The Qualitative Approach Definition & Characteristics *Qualitative research is inductive, subject... more The Qualitative Approach Definition & Characteristics *Qualitative research is inductive, subjective and process oriented with the goal of achieving the knowledge being sought for from the participant's point of view. *The researcher is the main focus in this type of research since he/she is the instrument used in data collection, qualitative research is said to be subjective and uses narratives which are the result of the researcher's analysis of the information provided by the informants used in the research. *Sampling in qualitative research: The QUALITATIVE researcher seeks to "explore" & "understand" one single phenomenon which requires considering all of the multiple external forces that shape this phenomenon. *If we conduct QUALITATIVE research, we should PURPOSIVELY select participants who meet criteria that will provide a sample that is likely to yield the type of information we need to achieve our purpose *SAMPLE SIZE in this type of research is typically smaller than in quantitative studies because the researcher will be striving for IN-DEPTH qualitative research *In qualitative research, the answer to the sample size question is found in the concept of saturation or the point in the course of a study when adding another data element such as another interview, participant observation or narrative story does not add new information. That is, redundancy in participants' responses emerges and negates the need to collect additional data. How to Do Qualitative Research Step 1: Decide on a question you want to study. • A good research question needs to be clear, specific, and manageable. To do qualitative research, your question should explore reasons for why people do things or believe in something.
The present study aims at exploring the challenges encountered by didactics’ students, from the d... more The present study aims at exploring the challenges encountered by didactics’ students, from the department of English at Blida 2 University, in writing the literature review chapter of their Master’s dissertations. Data for our research were based on two data collection tools namely a semi-structured interview with 10 students and a document analysis of their literature review chapters. The results revealed that writing this chapter was a hard task to do especially that the students were still novice researchers. Examples of the generic difficulties identified in this study include synthesizing, paraphrasing, summarizing, identifying research gaps, and language writing issues. According to the students, these issues were mostly caused by lack of opportunities to practice writing the literature review chapter. In response to these challenges, some pedagogical implications are provided. This involves organizing training workshops and seminars for both students and supervisors on writing the literature review chapter.
international Journal of social sciences and educational studies, 2020
This research aims at investigating the effects of schema activation, using brainstorming and pre... more This research aims at investigating the effects of schema activation, using brainstorming and predicting, on students’ reading comprehension at the English department, Blida 2 University, Algeria. To this end, an experimental research design was adopted where two data collection instruments were used: a students’ questionnaire to elicit students’ attitudes towards reading in English, their difficulties in reading comprehension and use of brainstorming and predicting as schema activation strategies, and an experiment in which two experimental groups were taught how to activate their schemata prior to reading through brainstorming and predicting strategies. The results of the study demonstrated that an interactive reading approach based on activating students’ schemata through brainstorming and predicting had significant effects on the process of comprehending texts and increased students’ motivation to read.
Keywords: Schema Activation, Brainstorming, Predicting, Reading Comprehension EFL Students
Journal of Studies in Language, Culture and Society (JSLCS), 2019
Abstract
The current paper aims at examining and comparing two major syllabus types, Type ‘A’ an... more Abstract The current paper aims at examining and comparing two major syllabus types, Type ‘A’ and Type ‘B’, by reviewing the literature on three product-oriented (type A) syllabus sub-types namely: structural, notional-functional and situational syllabuses and three process-oriented (type B) syllabus sub-types notably task-based, process and content-based syllabuses. The discussion focuses on the characteristics of both types, the different views of language and language learning that influenced the classification of the two syllabus types as well as the benefits and drawbacks of each type in foreign language learning and teaching. At the end of the paper, foreign language teachers are invited to adopt the eclectic approach by combining both syllabus types. This combination will, therefore, help in counteracting the weaknesses of both types and provide teachers with opportunities to address their learners’ diverse needs and meet their expectations. Keywords: Foreign language learning and teaching, Process-oriented, Product-oriented, Syllabus, Type A, Type B.
