audience before you write in Arabic?
Yes, I do. It is an essential part in writing. I remember I told you that writing is not
compete if one of the following is missing. One thing is the writer. If the writer
was able to produce his writing in a way that presents facts and supports them, and I
try to follow that with his opinion, then this person is a good writer. If he was able
to organize his essay in a way that readers will ﬁnd no difficult then he is a good
writer.
The second thing is the topic. If the writer chooses a good topic and treats it in a
way that does not affect anybody and puts it in a way that makes it understandable
to every one, then the topic is chosen correctly.

The third thing is the audience. If the writer targets the right audience and makes

279

them feel that what the writer is saying is true and supports it by many facts then
this writer succeeds in targeting the right audience.

Therefore, audience is an important factor in the writing as a whole. I feel that the
way writers are addressing the readers is the best way to present and choose a topic.
I used to care about my readers when I write. I always ask the same question that
maybe an average person would ask and try to answer these questions before I
submit my essay or my topic.

Then I have to say that I respect my readers and I always put them foremost when I
write, which is an indication of respect and admire. They are the consumers of our
product, and if we do not care about them then we are neglecting an important
factor in writing. I like to say that in this moment I have only one reader, that is
you, and I have to satisfy you. You asked me to write about this topic and I did, but
you told me that I have the right to choose my readers, so I chose you. Do you
think that you are a good choice of reader?

I do not know. '

But I know really you are a good reader, because you will evaluate me.

Thank you Suliman and I hope you will learn and succeed in your life. I wish you

the best of the luck.

280

(3) English Essay (E2)

1. Do you consider learning English writing in America different than
learning it in Saudi Arabia? Why or Why not?

I have just completed my English language studies for this semester, and I
still have a ﬂesh memory about the way English is taught in the United States. In
America, as you know, it is not a lecturing system. I mean that the teacher is not
everything in the classroom. Students are also allowed to participate and may present
some things to the other students. In fact, I felt that I am learning a lot from the
classroom organization. The instructor allowed us to give grades to each other and
work in groups to reach a solution for whatever we were trying to do in the classroom.

Moreover, the teacher gave us an idea what we would cover before we
started the class. At the beginning of the class the teacher gave us few papers which
explained to the class what we would cover and what we were supposed to do each
week. I like that and I felt that was the right thing that we need to adopt and do in our
classroom in Saudi Arabia. Let the students share the responsibility from day one. Let
them feel that their schedule is known from day one and they will do “X” in day “Y.”

To me such differences are major things and education policy makers have
to concede these differences if they really need to make our education system reach
the best. I do not know if there is another system that teachers adopted in the
academic courses, but to me the ELC system is perfect and we ought to adopt it.

Another thing is the facilities that the ELC have are not available in our
country. A computer lab is available where students can type their homework and do
whatever they need with the computer. The library allows any student to get any book
he or she needs and that is important for those who do research. I remember my
writing teacher asked me to do research and that was the ﬁrst time I entered the MSU
library. I was really shocked with the computerized data bases that they have. We

have some of them in our country, but we did not use them as a tool to learn writing.

281

2. What is the biggest difference between how English writing is taught in

your native country and how you have studied writing in America?

One thing, I can indicate here is that learning English can not be 100%
successful if it is not done in its native land. I know they teach English in India, and I
learned English in Saudi Arabia, but the most successful programs are in America and
the United Kingdom. Even if I learn English in Saudi Arabia, and I master everything
related to it, I will not be competent in English unless I know how Americans speak
and write the language. I heard many expressions, and 1 would not be able to learn
them as perfectly as required unless I learn them in the United States.

Another thing that I would like to add here is why I should learn the
English language. Do I need to learn it because I get grades or do I need to learn it
because I need to use it. If it is the second then I need to learn it perfectly and that is
one difference that I feel between the way English is taught in America and Saudi
Arabia.

Moreover, the language that I learned in Saudi Arabia is meant to be part
of a program and I have to concentrate on many subjects beside English, but here I
feel that I am learning English and only English, which allows me to be aware of
many things that help me building my language knowledge.

3. Do you learn new writing techniques?

Of course, I do. I was not able to learn many things about writing when I
was in my country, because as I told you before, students are required to learn many
things beside English, and there are many skills must be learned and practiced during
the English course beside writing, therefore writing was minor. This indicated that
the chance of learning writing is not that big and that is the reason why I count every
technique that I learn here as a new technique.

My new knowledge about writing is that I should always put each idea in a
separate paragraph, and I have to connect each paragraph with the other and I should

282

not let the readers feel that there is something missing and if I do that then I have
neglected an important factor of writing.

I learned that if I present facts and opinions I have always to put the facts
before the opinions and by this I am using the logical order that many readers like to
follow when they read. I have to support every point that I raise, and if I raise a point
without a support then I am leaving a gap that many readers will not like.

