CONFIGURACIÓN Y DESARROLLO DE LAS CIENCIAS POSITIVAS

The data gathered from interviews and observations show that NES lecturers view their roles as facilitators and consider the students’ active participation in the process of learning as essential. The data further indicates that the department’s administration has intentionally assigned to these lecturers the responsibility of teaching the communication language skill courses (listening and speaking). These courses are taught at the beginning levels of the EFL programme (see Appendix J for a description of the programme structure). This policy is applied in order to prevent lecturers and students from using Arabic in their communication (see section P.H.H.), especially as students start the programme. This suggests that NES

lecturers are tasked with the responsibility of helping newly enrolled students adapt to the academic and linguistic demands of the EFL programme, as LD illustrates:

I personally and professionally believe that my role is to facilitate the students’ learning and help them transition to the programme. I find the students to be innocent especially in terms of how to transition from a high school student to a professional student. I always tell my second year students that I am going to teach you English ]P% of the time, but P% of the time I have to be a good strong uncle to you in order to get you to think critically, like a professional student.

NES Lecturer D, Interview, Tuesday DHth October BCDH

The above quote describes how LD understands his role in the EFL classroom. He explains that an important role he plays is to facilitate the students’ learning and help them transition from acting like secondary school students to being university level ones. As such, LD is concerned with bringing about new ways of thinking in his students. This is exemplified when LD describes (see below) his attempts to explain and develop in his students the concept of ‘intellectual property’. This is done in order to deter students from plagiarising their course assignments.

They don’t understand plagiarism, the concepts of that, the concepts of intellectual property. Many of them will end up copying it off the Internet.

NES Lecturer D, Interview, Tuesday DHth of October BCDH

In order to successfully facilitate the students’ transition, NES lecturers highlight the importance of having good relationships with the students. The data shows that these lecturers empathise with the students and try to develop a friendly and safe learning environment. This is done to support the students’ transition into the programme, encourage their participation, and construct positive attitudes toward the target language. Sánchez et al. (BCDJ, p. DDE) argue that “university students’ sense of well-being, attitudes, and willingness to learn are improved when teachers demonstrate empathy, interest in student development, and respect”. Positive lecturer-student relationships therefore can have a significant impact on the students’ motivational levels and attitudes toward learning the language (Sánchez et al., BCDJ). These issues are highlighted in the following quote:

customers; we need to put ourselves in their shoes. I think it would be a better environment if we think that way…I try to make them feel at ease as a lecturer and then build up a positive attitude toward the language. I guess, I mean, they will build up a very positive attitude toward the language and they will learn very well.

NES lecturer E, Interview, Sunday Bnd November BCDH

The sense of empathy that NES lecturers have towards the students is a common theme in the interview data. These lecturers try to overcome the traditional cultural barriers that govern student-lecturer relationships and interactions in Saudi higher education. As mentioned before, Saudi lecturers interact with students in a formal and somewhat authoritative manner and any interactions are usually confined to the classroom settings. However, NES lecturers try construct a rapport with the students which extends outside the EFL classroom. For example, LJ (see below) discusses how he views the students as his “kids” that need his guidance and support. In order to make the students feel comfortable, LJ has his office hours in the university park. He further mentions that he meets the students once or twice a week at a restaurant nearby to discuss literature. Such good relationships might explain why many students in this study expressed positive attitudes towards NES lecturers and their teaching.

These are my kids and they are nice kids. I am like a father to them, they are like sons to me. Okay? That means you can teach them anything if they know you care about them…Really, when I look at my kids, they’re my sons and they know that, they know I care about them and I’m going to push them a little bit harder. By the way, we get together for dinner once or twice a week, those are my office hours, okay? My office hours are actually in the park for one hour every day, but this is something they appreciate, because they don’t have a lot of guidance from their families and older generation…and that older generation did not receive an education, except in a religious context. That’s also part of the culture…I have kids who will come on a Thursday evening to Ruby Tuesdays [restaurant] and spend two hours talking about literature. And I’m thrilled by that, that’s why I’m here. I’m here to help them.

NES lecturer J, Interview, Monday BCth October BCDH