Research students usually encounter great difficulties in setting up a viable research project ma... more Research students usually encounter great difficulties in setting up a viable research project mainly because, on the one hand they lack familiarity with the philosophical underpinnings of major paradigms used in educational research: quantitative, qualitative or mixed, and on the other hand , they do not associate the corresponding research types with these paradigms : experimental, non experimental for the former, and interactive or non interactive for the second and the for the latter whether it is explanatory or exploratory, in addition to the importance of triangulation in any research study . These paradigms determine not only the formulation of the problem chosen for research and the associated research questions or hypothesis but also and more importantly, the sampling procedure as well as the selection of the appropriate research tools and the way the collected data is analysed and discussed. This survey of the major paradigms in educational research and their implications for the design of any research study will hopefully provide them with the necessary guidance to approach their research project with more confidence et more efficiency.
Educational Linguistics is dedicated to innovative studies of language use and language learning.... more Educational Linguistics is dedicated to innovative studies of language use and language learning. The series is based on the idea that there is a need for studies that break barriers. Accordingly, it provides a space for research that crosses traditional disciplinary, theoretical, and/or methodological boundaries in ways that advance knowledge about language (in) education. The series focuses on critical and contextualized work that offers alternatives to current approaches as well as practical, substantive ways forward. Contributions explore the dynamic and multi-layered nature of theory-practice relationships, creative applications of linguistic and symbolic resources, individual and societal considerations, and diverse social spaces related to language learning.
The research design used in qualitative studies may change throughout the study. Thus, it is not ... more The research design used in qualitative studies may change throughout the study. Thus, it is not possible to have a fixed set of steps in designing qualitative studies. The steps to be presented and discussed below can be repeated and reordered throughout the study.
The Teaching Writing series publishes concise instructional writing guides. Series books each foc... more The Teaching Writing series publishes concise instructional writing guides. Series books each focus on a different subject area, discipline or type of writing. The books are intended to be used in undergraduate and graduate courses across the disciplines and can also be read by individual researchers or students engaged in thesis work.
The Qualitative Approach Definition & Characteristics *Qualitative research is inductive, subject... more The Qualitative Approach Definition & Characteristics *Qualitative research is inductive, subjective and process oriented with the goal of achieving the knowledge being sought for from the participant's point of view. *The researcher is the main focus in this type of research since he/she is the instrument used in data collection, qualitative research is said to be subjective and uses narratives which are the result of the researcher's analysis of the information provided by the informants used in the research. *Sampling in qualitative research: The QUALITATIVE researcher seeks to "explore" & "understand" one single phenomenon which requires considering all of the multiple external forces that shape this phenomenon. *If we conduct QUALITATIVE research, we should PURPOSIVELY select participants who meet criteria that will provide a sample that is likely to yield the type of information we need to achieve our purpose *SAMPLE SIZE in this type of research is typically smaller than in quantitative studies because the researcher will be striving for IN-DEPTH qualitative research *In qualitative research, the answer to the sample size question is found in the concept of saturation or the point in the course of a study when adding another data element such as another interview, participant observation or narrative story does not add new information. That is, redundancy in participants' responses emerges and negates the need to collect additional data. How to Do Qualitative Research Step 1: Decide on a question you want to study. • A good research question needs to be clear, specific, and manageable. To do qualitative research, your question should explore reasons for why people do things or believe in something.
The present study aims at exploring the challenges encountered by didactics’ students, from the d... more The present study aims at exploring the challenges encountered by didactics’ students, from the department of English at Blida 2 University, in writing the literature review chapter of their Master’s dissertations. Data for our research were based on two data collection tools namely a semi-structured interview with 10 students and a document analysis of their literature review chapters. The results revealed that writing this chapter was a hard task to do especially that the students were still novice researchers. Examples of the generic difficulties identified in this study include synthesizing, paraphrasing, summarizing, identifying research gaps, and language writing issues. According to the students, these issues were mostly caused by lack of opportunities to practice writing the literature review chapter. In response to these challenges, some pedagogical implications are provided. This involves organizing training workshops and seminars for both students and supervisors on writing the literature review chapter.