I learned that the comments and corrections that the teacher provides me
with, are not always bad. If the teacher sees my work as the worst, I have to work
hard to correct it and follow whatever he or she suggests. By doing so I am learning
and leaving side personal and cultural feelings which may make my learning and
education stop in a certain limit. I learn that I am a student here and not a teaching
assistant as I used to be before I came to the United States, and that will help me to
realize myself and my study too.

4. What is the most important strategy you learned in approaching writing

I learned many strategies and among them I believe that the way of
presenting facts before opinions is the most important one. I learned that and I now
feel I am different than before in terms of writing. Ifeel as if I am adopting a new
technique which I will not forget and which I will use every time that I approach
writing. It helps me organize my writing and my feelings. I could not imagine that I
will produce writing with this type of organization. Thanks for those who assigned
this scholarship to me and thanks for those who taught me and helped me realize this
fact.

This strategy, however, is important because I think many students who do
not know how to organize their essays. They may have the knowledge about the topic
that they are approaching and have the required vocabulary, and know a great deal of
grammar, but do not know how to organize their essay in a way that will catch the
attention of the readers and make the point that they trying to make. They may
present opinions before facts or present opinions without support which make their

readers confused and unaware of many points that they trying to make.

283

I feel like I am learning many things and I would like to tell you about
everything, if you wish. You will not believe that the amount of writing that I have
learned here, may take ages to be taught in Saudi Arabia. I feel like I am lucky to be
in this situation.

5. Please explain in details the methods your teacher used to teach you to
write. '
As I told you before, the teacher gave the class all the requirements from day one to
the end of the class. She explained to us what our duties were, and what we were
supposed to learn. She told us when we will write exams and when be our ﬁnal paper,
and would be due and so forth.
She used to teach us separate items, for example, topic sentences, paragraphs. She
showed us how we should organize our essays, and what kinds of supports we need to
use with facts and opinions. She encouraged us to write and express ourselves in

journals and how to argue for speciﬁc points.

In addition to that she encouraged us to go to the library and search for information
and data for certain topics. She was helpful in this point. Her comments on our
papers were useful. Many times she drew smiley faces if I said something funny. She
used to write “WaW” to indicate that she was excited with what I wrote. I was really
happy to read her comments and I felt like I was doing great things . You may not
believe it these things that I wrote were, you see how small are they, but they
worked and it was hard. I was encouraged by her ways of commenting to write as
much as I could. Therefore, I was writing and writing, and I did not feel that what

she was telling us was hard thing to do, because I enjoyed doing it.

Another thing is the way we approached some assignments. Some assignment were
given to groups and each group had to work as a team to reach a certain solution or
certain research. This taught how to get used to group work andl felt like I was
exchanging information and language knowledge with the other learners, which gave
me a chance to practice my language in an environment that helped in building the

284

vocabulary ﬁom one side and the English usage knowledge from other side. It was a
great experience and really I was happy in this class.

285

(4) Arabic Essay (A2)

1. What do you like the best about writing?

Arabic is a beautiful language. I feel that when I write I talk about my
inner feelings and that is because the language and its expression reaches my heart
ﬁ'om inside and this make it clear to me that when I write I feel excited.

In terms of what I like the best of writing, is that I look at writing as a way
of expression. It is a way of telling people about your opinions and sometimes your
experiences. I feel like I am talking about the inner feelings of myself.

Writing to me is best and there is no thing better then the other. I viewed
writing as being one building, which consisted of many ﬂoors. In the ﬁrst ﬂoor you
can see the purpose of writing and in the second ﬂoor you may see the method of
writing that the writer employ to lay down his ideas, and the method of making the
readers care about what is mentioned in your message. In the third ﬂoor, you can ﬁnd
that the writer start to reach his climax point when he revealed what he wants to say to
the readers, if he needs them to agree with him or disagree with somebody else.

This building is the things that you can read in a book, an article or even in
an essay. I like the writing as one body. And I do not feel that it is possible to single
out one thing of this building and you say I like this and I do not like that. If you are a
great writer, then every step in writing is yours and every part of writing is the one
you like and you should not say I hate this or that in writing, and this is true if the
writing that we are talking about is the native speaker’s language.

2. Do you think that your Arabic writing has changed after studying writing in
America?

Yes, yes, I admitted that my writing has changed to the better situation.
Writing after studying in America became something else. I feel like I am able to
organized writing and make it as it should be. I used to write in Saudi Arabia. I have
written many articles and I have submitted many researches, but the way I feel now is

different. I think that is because I learned writing in the United States of America.

286

It is important to notice that I am as a learner I have to use and employ any
writing technique that I adopted after I acquired it in this school. I have to employ it
in both my Arabia and English writing. It is know that I am learning English writing
techniques in the ELC classes, but this does not mean that I should not use them in my
Arabic writing. In fact, you should teach these techniques to Arabic-speaking
students who learn Arabic writing. I found these techniques useful and can be
adopted.

