This study examines female students’ interaction and engagement in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom in Saudi Arabia. The study investigates various factors that Saudi female students encounter in their English language classroom, and how these impact their English language learning. It also examines how classroom pedagogy and curriculum influence their participation and disposition of passivity and reticence. This study is informed by Bourdieu’s theory of social practice (1977; 1990) and Foucault’s poststructural theory (1972, 1977) to critically examine students’ and teachers’ perspectives of the importance of oral engagement in the English classroom. Moreover, the study seeks to understand the importance of oral participation in developing English language speaking skills; and how classroom pedagogy and curriculum influence students’ oral participation. The research adopts a mixed-methods approach, including questionnaires and interviews. Data was collected from 100 female students and five teachers from the Preparatory Year in the North of Saudi Arabia to investigate the issue of EFL Saudi female students’ reticence to engage in oral participation. The findings highlight students’ contradictions in their views about oral participation in the English classroom. While the students believed that oral participation is significant, they had negative feelings about speaking up in the classroom due to a lack of English knowledge and low levels of confidence in their English language proficiency. The findings also reveal that the relationship between students and teachers drives students’ motivation for oral participation, and students’ knowledge of and prior experience with English is important for their oral participation. Recommendations from the findings of this study inform policy and pedagogy that will enhance active participation of Saudi female students that will facilitate effective processes of English language learning; and lead to further suggestions for strategies and teaching methods to improve and promote English language leaning processes in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi female students’ reticence to participate orally in the English classroom
Alabasi , F. (Author). 2024
Western Sydney University thesis: Doctoral thesis