international Journal of social sciences and educational studies, 2020
This research aims at investigating the effects of schema activation, using brainstorming and pre... more This research aims at investigating the effects of schema activation, using brainstorming and predicting, on students’ reading comprehension at the English department, Blida 2 University, Algeria. To this end, an experimental research design was adopted where two data collection instruments were used: a students’ questionnaire to elicit students’ attitudes towards reading in English, their difficulties in reading comprehension and use of brainstorming and predicting as schema activation strategies, and an experiment in which two experimental groups were taught how to activate their schemata prior to reading through brainstorming and predicting strategies. The results of the study demonstrated that an interactive reading approach based on activating students’ schemata through brainstorming and predicting had significant effects on the process of comprehending texts and increased students’ motivation to read.
Keywords: Schema Activation, Brainstorming, Predicting, Reading Comprehension EFL Students
Journal of Studies in Language, Culture and Society (JSLCS), 2019
Abstract
The current paper aims at examining and comparing two major syllabus types, Type ‘A’ an... more Abstract The current paper aims at examining and comparing two major syllabus types, Type ‘A’ and Type ‘B’, by reviewing the literature on three product-oriented (type A) syllabus sub-types namely: structural, notional-functional and situational syllabuses and three process-oriented (type B) syllabus sub-types notably task-based, process and content-based syllabuses. The discussion focuses on the characteristics of both types, the different views of language and language learning that influenced the classification of the two syllabus types as well as the benefits and drawbacks of each type in foreign language learning and teaching. At the end of the paper, foreign language teachers are invited to adopt the eclectic approach by combining both syllabus types. This combination will, therefore, help in counteracting the weaknesses of both types and provide teachers with opportunities to address their learners’ diverse needs and meet their expectations. Keywords: Foreign language learning and teaching, Process-oriented, Product-oriented, Syllabus, Type A, Type B.
Research students usually encounter great difficulties in setting up a viable research project ma... more Research students usually encounter great difficulties in setting up a viable research project mainly because, on the one hand they lack familiarity with the philosophical underpinnings of major paradigms used in educational research: quantitative, qualitative or mixed, and on the other hand , they do not associate the corresponding research types with these paradigms : experimental, non experimental for the former, and interactive or non interactive for the second and the for the latter whether it is explanatory or exploratory, in addition to the importance of triangulation in any research study . These paradigms determine not only the formulation of the problem chosen for research and the associated research questions or hypothesis but also and more importantly, the sampling procedure as well as the selection of the appropriate research tools and the way the collected data is analysed and discussed. This survey of the major paradigms in educational research and their implications for the design of any research study will hopefully provide them with the necessary guidance to approach their research project with more confidence et more efficiency.
Educational Linguistics is dedicated to innovative studies of language use and language learning.... more Educational Linguistics is dedicated to innovative studies of language use and language learning. The series is based on the idea that there is a need for studies that break barriers. Accordingly, it provides a space for research that crosses traditional disciplinary, theoretical, and/or methodological boundaries in ways that advance knowledge about language (in) education. The series focuses on critical and contextualized work that offers alternatives to current approaches as well as practical, substantive ways forward. Contributions explore the dynamic and multi-layered nature of theory-practice relationships, creative applications of linguistic and symbolic resources, individual and societal considerations, and diverse social spaces related to language learning.
The research design used in qualitative studies may change throughout the study. Thus, it is not ... more The research design used in qualitative studies may change throughout the study. Thus, it is not possible to have a fixed set of steps in designing qualitative studies. The steps to be presented and discussed below can be repeated and reordered throughout the study.
The Teaching Writing series publishes concise instructional writing guides. Series books each foc... more The Teaching Writing series publishes concise instructional writing guides. Series books each focus on a different subject area, discipline or type of writing. The books are intended to be used in undergraduate and graduate courses across the disciplines and can also be read by individual researchers or students engaged in thesis work.
Compare and contrast Opinion Cause and effect Aim It aims at showing to the reader how two items ... more Compare and contrast Opinion Cause and effect Aim It aims at showing to the reader how two items or texts are similar, different, or similar in some ways and different in others.