My suggestion is that teachers of Arabic writing has to learn the writing
techniques that help mastering writing and which make writing seem more readable
are worth adopting. If students learned these techniques such as putting facts before
opinions and each fact and each opinion followed by supports such as examples then
the writing will appear in good shape and readers will not ﬁnd any difficulties
understanding and getting the main points of the writing. This will ensure that writing
with these techniques is better than writing without them.

My English writing is also affected by the new techniques that I learned
when I started my English training. I felt that what I am writing now is different than
what I have written before. One reason is that I was not aware of these techniques and
ways of telling people about what I am trying to tell them.

In this case my Arabic writing has changed because of the new knowledge.
And I am really happy by this result. I am proud of the change and I promise to
continue learning and adopting new techniques.

3. What is the biggest difference between how writing is taught in your native
country and how you have studied writing in America?

I think I addressed this question in the previous one, but I am trying to
emphasize the fact that we are as a nation do not look to writing as American looks to
it. I am sure that writing is not given much attention, but if they will give it much
attention many thing will changes and many things will be different.

One big difference is the time that we in Saudi Arabia allow for writing
classes. It is about ﬁfty-minute class every week, and for certain levels. The teachers

in Arabic classes do not give any attention to the way we write, they emphasized

287

certain techniques, which serve the topic under discussion and it is unlikely to is it in
other type of writing.

Many things that I should emphasize here, that is the way teachers should
do with their students. First, teachers should build a bridge between them and their
students to communicate in face-to-face before they ask them to write anything.
Moreover, they have to tell their students that writing is feelings and the way to tell
people about your feelings is through writing.

One problem I think teachers in Saudi Arabia have to solve is to teach
students how they can relate their paragraphs to each other. Once they learned that
they will produce a well organized piece of writing.

4. Do you think that writing for speciﬁc audiences will enhance writing?

As I mentioned many times through this study, I the view audience as an
important component of the writing itself. If I am a good writer I have to give my
readers a chance to ﬁnd themselves when I write. I mean that I should not talk about
something that do not have or know. I should not tell them about things that they do
not like or disbelieve. I mentioned that if I need to talk about the concept of God in
China, I have to tell my readers, Saudi readers, that the meaning of God in this writing
is not similar of the concept of God that people in Saudi Arabia believe in. I should
draw their attention to the differences before I write.

By doing that I am giving my whole respect to the readers. I really care
about them and I gave them what they deserve. I think the readers in general are
important because the feedback comes ﬁ'om their side, so we should consider their
roles in reading our writing.

It is important for the writers to observe the role of audience when
producing any piece of writing, that is to write about what they like and be aware of
and what they dislike. However, such thing will ensure that the writer like to care
about his audience and feel that they are important and the reason that he writes is to

satisfy them.

288

5. Do you think that adopting English writing techniques will enhance Arabic
writing? Explain.

Yes, I told you about this before, do not I? I mean it is important to adopt the writing
techniques and strategies that learners acquired when they exposed to English. This
will help them understand and make sure that they are enhancing their both Arabic
and English writing.

I suggested before that teachers and those who design Arabic writing composition
should adopt the writing techniques that other languages such as English and French
use to teach writing. Once we learn these ﬁfferent writing techniques and we taught
our students these techniques we are adding to the building of education that we like
to enhance and maintain.

People in my country are ready to understand and learn whatever will help them and
do not contradict with their culture. They will appreciate the usage of these
techniques and they may ask for more and this is because we care about knowledge,

and that is why I am here in the United States of America.

290

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alkhuli, M. A. (1981). Wm. Dar Okaz. Riyadh ,Saudi
Arabia.

Al-Furaih, O. and A. Radwan. (1984). mm. Riyadh: King Saud
University Press.

Al-noghamshi, A. (1985). Students’ Perception of Teachers and Student-teacher
Personal Interaction in Riyadh Public High Schools. Unpublished
Doctoral Dissertation. University of Michigan.

Al-Semari, O. (1993). Saudi Students’ Revising Strategies in Arabic and English
Essays. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Michigan State University.

Al-Shanti, M. S. (1992). The Art of Arabic Composition: Its Guides and Types.
Riyadh: Alfarazdaq Commercial Press.

Anwar G. (1980). WWW. Minneapolis,
University of Minnesota Press.

Amdt, V. (1987). Six Writers in Search of Texts: A Protocol Based Study of L1 and
L2 Writing. W, 41, 257-267

Atlas, M. (1980). WWW
Researchers. Document Design Working Paper. Pittsburgh, PA:
Carnegie-Melon University.

Ayari, S. (1992). The role of the native language in L2 writing: Arabic learners of
English. Unpublished paper.

Bartholomae, D. (1995). Writing with Teachers: A Conversation with Peter Elbow.
collegenompesmenemsgmmnnlem 46/1: 62-83.

Bean, W. and Boufﬂer, C. (1987). BMW. Australia: Primary English
Teaching Association.

