For the last few decades, difficulties encountered by non-native English students in the process of thesis writing have attracted considerable attention from researchers. However, most of the previous research on this topic has given priority to the language-related/linguistic problems and has focused on international students studying in L1 contexts. Thus, the aim of this qualitative study was to gain insight into Master students' experiences of thesis writing in a conspicuously underexplored EFL context, Algeria. Specifically, the study explored both students' and supervisors' perceptions of the difficulties and challenges encountered during the course of thesis writing, with a focus on the non-linguistic factors underlying this academic undertaking. Semistructured in-depth interviews, supported by open-ended questionnaires, were used to obtain from 30 students and six supervisors, purposely selected from English departments at eight Algerian universities. Findings indicate that the process of thesis writing is a formidable and daunting academic undertaking for Algerian EFF Master students due primarily to sociocultural challenges and then linguistic difficulties. These latter ones included students' lack of some academic writing skills and their limited knowledge about thesis writing and research whereas the identified sociocultural challenges included lack of supervisor and family support, lack of cooperation of the research sample, and insufficient academic preparation. Pedagogical implications for stakeholders and suggestions for future researchers were presented in the end of the current study.

For the last few decades, difficulties encountered by non-native English students in the process of thesis writing have attracted considerable attention from researchers. However, most of the previous research on this topic has given priority to the language-related/linguistic problems and has focused on international students studying in L1 contexts. Thus, the aim of this qualitative study was to gain insight into Master students' experiences of thesis writing in a conspicuously underexplored EFL context, Algeria. Specifically, the study explored both students' and supervisors' perceptions of the difficulties and challenges encountered during the course of thesis writing, with a focus on the non-linguistic factors underlying this academic undertaking. Semistructured in-depth interviews, supported by open-ended questionnaires, were used to obtain from 30 students and six supervisors, purposely selected from English departments at eight Algerian universities. Findings indicate that the process of thesis writing is a formidable and daunting academic undertaking for Algerian EFF Master students due primarily to sociocultural challenges and then linguistic difficulties. These latter ones included students' lack of some academic writing skills and their limited knowledge about thesis writing and research whereas the identified sociocultural challenges included lack of supervisor and family support, lack of cooperation of the research sample, and insufficient academic preparation. Pedagogical implications for stakeholders and suggestions for future researchers were presented in the end of the current study.

After more than seventeen years of implementation (2003) in the Algerian educational system, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers react unexpectedly to the Competency-Based Language Teaching (CBLT). They show resistance and resilience to change via variable attitudes towards CBLT. The paper reports the results of a field investigation carried out in eight secondary schools in Adrar, cultural and administrative capital of the southwest of Algeria. It assesses south Algerian EFL teachers' attitudes towards CBLT through a questionnaire administered to twenty educators. The most striking answers are the teachers' negative attitudes and diverging opinions toward its "top-down" implementation. The findings highlight a major issue to the Ministry of Education, the syllabus designers and the teachers at the micro-level, for they impact negatively on the spread and success of CBLT. The paper invites for debates about curricula and pedagogy in Algeria.

No abstract

This paper explores the linguistic behavior in relation to the identity of speakers who stay in their hometown and speakers who travel from one dialect region to another. Following the methodology of sociolinguistic variation studies, combined with qualitative analyses, this study examines two noticeable linguistic features of Tiaret compared to those acquired by speakers who moved to other dialect areas. Qualitative analyses of speakers' social identities, attitudes and language practices match quantitative analyses of patterns of phonological variation. The study finds that the migrant groups do make changes in their linguistic production due to their continuous exposure to a new dialect. Moreover, the findings suggest that speakers' linguistic behavior is noticeably related to their identities, social networks, language attitudes and the wider sociopolitical framework in the whole country.