The interview questions

The interview questions were prepared in a way that could reveal some answers to the research questions. Because the interview was semi-structured, I was able to ask more questions whenever one is required during the interviews. The interview questions are

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available in Appendix C and a sample interview transcript with one of the participants is available in Appendix D. For the current study, there are thirty-eight questions divided into two sections.

The first section of the interview aimed to collect some background knowledge, such as academic major, graduate degree, their education in Saudi Arabia, time these students started writing in English, the reasons that made the students write in English, their understanding of the meaning of academic writing, and the difference, if any, between academic writing and non-academic writing. These questions are necessary to track the sources of these Saudi graduate students’ perceptions of academic writing and of the issue of plagiarism (research question no. 3).

The second section of the interview covers the students’ perceptions towards their personal academic writing skills. Those include how do they see themselves as writers in their majors (question No. 8 in the interview), their academic writing process (question No. 9 in the interview), proofreading and peer review (question No. 10 in the interview), the level of satisfaction with their own academic writing skills (question No. 12 in the interview), the importance of being able to write well as a graduate student (question No. 13 in the interview), the problems they and other Saudi graduate students encounter while writing academic papers (questions No. 11, 14, &15 in the interview), the issues they like and the ones they dislike about academic writing in English (question No. 16 in the interview), what should be the focus of an academic writing course (question No. 17 in the interview), how academic writing should be taught (question No. 18 in the interview), learning to write academic English (question No. 19 in the interview), strategies they follow to cope with writing academic English (question No. 20 in the interview), the most

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challenging issue/s in academic writing and the strategies and/or the services they have made use of to address these challenges (question No. 21 in the interview), and the factors that could positively or negatively affect their academic writing style (question No. 22 in the interview).

The second section of the interview also asked the participants about the effect of Arabic on writing in English (question No. 27 in the interview), definition of plagiarism (question No. 28 in the interview), how plagiarism can be prevented (question No. 29 in the interview), the reasons that make students plagiarize (questions No. 31 & 33 in the interview), the pitfalls of plagiarism (question No. 32 in the interview), the ways to increase the students’ knowledge about plagiarism (question No. 34 in the interview), and the possible effects of the grading method in the Saudi educational system on their academic writing skills(questions No. 35, 36, 37, & 38 in the interview). The

interviewees were also asked about topics related to academic writing that arose during the interviews. Table No. 6 provides a summary of the questions for the interview.

80 Table 6

Information about the focus of the questions

FOCUS OF QUESTIONS PURPOSE

F ir st s ec ti on Academic major Graduate degree

The participants’ education in Saudi Arabia

The time those participants started writing in English

The difference, if any,

between academic writing and non-academic writing. The reasons that made the

participants write in English Their understanding of the

meaning of academic writing

Background knowledge S ec on d se ct io n

How do they see themselves as writers in their majors

Their writing process while writing academic papers Proofreading Engaging in peer

review

The importance of being able to write well as a graduate student The problems they encounter

while writing academic papers The issues they like and the

ones they dislike about academic writing in English Strategies employed to learn to

write academic English

Strategies followed to cope with writing academic English The most challenging issue/s in

academic writing

The strategies and/or the services they have made use of to address these challenges The factors that could

positively or negatively affect their academic writing style The effect of Arabic on writing

in English

Definition of plagiarism The ways to increase the

students’ knowledge about plagiarism

How plagiarism can be prevented

The reasons that make students plagiarize

Effect of the grading methods in the Saudi educational system on their academic writing skills.

Perceptions of academic

writing skills

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Some of the questions in the interview in this study were adopted and adapted from other studies because they serve the purpose of this study, which was to explore the sources of the perceptions by first probing into the participants’ perceptions of academic writing. From Krampetz and Ramirez (2005), for example, I adopted Questions 8, 9, and 10. Those questions are related to the evaluation of the participants’ academic writing skills, writing process, and the revision process. Question 13 was adapted from Burrows (1989). This question deals with the importance of having good academic writing skills. In addition, Question 14 was borrowed from Gambell’s study (1991). This question seeks to uncover the difficulties the participants encounter while writing their academic papers. From Rosove’s study (2009), I borrowed point B in Question 21. This question explores the strategies the participants use to address the challenges they encounter in their academic writing. Moreover, I borrowed Questions 23, 24, 25, and 26 from Fageeh’s study (2003). Those questions explore the participants’ Arabic writing skills (their level in writing in Arabic, writing process, and difficulties they encounter during their writing process). Finally, Questions 32 and 33 were borrowed from Power’s study (2009). These two questions describe the pitfalls of plagiarism and the difficult-to-understand parts in plagiarism. The rest of the questions in the interview were designed by me. Table no. 7 provides some information about the borrowed questions for the interview in the current study.

82 Table 7

Information about the borrowed questions

QUESTION(S) NO.

STUDY ADOPTED FROM

PURPOSE

8, 9, and 10

Krampetz and Ramirez (2005)

Evaluation of their own academic writing skills, writing process, and

revision

13 Burrows (1989)

Importance of having good academic writing skills

14 Gambell (1991)

Difficulties the participants encounter in academic

writing

B in question no. 21 Rosove (2009)

Strategies the participants use to address the

challenges

23, 24, 25, and 26 Fageeh (2003)

Exploring the participants’ Arabic writing skill (their level in writing in Arabic,

writing process, and difficulties they encounter

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process)

32 and 33 Power (2009)

Describing the pitfalls of plagiarism and difficult-to-

understand parts in plagiarism