Bear, J. (1979). On topic units in English planned written discourse. Unpublished
master's thesis. University of Hawaii.

Beeston, A. (1982). WWW. Cambridge
University Press.

291

Bereiter, C. & Scardamalia, M- (1937) When

New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaurn Associates.

Biber, D. (1986). Spoken and Written Textual Dimensions in English: Resolving the
Contradictory Findings. Language V62 (2) p 384-413.

Bleuze, N. (1991). Evaluating Coherence and Cohesion in the Writing of Native
and Non-native Speakers of English. Unpublished manuscript. Colorado
State University. Colorado.

Bizzell and Herzberg (1992). W
W. Boston, Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press.

Bollinger, M. (1982). Teaching the Universal of Discourse in Intermediate French.
W V(3) p 323-329

Brooks, E. (1985). Case Studies of “Unskilled” ESL College Writers: An
Hypothesis about Stages of Development. ERIC: ED 289 340.

Brown, G. and Yule, G. (1983). MW. Cambridge University Press.
New York. _

Brown, H. (1987). WWW. Prentice Hall
Pegents, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Chejne,

Buley-Meissner., M L. and Perkins, D. (1991). Proﬁciency and Authority: The
rhetoric of students' writing for large-scale assessment. 1min
Writing, 4/1: 19-40.

Burtoff, M. (1983). The logical organization of written expository discourse in
English : A comparative study of Japanese, Arabic, and native speaker
strategies. Ph.D. dissertation, Georgetown University, Washington.

Cadora, F. (1980). Teaching of spoken and written Arabic. LanguageLeaming,
v.15 (3). p. 133-136.

Carson (1992). Becoming Biliterate: First Language Inﬂuences. WSW
Langmgejblrihng, II]: 37-60

Campbell, D. (1975). Degrees of Freedom and the Case Study. Cemparahxe
W8, 8, 178-193.

Celce-Murcia, M. (Ed.) (1990). MW. Boston,

292

Heirrle & Heilne Publishers.

Chelala, S. L. (1981). The Composing Processes of Two Spanish Speakers and The
Coherence of their Texts: A Case Study. Unpublished Doctoral
Dissertation, New York University.

Christensen, F. (1975). A generative rhetoric of the paragraph. In W. Ross
Winterowd (Ed.), Contemporary rhetoric: A conceptual background
reading. p. 233-251. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.: New York.

Christensen, S. L., Thurlow, M. L., Yesseldyke, J. E., & McVicar R. (1989).
Written Langauge Instruction for Students with Mild Handicaps: Is there
Enough Quantity to Ensure Quality? Leamingﬂisahilimﬂmeﬂy, 12:
219-229.

Connor, U. (1987). Research Frontiers in Writing Analysis. W,
21/4: 677-698.

Connor, U. and McCagg, P. (1987). A contrastive study of English expository prose

paraphrases. In U. Connor and R Kaplan (Eds.), mm
W p. 73-86. Reading MA: Addison-
Wesley.

Connor, U. and Lauer, J. (1988). cross-cultural Variation in Persuasive Student
Writing. In Purves, A. (ed.). Writing Across Languages and Cultures:
Issues in Contrashve Rhetoric, Sag Publication, Inc.

Connor, U. & Farmer, M. (1990). The teaching of topical structure analysis as a
revision strategy for ESL writing. In Kroll Barbara (Ed), SeeQnd
WWW Cambridge
University Press. New York. p 126-139

Cooper, C. R. (1977). Holistic Evaluation of Writing. In C. R. Cooper and L. Odell

Exaluahngﬂrihns, (p. 3-32.
Coulmas, F. (1991). W. Blackwell: Massachusetts.

Crookes, G. (1990). The utterance, and other basic units for second language
discourse analysis. AppliehjhngnishesV 11(2) p 183-199, University
Press, Oxford.

293

Cumming, A. (198 ). Writing Expertise and Second-Language Proﬁciency.

LanmgeLearning 39/1: 81141.
Cunningham, J. and Moore, D. (1986). The conﬁrsed world of main idea. In J. F.

Baumann (Ed), leachingmmeaiemprehensienp. 1-17. Newark,
DE: lntemational Reading Association.

D'Angelo, F. (1986). The topic sentence revisited. W91
Cemrnunieahen..V37 (4).P431'441-

De Lisi, R. (1987). A Cognitive-Developmental Model of Planning. In S. L.
Friedman, E. K. Scholnick, & R. R. Cocking (Eds.), Blueprints of

Thinking: IheReleefPlann‘mginLegnihyeDexelepment. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Dem, N- (1987) Wane

metheds. New York:_McGraw-Hill.
DiPardo, A. (1994). Stimulated Recall in Research on Writing an Antidote to “I

Don’t Know, It Was Fine.” In P. Smagorinsky (ed.)._Sp_eaking_Ab_Qut
“W, (p. 163-184).
Dudley-Evans, T. and Swales, J. (1980) Study Model and Students from the Middle
East. In EL I: Deenmem 102 Study Medea and Aeademie Dexelepmem
[Q S l I] E . . l C '1.