Objective: by the end of the lesson, learners should be able to understand the parts of the concl... more Objective: by the end of the lesson, learners should be able to understand the parts of the concluding paragraph in an essay and write concluding paragraphs with different purposes.
Objectives: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to: Know what a cause and effect pa... more Objectives: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to: Know what a cause and effect paragraph is and its purposes. Make an outline and write effective topic sentences for cause/effect paragraphs. Know how to write coherent cause and effect paragraphs. Course Content: 1. Definition and Purposes of Cause and Effect Paragraph: 2. Organization of Cause and Effect Paragraphs. 3. Language Useful for the Topic Sentences of Cause and Effect Paragraphs. 4. Coherence in Cause and Effect Paragraphs.
Objective: By the end of the lesson, students should be able to use capitalization and punctuatio... more Objective: By the end of the lesson, students should be able to use capitalization and punctuation rules correctly.
Objective: By the end of the lesson, learners should be able to understand and write different ty... more Objective: By the end of the lesson, learners should be able to understand and write different types of sentences (simple, compound, complex, compound complex). Course Outline:
Objective: By the end of the lesson, learners should be able to find the main idea of a given tex... more Objective: By the end of the lesson, learners should be able to find the main idea of a given text when there's no topic sentence or thesis statement to guide them.
Objective: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to write unified and coherent paragr... more Objective: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to write unified and coherent paragraphs.
Objective: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to write a comparison and contrast p... more Objective: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to write a comparison and contrast paragraph with an appropriate topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence with unity and coherence. Also, students should be able to write comparison and contrast paragraphs using two different organizational methods: block method and point-by-point method.
Objective: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to understand the structure of a coh... more Objective: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to understand the structure of a coherent paragraph in English. Also, students should be able to write supporting sentences relevant to the topic sentence.
Objective: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to understand the structure of a coh... more Objective: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to understand the structure of a coherent paragraph in English. Also, students should be able to write supporting sentences relevant to the topic sentence.
Objective: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to understand the structure of a coh... more Objective: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to understand the structure of a coherent paragraph in English. Also, students should be able to identify and write topic sentences.
Objective: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to write a simple and a detailed out... more Objective: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to write a simple and a detailed outline of a paragraph. Thus, they will be able to stay on the topic and write a well-organized paragraph.
Objective: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to write a comparison and contrast e... more Objective: by the end of the lesson, students should be able to write a comparison and contrast essay with an appropriate thesis statement, supporting paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph with unity and coherence. Also, students should be able to write comparison and contrast essays using two different organizational methods: block method and point-by-point method.
Objective: By the end of the course, learners should be aware of the different strategies for a s... more Objective: By the end of the course, learners should be aware of the different strategies for a successful and a clear oral communication.
