! ! DISCOURSE MARKERS AND CODE-SWITCHING: ACADEMIC MEDICAL LECTURES IN SAUDI ARABIA USING ENGLISH AS THE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION ! ! Manal A. Al Makoshi ! For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics School of English, Drama and American & Canadian Studies College of Arts and Law ! June 2014 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ! ABSTRACT This thesis is a corpus-based study of two spoken academic corpora in an English as the (foreign) medium of instruction (EMI) context. The first corpus is compiled of transcripts of academic lectures by non-native speakers (NNS) from an EMI medical college in Saudi Arabia. To compare the data, a second corpus is compiled of similar transcripts by native speakers (NS) taken from the British Academic Spoken English (BASE) corpus. The first part of the research qualitatively and quantitatively investigates the use of English discourse markers (DMs) on two levels: Structural (e.g. okay, so, because) and Interactional (e.g. okay?, I mean, any questions?). Structural DMs are found to function frequently as Topic Initiators, Topic Developers, Summarizers, and Closers, and occur more frequently in NS lectures' discourse. Interactional DMs, which function as Confirmation Checks, Rephrasers and Elicitors, are found to occur more frequently in the NNS lectures. This thesis demonstrates that the uses of DMs by the NS and NNS lecturers are affected by discourse context, pedagogic goals, personal lecturing styles, interaction with students and the need to create a conducive learning environment. The second part explores the use of Arabic discourse markers (ADMs) in the NNS lecture discourse on similar Structural and Interactional levels. Interactional ADMs (e.g. ya3ni {means}, mafhoom? {understood}) have a higher overall frequency than Structural ADMs (fa {so}, laanu {because}). The third part of this thesis explores the pedagogical functions of English-Arabic code- switching (CS) in the NNS lectures. When the purpose of CS is to make meaning clearer and convey knowledge more efficiently, it is not a language barrier but an effective communicative strategy. The data shows that CS is used mainly in seven roles in the NNS lecture discourse: (1) solidarity, (2) reiteration, (3) elaboration, (4) topic, (5) elicitation, (6) checking comprehension and (7) classroom management. — !ii — ! ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank the King Saud bin AbdulAziz University for Health Sciences and the UK Saudi Arabian Cultural Bureau for the academic scholarship and the support for me to complete my PhD. I must thank my supervisors, Paul Thompson and Crayton Walker, for their endless patience, extensive knowledge, continued support and good humor. I am especially grateful for their helpful comments, instruction and constant encouragement throughout the research and writing process. I am indebted to them both for everything they have taught me during my time at the University of Birmingham. I could not have asked or wished for better supervisors than Paul and Crayton and know that my success in this program and beyond is a product of their guidance. I also wish to acknowledge the support of Professor Abdulrahman Abouammoh, a senior consultant to the Centre for Higher Education Research and Studies (CHERS) in the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education. I am grateful for his assistance in accessing information on higher education in Saudi Arabia and providing me with a copy of his co-edited book. I am grateful to all those in King Saud University and King Saud bin AbdulAziz University for Health Sciences for their willingness to open their lecture halls and allow me an observer’s peek into the academic discourse of medicine. Without the help of the students, lecturers and administration, this thesis would not have been possible. A special thanks to Katie Brady Barker for her help proofreading my many drafts, to Salmah Yakoob and Yueh Lee for their advice and support and to Sheng Li for his brilliance helping me resolve my many computer related crashes and lost files. And to the English department’s PG- Tips student community for providing a forum to develop, share and encourage research knowledge. I would like to thank the many friends and the supportive community I was blessed to have; those who made the PhD process much more interesting and manageable than it otherwise would have been. Lastly, I give my thanks and appreciation to my viva committee members, Professor Hilary Nesi and Dr. Nicholas Groom, for their comments and suggestions. — !iii — ! DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my parents, siblings and their beautiful children. I am truly grateful and fortunate to have parents who not only encouraged me to complete my PhD, but were there throughout with advice, support and late night Facetime calls. I could not have come as far as I have without my parents, Olfat Fodah and Abdullah Al Makoshi, and I shall be forever grateful to them both. I am absolutely lucky and grateful to have such extraordinary siblings. Thanks must be given first to my older sister, Ghadah, for her unconditional support, endless proofreading and humor (sarcastic and otherwise). Knowing you are just a phone call away has made this PhD process bearable, as well as being able to talk to my nephew Laith (a two-time heart transplant survivor), whose charm and innocence always brings a smile to my face. My sister Amel, a fellow PhDer, knows this process is not easy and being in the same boat, was able to give great advice and encouragement. My nephew, Khalid AlHumaid, and niece, Jude AlHumaid, have my love for just being their cute, funny selves. I am also thankful for the information and direction given by my brother, Ziyad, and sister, Latifah, both of whom are graduates of KSU medical college. Their humor and bluntness of advice was much appreciated and enjoyed. Last but certainly not least, I thank my baby sister, Sarah, for the love, random calls, visits and entertainment that only she can provide. And most recently for sharing her experiences as she enters medical school. I also dedicate this thesis in memory of my aunt, Lyla, my grandmother, Sakina and others I lost during my PhD program. You are all dearly missed and always in my thoughts and prayers. ! — !iv — TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................x Romanized Transcription Characters .........................................................................................xi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................xii List of Tables .............................................................................................................................xiv List of Mind-Maps ....................................................................................................................xv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION _______________________________________________2 1.1 Background ..........................................................................................................................2 1.2 Why Academic Medical Lectures? ......................................................................................3 1.3 Why Discourse Markers? ....................................................................................................5 1.4 Why Code-Switching? .........................................................................................................6 1.5 Medical Education ...............................................................................................................6 1.5.1 Medical Education in Britain .........................................................................................6 1.5.2 Medical Education in Saudi Arabia ...............................................................................7 1.6 The Study .............................................................................................................................10 1.6.1 Aims and Objectives ......................................................................................................11 1.6.2 Significance of the Study ...............................................................................................11 1.7 Summary of Thesis Structure ..............................................................................................12 CHAPTER 2 DISCOURSE MARKERS ________________________________________16 2.1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................16 2.2 Academic Discourse ............................................................................................................16 2.2.1 The Lecture as a Genre ..................................................................................................16 2.2.2 Lecturing Styles