Duffelmeyer, F., and Duffelmeyer, B. (1987). Main idea questions on informal
reading inventories. The reading teacher. V. 41, p. 162-166.

Edelsky, C. (1982). Writing inABilingual Program: The Relation of L1 and L2
Texts, TESOL Quarterly, 16/2: 211228.

Eggington, W. (1986). Written academic discourse in Korean: Implications for
effective communication. In Ulla Connor and R. B. Kaplan (Ed.),
Writing Across Languages: Analysis of L2 Text. Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley, p. 153-168.

Elbow, P. (1981). W. New York: Oxford.
El-Daly, M. H. (1991). A contrastive Analysis of the Writing Proﬁciency of Arabic

294

and Spanish Speakers: Linguistic, Cognitive, and Cultural Perspectives.
Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.

El-Hassan, E. (1984). Residual Graphological Interference in Teaching Writing
Tasks: A case Study of Six Arabic-speaking Students in the U. K. In
Swales, J. and Mustafa, H. (eds) W
W University of Aston in Birmingham, pp. 52-67.

Elkhatib, A. (1983). Toward a descriptive rhetoric of the ESL paragraph. ERIC
document ED 234622.

El-Sayed, A. (1982). An investigation into the syntactic errors of Saudi freshmen's
English compositions. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Indiana
University of Pennsylvania.

El-Shimy, M. (1982). A model English for Speciﬁc Purposes Course for Arab
Students in Teachers Colleges: A Case Study for Kuwaiti Learners,
Unpublished Ph. D. Dissertation, University of Wales

Emig, J. (1971). The Composing Processes of 12th Grades. Urbana, IL: National
Council of Teachers of English.

Englert, C. S., Raphael, T. E., Fear, K. L.,&Anderson, L. M. (1988). Students’
Metacognitive Knowledge About How to Write Informational Test.

LearnrnLDisahilihLQnanmx, 11, 18-46.

Ericson, K. and Simon, H. (1984). W. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.

Ericson, K. and Simon, H. (1980). W Psychological Review,
87: 215-251.

Fareh, S. (1988). Paragraph structure in Arabic and English expository discourse.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Kansas

Fletcher, (1993).

Flower, J. R and Hayes, L. (1980). The Dynamic of Composing: Making Plans and
Juggling Constraints. In L. W. Gregg and E. R Steinberg (Eds.),

WW pp. 31-50, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Flower, J. R. and Hayes, L. (1981). A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing.

295

Cellegeﬁempesmenandﬁernmumeauen. 32, 365-387
Friedlander, A. (1990). Composing in English: Effects of a First Language on

Writing in a Second Language. In B. Kroll (Ed.), W
Writing, p. 109-125. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Fox, H. (1995). WWWMm

Illinois. National Council of Teachers of English.

Fudah, I. (1988). WWW. Egypt, MaktabatAl-
taua'ah Aleslamiah.

Fuller, J., & Gundel, Jeanette K., (1987) topic-prominence in interlanguage.
LangmgeLeaming V 37(1). p 1-17.

Gaies, S. (1980). T-urrit analysis in second language research: applications,

problems and limitations. W V14 (1) p 53-60.
Grabe, W. & Kaplan , R. (1989). “Writing in a second language: contrastive rhetoric.

In W Students. Edited by Johnson
Donna & Kaplan Robert. Longrnan New York. p.263-283.

Gumperz, J. (‘982). DiseemseStrategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Gumperz, J., H. Kaltrnan, and C. O’Connor. (1984). Cohesion in Spoken and
Written Discourse: Ethnic Style and the Transation to Literacy. In
Coherence in Sopken and Written Discourse, (ed.) by D. Tannen, 3-19.
Norwood, NJ: blex.

Hall, C. (1990). Managing the complexity of revising across languages. IESQL
My, 24/1: 43-60

Halliday, M A. K. and Hasan, R. (1976). W511. Longrnan, London.

Hammersley, M. & Atkinson, P.(l983).E1hnegraphy.pnnerp1es_mpraenee. London:

Routledge.
Hamp-Lyons, L. (1986). No New Lamps for Old yet, Please. W

20, 790-796.
Harder, B. (1980). Culture Value Differences in the Stylistic Problems of English

Compositions Written by Japanese Students. Paper Presented at the
Twentieth lntemational Conference of Orientals, Tokyo.

296

Hariston, M. (1982). The Winds of Change: Thomas Khun and the Revolution in

the Teaching of Writing. Cellegeﬂemmsrherrandﬁemmunreanen 33,
76-88.

