The Impact of the IELTS Writing Test on Postgraduate Students in Kuwait (Published)
International students seeking to further their education in foreign countries require high English language test scores on IELTS or other language assessments to gain admission into a university. These tests have direct impacts, referred to as washback effects, whether positive or negative, on learning and English acquisition, particularly on learning new vocabulary, grammar, and creative writing skills by postgraduate students. While washback concepts have been studied over the years, there is little research regarding the IELTS writing assessment’s washback effects, especially on international students. In this study we adopted a qualitative research technique with interviews and a sample of 10 postgraduate students to analyze the impact of the writing assessment task on English language learning, especially on acquisition of new vocabulary, grammar, and creative writing skills. The study reveals the writing test’s washback effect on the way students learn their second language, showing that it impacts their writing skills, creativity, and new vocabulary acquisition.
Keywords: IELTS, Kuwait, Students, postgraduate, writing test
Second Language on-Screen Academic Reading Comprehension Models of Postgraduate International Students (Published)
This paper contributes to the existing body of research on L2 academic reading practices in the 21st century by focusing on on-screen reading in the technological age. The study offers an insight into the nature of on-screen reading, and reflects the authentic on-screen academic reading experiences of international postgraduate readers. A case study and interpretive qualitative approaches have been adopted in the present research study where process-oriented techniques, namely demographic questionnaires, think-aloud protocol, field notes, stimulated recall and interviews have been employed to collect the data. Thematic and content analysis; and a constant comparative method (CCM) has been applied to analyse the data. The results from this study have led to the proposal of suggested models for interpreting on-screen L2 academic reading interactions. A number of pedagogical practices are suggested and recommended for preparing L2 readers for further academic study; including teaching models and instructions to accommodate and meet the needs of reading comprehension practices in the technological age and promoting L2 learners’ digital academic strategy literacy (DASL).
Keywords: Comprehension, International Students, Models, Second Language, academic reading, on-screen, postgraduate