Academic Vocabulary Acquisition Difficulties for Saudi Postgraduate Students in New Zealand Universities

Abstract

Education outcomes for L2 students in academic preparation programs, undergraduate studies, and graduate work are directly influenced by the learning and use of academic vocabulary. Among 15 Saudi graduate students studying in New Zealand, this study investigated at their perspectives with academic vocabulary learning. Students in Saudi Arabia who are enrolled at New Zealand universities were asked about their difficulties in learning academic vocabulary. According to this study, a new perspective on academic vocabulary can be gained by studying students' assessments of their problems in learning academic vocabulary. Four research questions are the focus of the study: 1) When it comes to mastering academic vocabulary, what are the most common challenges faced by postgraduate students? 2) What methods do these Saudi postgraduate students employ in order to increase their knowledge of academic language? 3) Do students who perceive the most difficulty in learning a new language likely to have had the least effective ways for learning vocabulary. 4) Saudi graduate students confront what kinds of problems in learning academic vocabulary? Academic vocabulary is typically a problem for graduate students in a number of areas. These challenges were addressed utilizing a qualitative approach, that comprised an exploratory study, personal face-to-face questions, and a group discussion. A wide range of academic circumstances were found to be problematic for all 15 participants, regardless of language proficiency. It was difficult to find time to read for writing when there was so much emphasis on paraphrasing. (Hirvela, 2016) Aside from that, participants had no prior experience with academic vocabulary learning and only a limited number of strategies at their disposal to assist them. In contrast, the results of this study do not support the concept that merely being revealed to academic language can increase the chances of incidental vocabulary development; somewhat more, they recommend that deliberate vocabulary knowledge is needed, so such learning should be based on sound academic skills, including the use of vocabulary study materials; and unsuitable vocabulary acquisition strategies could indeed risk causing unhappiness and loss of vocabulary knowledge. 
  

ESL Pre-university Learners’ Needs Analysis for Web-based English Academic Vocabulary Learning Resource

“…In most cases, ESL post-secondary learners are expected to acquire academic words incidentally through reading activities. Albeit providing good lexical input (Nation, 2013), reading academic materials alone may not be very reliable for ESL learners to learn academic words (Aldawsari, 2017;Gallagher et al, 2019;Sulaiman et al, 2018); since this incidental approach has a low pick-up rate (Schmitt, 2008). Moreover, textbooks often include words that appear once without repetition, a vital element for vocabulary acquisition (Nation, 2013).…”

“…In this regard, it is necessary to adopt a more direct, explicit and purposeful and systematic approach to academic vocabulary learning among ESL postsecondary learners (Aldawsari, 2017;Coxhead, 2021;Yunus et al, 2016). Taking into consideration the Malaysian Education Blueprint's 7 th shift regarding the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) (MOE, 2015), it is apt for explicit academic vocabulary instructions to integrate technology.…”

How international doctoral students’ fields of study, proficiency in English and gender interact with their sense of making progress in English academic writing abilities

“…Paraphrasing is another aspect of area students may find difficult [23,[53][54][55]. Although paraphrasing is an effective writing strategy used to synthesize significant information from multiple sources, it requires the writer to be well-equipped with a thorough understanding of what they have read beyond linguistic interpretation [56].…”

Teachers to Learners: Portfolio, please! New Techniques of Portfolio Assessment in ESL Classrooms

“…Recent research on Saudi Arabian ESL students' writing enhancement progress has revealed an unsatisfactory result (Mould, 2010;Grami & Alzughaibi, 2012;Abduljawad, 2021;Ankawi, 2022;Ansari, 2023). Moulds's (2010) and Abduljawad's (2021) findings showed that the impact of the first language and the insufficient exposure to English in ESL classrooms deter students from achieving high grades in English writing exams.…”

“…They achieve high marks in portfolio evaluations, in contrast to their performance in the final writing examination. Therefore, a significant proportion of students hold unfavorable perceptions of their writing abilities as they fail to perceive themselves as effective in the final examinations (Ankawi, 2022). There is an explicit research gap between students' results in the writing examination and in the writing portfolio.…”