Harris, M. (1985). Designing writing-process problem: A pedagogical application
of speaking-aloud protocol analysis. In M. Rose (Ed.), Wheneyyritg

W New York: The Gilford Press.
Hayes, J. R. and Flower, L. (1980). Identifying the Organization of Writing

Processes. In L. W. Gregg and E. R. Steinberg (Eds.), Cdgnihye

BMW, Pp. 3-30. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Hayes, J. R and Flower, L. (1986). Writing Research and the Writers. Ameriean

Psychelegist, 41, 1106-1113.

Hinds, J. (9187). Reader vs. writer responsibility: A new typology. In Connor
and Kaplan, R (Eds.),WnnnsActQSiLanamenfLZIm
Reading MA: Addison-Wesley. p 141-152

Horowitz, D. (1986). Process not Product: Less than Meets the Eyes. IESQL

Quarterly, 20, 141-144.
Hughes, A. (1993). Ieshngjorlangmgeleaehers. Cambridge University Press.

Ibrahem, A- (1984). ALemlaumatrqenrﬁalkctahahalmhrh. Egypt, Maktabat
Gareeb.

Indrasuta, C. (1988). Narrative Styles in the Writing of Thai and American

Students. In A. c. Purves (Ed), W
W (p. 206-226). Newbury Park,
CA: Sage.

Jacobs, 8. (1982). WWW
smdents, Linguistic and Literary Series 3. Washington D.C.: Center for

Applied Linguistics.
J ie, G., & Lederman, M. (1988). Instruction and assessment of writing in China: The

National Uniﬁed Entrance Examination for Institutions of Higher

Education. WM, V7 p 47-60.

297

Jones, 8., & Tetroe, J. (1987). Composing inasecond language. InA. Matsuhashi

(Ed.), Writ'mgjnreaLtime p34-57. New York: Longman.

Jost, W. (1991). Teaching the topics: character, rhetoric, and liberal education.
WVZIU)

Kaplan, R. (1980). Cultural thought patterns in inter-cultural education. Lawnge
LeamingV l6(1&2). p. 1-15.

Kaplan, R. (1966). Cultural thought patterns in inter-cultural education. In K. Croft
(Ed.), Reading on English as a second language for teachers and teacher
trainees p. 399-418. Little Brown and Company: Boston

Kaplan, R. (1966). Cultural Thought Patterns in Inter-cultural Education. Language
Learning, 16, 1-20.

Kaufer, D., Hayes, J., and Flower, L. (1986). Composing Written Sentences.
Remmthﬂeachingefflnglish. 20, 121-140

Kharma, N. (1985). Arab Students and the English Relative Clauses. Arabic
Journal for the Humanities, 5/19: 328-342.

Killingsworth, M. J. (1993). Product and Process, Literacy and Orality: An Essay
on Composition and Culture. Cellegemmpesihenmrdﬁemmunieahen,
44/1: 26-39.

Kobayashi, Hiroe- (1984). WWW
Unpublished Ph.D. desertion Colombia University Teachers college.

Koch, B. (1981). Repetition in Discourse: Cohesion and Persuasion in Arabic
Argumentative Prose. Unpublished Manuscript University of Michigan.

Koch-Jonstone, B. (1987). Parataxis in Arabic: Modiﬁcation as a Model for
Persuasion. We: ll/l: 85-98.

Kostelrrick, C. (1989). Process Paradigms in Design and Composition: Afﬁnities
and Directions. College Composition and Communication, 40/3: 267-
281.

Krahnke, K., Al-Jamhoor A. and Krahnke, K. (1992). “Languages Across- Cultures."
Paper presented at the 26Th Annual TESOL Convention. Vancouver,
Canada.

298

Krahnke, K- (19371._Anpmaelm_te_lelahus_Design_fer_EereignJ;anguage
Ieaehing. Englewood, Prentice-Hall.

Krashen, 8- D. (1984). Wrens Oxford:

Pergamon Press.

Lauer, J. (1980). The Rhetorical Approach: Stages of Writing and Strategies for
Writers. In W, By Timothy, R.
and W. McClelland (Eds). (p. 53-64). National Councel of Teachers of
English, Illinois.

Lautarnatti, L. (1989). Observations on the development of the topic of simpliﬁed
discourse. In U. Connor and R. Kaplan (Eds.), WrihnLAeress

We 87-114. Reading, MA: Addison-
Wesley.

Lay, N. (1982). Composing process of adults English as a second language learners.

Warm, 16, 406-
Leeson, L. A. (1989). Beyond Process Pedagogy: Making Connections Between

Classroom Practice and Adult Literacy. Cellege_Cempesihen_and
QQmmunieaﬁen, 40/1: 73-83.

Liebman, J. A. (1992). Toward a New Contrastive Rhetoric: Differences Between
Arabic and Japanese Rhetorical Instruction. Journal of Second Language
Writing, 1/2: 141-166.

Liebman-Kleine, J. (1986). Toward a Contrastive New Rhetoric --A Rhetoric of

process. ERIC: DE 271 963.
Leki, I. (1991). Twenty-ﬁve years of contrastive rhetoric: Text analysis and writing

pedagogues. W, 25/1: 123-141.
Lloyd-Jones, R. (1981). Rhetorical choices in writing. In Carl H. Frederiksen and

Joseph F- Dominic (Eds.), Wm
eemmunieahen, p. 169-176. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey.

