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Intissar Yahia’s Three Minute Thesis


How Arab English language learners understand, perform, and evaluate written paraphrasing.

A body of research exists that discusses how English language learners (ELLs) perform paraphrasing tasks and how their failure to paraphrase effectively and cite well leads to committing plagiarism unintentionally. However, there is no research that looks particularly at how Arab English language learners understand, perform, and evaluate written paraphrasing in order to figure out their challenges in paraphrasing and the reasons that might lead to committing unintentional plagiarism. To begin to fill this gap, a case study was conducted at an intensive English program at a university in the northwest United States. Five Omani ELLs at a high-intermediate level of English proficiency participated in a case study. Data were gathered through a background questionnaire, participant task documents, and semi-structured interviews, and it was initially analyzed using Keck’s (2006) paraphrasing categories. Findings indicate that Arab-speaking ELLs understand and perform paraphrasing in ways that can cause their paraphrasing to be evaluated as unacceptable. Findings also provides evidence that limited vocabulary knowledge may be one challenge in paraphrasing, with lack of awareness of paraphrasing strategies another. In addition, the study found that current definitions and evaluations of paraphrasing are insufficient to characterize how students paraphrase and what they need to learn about paraphrasing.

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Language, Literacy, and Technology

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