Saudi Arabian ESL Students - Oregon State University

293 Pages·2009·3.59 MB·English

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF

Donna L. Shaw for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education presented on
November 16, 2009.

Title: Bridging Differences: Saudi Arabian Students Reflect on Their Educational
Experiences and Share Success Strategies

Abstract approved:

LeoNora M. Cohen

This study examines the U.S. educational experiences of Saudi Arabian
students. Using qualitative case study and photo-elicitation research methods, this
study conducted multiple interviews with 25 Saudi students and explored their
perceptions of their American learning environment, how it differed from Saudi
Arabia, and the strategies they developed to successfully reach their academic goals.
A sizeable sub-group of international students, Saudis are under-represented
in the literature. This study is unique because it focuses on success rather than
problems, and Saudi voices are rarely heard in studies about international students.
Research has been conducted to understand the challenges and needs of
international students in general, and studies exist that determine how to support
international students, yet there is little that focuses on Saudi Arabian students and
success strategies. This study fills that gap.
In this study, the Saudi participants reported that classroom practices and
cultures were different. They discussed the absence of negotiation and sometimes
found American instructors to be arbitrary. Other dissimilarities described were the
gender differences of instructors and classmates, the presence of technology in the
university, Oregon‘s climate and natural environment, and the availability of the library
and other resources. Success strategies the Saudi participants developed included
goal setting, time management, study skills, study groups, taking advantage of
campus resources, hard work, and persistence. Two major contributors to their
success were the natural environment, which they found to be relaxing and stress
relieving, and feeling a member of the campus community.
Based on the interviews, two themes arose from this study: the successful
Saudi students who participated in this research are resilient, and they have
developed intercultural competence. Resilience and intercultural competence are
foundational qualities that enabled the participants to bridge the gap between Saudi
Arabia and the United States, settle comfortably in a new environment, adjust to
rapid-fire changes and challenges, and develop the strategies to successfully work on
reaching their academic goals. The author recommends supporting resilience and
intercultural competence by helping Saudi students develop and enhance their coping
skills and offering assistance that enhances intercultural competence.
© Copyright by Donna L. Shaw
November 16, 2009
All Rights Reserved
Bridging Differences: Saudi Arabian Students Reflect on Their Educational
Experiences and Share Success Strategies

by
Donna L. Shaw

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to

Oregon State University

in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the
degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Presented November 16, 2009
Commencement June 2010
Doctor of Philosophy dissertation of Donna L. Shaw
presented on November 16, 2009.

APROVED:

Major Professor, representing Education

Dean of the College of Education

Dean of the Graduate School

I understand that my dissertation will become part of the permanent collection of
Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorized release of my
dissertation to any reader upon request.

Donna L. Shaw, Author
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author expresses heart-felt appreciation to Fatimah Almousauri, Yasser
Al Janabi, Hassan Alwehaimid, Salman Alturaiki, Mustafa Al Essa and the other 20
Saudi students who generously volunteered to take part in this study.
I am especially grateful to major professor LeoNora Cohen, whose gentle
guidance made all the difference in the world and committee members Michael
Dalton, David Noakes, Dwaine Plaza, and Ken Winograd, all of whom offered
assistance and support.
Without my sister, Sonjia Gretz, who lightened the dark days and kept me
going; mother, Binnie Callender, the originator and consistent supporter of this
educational journey; son Cris Bellinger and daughters Meghan Karas, Adrienne
Karas, and Emma Barry, around whom my world revolves, this study would never
have come to pass.
Finally, I would like to thank my colleagues and friends at the English
Language Institute, who generously gave me their support and encouragement. I am
especially grateful to Jane Averill, Deborah Healey, Debby Kohler, Barbara Dowling,
and Carol Odell who read, listened, and offered insight over the course of four long
years.
Thank you all.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Chapter 1 – Background Information for this Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Why Study Abroad? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Research Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Researcher‘s Connection to the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Foundation and Framework of this Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Existentialism and Quantum Mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Research Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Rationale for this Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Concluding Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Chapter 2 – Review of the Relevant Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
The Pertinent Literature Concerning International Students . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Perceptions of American Higher Education Experience . . . . . . . . . . 20
International Students‘ Needs and Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
International Students‘ Definitions of and Strategies for Success
and Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Common Stereotypes and Misconceptions of Arabs and Middle-
Easterners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Media Perpetuation of Stereotypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Orientalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Perpetuation of Stereotypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

How Arab Muslim and Middle Eastern Students Studying in the
United States View Post-September 11th America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Post September 11th Backlash Perpetuated by U.S. Citizens . . . . . 38
U.S. Government Backlash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Attitudes Toward Americans vs. American Political Policies . . . . . . . 43
American Media Portrayals of Middle Easterners and Arab
Muslims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued)
Page

Thoughts on Middle Easterner and Arab Muslim Views . . . . . . . . . . 45

Research Concerning Arab Muslim and Middle Eastern Students
Studying in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Studies Involving Saudi Arabian Students Studying in the United States . . 47
Dissertations Focusing on Saudi Students Studying in the United
States Not Relevant to This Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Research with Saudi Students in the United States Relevant to
This Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Comments on the Relevant Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
The Saudi Scholarship Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
The Saudi Arabian Educational System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Emphasis on Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Separation of the Sexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Substantial Financial Support by the Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

An Additional Influence of Saudi Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Themes of This Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Resilience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Intercultural Competence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Concluding Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Chapter 3 – Research Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Strategy of Inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
The Cases or Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Participants and Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued)
Page
Data Collection Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Semi-Structured Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Photo-Elicitation Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Focus Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Reflective Notes: Observation and Journal Keeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Role of the Researcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Trustworthiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Reflexivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Concluding Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Chapter 4 – Photo-Elicitation Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

General Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
The Advantages of Auto-Driven Photo-Elicitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
The Advantages of Researcher-Driven Photo-Elicitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Disadvantages of Photo-Elicitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Use of Photo-Elicitation in This Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Concluding Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Chapter 5 – Results by Interview Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Semi-Structured Interview #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Participant Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
English Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
School In Saudi Arabia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Studying in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Photo-Elicitation Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Focus Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued)
Page
Semi-Structured Interview #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Goals and Accomplishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Success Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Shared Success Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Interactions with Americans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Concluding Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chapter 6 – Results by Research Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Why Study Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Results by Research Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Research Question #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Semi-Structured Interview and Focus Group Results . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Photo-Elicitation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Research Question #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Semi-Structured Interview and Focus Group Results . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Photo-Elicitation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Research Question #3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Concluding Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Chapter 7 – Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Resilience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Intercultural Competence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Intercultural Competence: Advice to Future Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Why Resilience and Intercultural Competence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Concluding Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219