299

Martin, J. L. (1992). Conference on College Composition and Communication.
ERIC Document ED 347 555.

Martin-Betancourt, M- (1936). W
W. Unpublished doctoral

dissertation, FordharnUniversity.
McCaffrey, M. (1984). Objective and Discourse Features to Predict Writing

Proﬁciency in L2 Learners. Unpublished Manuscript. Colorado State
University. Colorado.

McCagg, P. (1990). “Toward understanding coherence: A response proposition
taxonomy. InJehmmLinthmmlLandMgegieal
Bersmetiyes. Edited by Ulla Corner and Ann M. Johns. Teachers of
English to speakers of other languages, p. 111- 130, TESOL.

McKay, S. (1989). Topic development and written discourse accent. In Riehness

MW Longman. New York. (Ed) by
Johnson, Donna M. & Roen, Duane H.

Miles, M. and Huberman, M. (1984). QualitahyLdatamausis. London: Sag

Publications.
Mischel, T. (1974). A Case Study of A Twelfth-Grade Writer. Researehjnjhe

W, 8: 303-314.

Mohan, B. and Lo, W. (1985). Academic writing and Chinese Students: Transfer
and developmental factors. IESQLQuarterly, V. 19(3) p. 515-535.

Morcos, D. (9186). A Linguistic Study of coordination and subordination of Arabic
speaking ESL students. Unpublished Master's thesis, University of New
Orleans, Louisiana.

Murray, D. (1980). Writing as a Process: How Writing Finds Itys Own Meaning.
In Eight Approaches to Teach Composition, By Timothy, R. and W.
McClelland (Eds). (p. 3-20). National Councel of Teachers of English,
Illinois.

Nuessel, F. (1994). Recreational Problem-Solving Activities for Teaching

300

Vocabulary in Elementary and Intermediate Spanish. Hispania, 77 p.
l 1 8-124.

Odlin, T- (1989). W
New York:. Cambridge University Press.

Olshtain, E. (1983). Sociocultural Competence and Language Transfer: The Case of

Apology. In LanguasﬂransfetinLanguageLeaming Gass, S. and L-
Seliker, eds. Newbury House.

O'Malley, J. & Chamot, A. (1990). WWW
aequieitien. Cambridge University Press. New York.

Ostler, S. (1987a). English in parallels: A comparison of English and Arabic prose.
In U. Connor and R. Kaplan (Eds.), WritingAereeﬂanguagesrAnalysis
We 169-185. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Ostler, S. (1987b). A study of the contrastive rhetoric of Arabic , English, Japanese,
and Spanish. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Southern
California, California.

Parry, K. (1991). Building a Vocabulary Through Academic Reading. IESQL
Quarterly, 25/4: 629-654.

Patton, M- (1990)- eralltatrxszexaluatrenanirrseatchnnerheds London: Sage

Publication.
Pearson, B. & Lee K. (1992). Discourse structure of direction giving: Effects of

native/nonnative speaker status and gender. W ,V26( 1 ),
p 113-127.

Pemberton, M. A. (1993). Modeling Theory and Composing Process Models.
Cellegemmpesmenandﬁemmumcatren, 44/1: 40-58.

Pennington, M. C. and S. So. (1993). Comparing Writing Process and Product
Across Two Languages: A Case Study of Six Singaporean University
Students Writers. Journal of Second Language Writing, 2/1: 41-64.

Perkins, K. (1980). Using Objective Methods of Attained Writing Proﬁciency to
Discriminate Among Holistic Evaluations. TESOL Quarterly, 14/1: 61-
69.

301

Perl, S. (1979). The Composition Process of Unskilled College Writers. Researeh

Wish. 13. 317-336.

Perl, S. (1980). Understanding Composition. WM
Cemmunieahen 31. 363-369-

Peyton. J - (Ed) (1990). Smdentsmdjeaeherswnnngjegether PerSpectiveS 0n
Journal Writing. TESOL: Alexandria, Virginia.

Pianko, S. (1979). A description of the composing processes of college freshmen

writers ResearchinthﬂeaehingefEnglish 13: 5-22
Peyton, Joy. (Ed) (1990). WWW. Perspectives on

Journal Writing. TESOL: Alexandria, Virginia.

Popken, R. (1987). A study of topic sentence use in academic writing. Writing
Cemnesihen, V4(2), p. 49-59. '

Popken, R. (1991). A study of topic sentence use in Technical writing. The

W, V 18(1), P49-58.

Puwes. A. (19881Wmmamdﬂmmmmﬂenmhm
Rheterie. Sage Publications.

