Carmen Denekamp

Citation

Thesis Title
The Development of L2 Arab Writers' Proficiency: Autonomy, Online Self-Access Centres, and Advisement

Read article at Massey Research Online:

Second language learners often struggle to become proficient at English academic writing at the tertiary level, and need extra out-of-class aid. Ms Denekamp's research established an online self-access centre for writing, often considered a deficit model, and investigated its effectiveness in the context of Arab English learners in Qatar. 'Affect-inclusive autonomy' and 'advisement' were identified as two constructs that needed to be addressed. A mixed methods action research design was used to investigate what worked best from the perspectives of students, the advisor-researcher and in terms of more objective evaluation outcomes. Results suggested that the realistic student-centred model of aid was effective and preferable to the orthodox idealistic ideological model. In addition to promoting development in both writing achievement and learner autonomy, the self-access centre site was efficacious for students, with low attrition rates despite its ad-hoc disposition. Ms Denekamp’s research supported main construct expansion and interrelationships

Supervisors
Professor John O'Neill
Dr Ute Walker
Dr Alyson McGee