Writing a dissertation is a prerequisite for the award of the Master’s degree. However, despite t... more Writing a dissertation is a prerequisite for the award of the Master’s degree. However, despite the fact that Master’s students in the English Department -at Blida 2 Universityare introduced to the fundamentals of research writing and methodology in academic writing and research skills classes, many students are still far from being able to write a successful dissertation that adheres to the academic research writing standards. This is believed to be due to a number of challenges related to the schematic structure of the dissertation and research methodology. This doctoral research, therefore, attempts to explore the challenges experienced by graduate students, from the Department of English at Blida 2 University, in writing the Master’s dissertation. More specifically, this research is mainly concerned with the challenges related to the content/schematic structure of the following parts: The Abstract, the General Introduction, the Literature Review Chapter, the Method Chapter, the Results and Discussion Chapter, and the General Conclusion. This research also sheds light on the reasons why most Master’s students in the Department of English failed to write a successful dissertation, and suggests an academic framework and techniques that will hopefully assist the students and supervisors overcome, or at least alleviate, the content-related challenges and achieve quality work. To this end, an exploratory concurrent-nested design was adopted using various investigative methods namely: two questionnaires administered to 28 graduate students majoring in didactics and 10 teachers, two semi structured follow-up interviews conducted with students and teachers, and an additional in-depth document analysis of six randomly selected dissertations using Chen and Kuo’s framework (2012). The research findings showed that most students were not fully aware of the content of the dissertation parts. The data obtained from the research tools showed that the literature review was the most difficult chapter to write, followed by the results and discussion chapter, then the general introduction, the method chapter and the general conclusion, while the least difficult part was the abstract. Further, it was found that the majority of students lacked summarizing and paraphrasing skills, and experienced serious challenges in making their writing coherent and cohesive. According to the participants, the aforementioned challenges were primarily due to four main factors namely: lack of practice and ineffective training in academic writing and research skills classes, lack of supervisor’s guidance, and absence of a common assessment framework. On the basis of these results, a number of pedagogical implications are offered. The study argues for more attention to developing students’ research writing through organizing training workshops on aspects of dissertation writing and research methodology, allocating sufficient time and opportunities to practice writing and research skills, showing instead of telling students what to do (i.e.; using exemplars), and incorporating student-centered activities such as peer and self-assessment, and designing assessment rubrics. These activities are believed to be beneficial for students to promote their reflective-critical thinking skills and self-regulation. Besides, the pedagogical implications of this research have potential to support and improve research supervision and the assessment process through stressing the need for designing a common analytic rubric for assessing Master’s dissertations and rethinking feedback practices of the dissertation advisors
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Papers by Abla BENBELLAL
Keywords: Schema Activation, Brainstorming, Predicting, Reading Comprehension EFL Students
The current paper aims at examining and comparing two major syllabus types, Type ‘A’ and Type ‘B’, by reviewing the literature on three product-oriented (type A) syllabus sub-types namely: structural, notional-functional and situational syllabuses and three process-oriented (type B) syllabus sub-types notably task-based, process and content-based syllabuses. The discussion focuses on the characteristics of both types, the different views of language and language learning that influenced the classification of the two syllabus types as well as the benefits and drawbacks of each type in foreign language learning and teaching. At the end of the paper, foreign language teachers are invited to adopt the eclectic approach by combining both syllabus types. This combination will, therefore, help in counteracting the weaknesses of both types and provide teachers with opportunities to address their learners’ diverse needs and meet their expectations.
Keywords: Foreign language learning and teaching, Process-oriented, Product-oriented, Syllabus, Type A, Type B.
not only the formulation of the problem chosen for research and the associated research questions or hypothesis but also and more importantly, the sampling procedure as well as the selection of the appropriate research tools and the way the collected data is analysed and discussed. This survey of the major paradigms in educational research and their implications for the design of any research study will hopefully provide them with the necessary guidance to approach their research project with more confidence et more efficiency.
Keywords: Schema Activation, Brainstorming, Predicting, Reading Comprehension EFL Students
The current paper aims at examining and comparing two major syllabus types, Type ‘A’ and Type ‘B’, by reviewing the literature on three product-oriented (type A) syllabus sub-types namely: structural, notional-functional and situational syllabuses and three process-oriented (type B) syllabus sub-types notably task-based, process and content-based syllabuses. The discussion focuses on the characteristics of both types, the different views of language and language learning that influenced the classification of the two syllabus types as well as the benefits and drawbacks of each type in foreign language learning and teaching. At the end of the paper, foreign language teachers are invited to adopt the eclectic approach by combining both syllabus types. This combination will, therefore, help in counteracting the weaknesses of both types and provide teachers with opportunities to address their learners’ diverse needs and meet their expectations.
Keywords: Foreign language learning and teaching, Process-oriented, Product-oriented, Syllabus, Type A, Type B.
not only the formulation of the problem chosen for research and the associated research questions or hypothesis but also and more importantly, the sampling procedure as well as the selection of the appropriate research tools and the way the collected data is analysed and discussed. This survey of the major paradigms in educational research and their implications for the design of any research study will hopefully provide them with the necessary guidance to approach their research project with more confidence et more efficiency.