Radwan, A. and Furah, O. (1984). AtahreerAlarahi. King Saud University Press,
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Raimes, A. (1988). Responding to Students’ Written Errors: Looking at Cases.
Paper Presented at the 22nd Annual TESOL Convention, Chicago, IL.

Raimes, A. (1985). What Unskilled ESL Students Do as They Write: A Classroom
Study of Composing. W 190: 229-258.

Reid, J. (1990). Responding to different topic types: A quantitative analysis ﬁ'om a
contrastive rhetoric perspective. In seeendlanguagemihngrﬁeseareh

WW. Barbara Kroll (Ed.), Cambridge. Applied
linguistics, New York.

Reid, J. (1992). A computer text analysis of four cohesion devices in English

discourse by native and non-native writers. WW
Writing, V 1(2), p. 79-107.

302

Reid, J. (1993). Writing. Regents Prentice Hall.

Ricento, T. (1987). Aspects of coherence in English and Japanese expository prose.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.

Roller, C. (1988). Transfer of cognitive academic competence and L2 reading in a

rural Zimbabwean primary school. WVZZ (2), p.303-
318.

Rohman, D. G. (1965). Pre-Writing: The Stage of Discovery in the Writing Process.

Qelleaeﬁemnesmenandﬁemmumcauen, 16, 106-112

Rose, M. (1980). WWW. Carbondale and
Rutherford, W. (1989). Interlanguage and pragmatic word order. In

Gass, Susan M. and Schachter, Jacquelyn (Eds) Lingrusﬁeﬁerspeeﬁyes
W, p. 163-182. New York: Cambridge.

Sa’Addedin, M. A. (1991). Writing Across Language Communities: The Structure
of Arabic Text. In Adams, P. Heaton, B and Howarth, P. (eds) Socio-
MWMMMMES, Modern English
Publications.

Salama, G. (1981). Reasons for Active/Inactive Contributions of Arab Postgraduates
Students to Academic Discussions with a Speciﬁc Interest in Seminars
and Research Discussions in British Universities. Unpublished Doctoral
Dissertation, University of Liverpool.

Santos, T. (1992). Ideology in Composition: L1 and ESL. Journal of Second
Language Writing. l/l: 1-17.

Schneider, M. and Fujishima, N. (1995). When Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect: The

Case of a Graduate ESL Student. In D. Belcher and G. Braine (Eds)

 

g,._.-.. H...
Redagegy, (p. 3-23).
Schneider, M and Connor, U. (1990). Analyzing topical structure in ESL essays.
Not topics are equal. SSLA, V 12 p. 411-427.
Soter, A. (1988). The second language learner and cultural transfer in narration.

In A- PUWCS (Ed). WSW
W p. 177-205. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publishers.

303

Stallard, C. K. (1974). An Analysis of the Writing Behavior of Good student
Writers. Research in the Teaching of English, 8 206-220.

Taher, H. (1990). Topic Sentences in Contrastive Discourse. Unpublished Master’s
Thesis. Colorado State University, Colorado.

Tannen, D. (1989). Ialkingluieee Cambridge University Press. New York.

Thompson-Panes, K. & Thomas-Ruzic. (1983). The least you should know about
Arabic: Implications for the ESL writing instructor. IESQLQuarterly,
V17(4) p. 609-623.

Walling, D. R. (1987). A Model for Teaching Writing: Process and Product. ERIC
Document ED 281215.

Watabe, M., Brown, C., and Ueta, Y. (1991). Transfer of discourse function:
passives in the writings of ESL and JSL learners. IRAL V29 (2), p.
115-134.

Wu, Y. (1992). First and Second language writing reﬂectionship: Chinese and

English. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation. University of taxes
Weissberg, R. (1984). Given and new : Paragraph development models from

scientiﬁc English. W. V13(3). P- 435'500-
Whitlock, R. (1984). Helping Students Understand Process. ERIC Document ED

247556
Widdowson, H. G. (1985). WWW. Oxford University
Press.

Witte, S. ( 1983). Topic structure and revision: An exploratory study. College
Qempesihenandﬁemmunieahen V34 (3)13 313-341.

Wong, B., Wong, K., & Blenkins0p, J. (1989). Cognitive and Metacognitive
Aspects of Learning Disabled Adolescent’s Composing Problems.

LeamingDisahilihtﬂnanerlx 12: 300:322.

304

Yin, R. (1984). Caseﬁudyresearehrﬂeslgdandmetheds. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage

Publication.
Zamel, V. (1976). Teaching Composition in the ESL Classroom: What We Can

Learn from Research in the Teaching of English. IESQLQuarterly,

10/1 : 67-76.

Zamel, V. (1982). Writing: the Process of Discovering Meaning. IESQL

Quarterly, 16/2: 195-209.

Zamel, V. (1983). The composing processes of advanced ESL students: Six case
studies. W, 17: 165-187.
Zhu, W. (1991). A Chinese Teacher’s Efforts to Promote Cross-Cultural

Communication. ERIC Document ED 343139.