Investigating High School Boys’ Academic Underachievement in Second Language Classrooms

This paper examines boys’ low-achievement in comparison with girls in the high school section at a private school in Dubai. The researcher includes four questions to be answered. The first question seeks to explore the factors that contribute to boys’ underachievement in an ESL setting. Furthermore,...

وصف كامل

محفوظ في:
التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
المؤلف الرئيسي: Samra, Nora (author)
منشور في: 2019
الموضوعات:
الوصول للمادة أونلاين:https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/1564
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author Samra, Nora
author_facet Samra, Nora
author_role author
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Samra, Nora
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2019-10
2020-02-16T08:22:46Z
2020-02-16T08:22:46Z
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv 20171430
https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/1564
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv en
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv The British University in Dubai (BUiD)
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv underachievement
conversation analysis
gender gap
sociocultural theory
interpretive approach
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
second language
UAE educational system
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Investigating High School Boys’ Academic Underachievement in Second Language Classrooms
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Dissertation
description This paper examines boys’ low-achievement in comparison with girls in the high school section at a private school in Dubai. The researcher includes four questions to be answered. The first question seeks to explore the factors that contribute to boys’ underachievement in an ESL setting. Furthermore, the second and third questions in this paper seek to conceive the teachers’, students’, and leaders’ perspectives of the reasons that impact the boys’ achievement in the ESL setting, while the fourth question seeks to explore if there is disparity in the quality of teaching between the boys’ and girls’ sections. This qualitative research adopts two main tools, which are observations and semi-structured interviews with teachers, leaders, and students. The findings of this case study explain why the boys’ term marks are lower than those of the girls. Some of these factors have to do with the teachers’ expectations in the boys’ abilities, while other factors are related to the students’ behaviours and the disruption they cause in the classrooms. Moreover, the findings show that the boys have low self-esteem, and they do not have high ambitions, as most of the interviewed boys plan to join the armed forces, which do not require high grades. In addition, the findings prove that there is no significant disparity in the quality of teaching between the boys’ and girls’ sections, but the disruptions of boys negatively affect the teaching and learning process. Another finding is that the assessment tools are not given sufficient attention by some teachers inside the classrooms. Moreover, there are some recommendations, which are based on the findings of this study, are listed in the “Conclusion Chapter,” such as raising the expectation in the boys’ abilities, maximizing the social workers’ roles in dealing with the boys’ behaviours and self-esteem, and increasing the professional development workshops for teachers. The significance of this case study comes from its connection to the UAE educational system, so it could help the educators to form or adapt policies to solve the problem of boys’ academic underachievement.
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spelling Investigating High School Boys’ Academic Underachievement in Second Language ClassroomsSamra, Noraunderachievementconversation analysisgender gapsociocultural theoryinterpretive approachUnited Arab Emirates (UAE)second languageUAE educational systemThis paper examines boys’ low-achievement in comparison with girls in the high school section at a private school in Dubai. The researcher includes four questions to be answered. The first question seeks to explore the factors that contribute to boys’ underachievement in an ESL setting. Furthermore, the second and third questions in this paper seek to conceive the teachers’, students’, and leaders’ perspectives of the reasons that impact the boys’ achievement in the ESL setting, while the fourth question seeks to explore if there is disparity in the quality of teaching between the boys’ and girls’ sections. This qualitative research adopts two main tools, which are observations and semi-structured interviews with teachers, leaders, and students. The findings of this case study explain why the boys’ term marks are lower than those of the girls. Some of these factors have to do with the teachers’ expectations in the boys’ abilities, while other factors are related to the students’ behaviours and the disruption they cause in the classrooms. Moreover, the findings show that the boys have low self-esteem, and they do not have high ambitions, as most of the interviewed boys plan to join the armed forces, which do not require high grades. In addition, the findings prove that there is no significant disparity in the quality of teaching between the boys’ and girls’ sections, but the disruptions of boys negatively affect the teaching and learning process. Another finding is that the assessment tools are not given sufficient attention by some teachers inside the classrooms. Moreover, there are some recommendations, which are based on the findings of this study, are listed in the “Conclusion Chapter,” such as raising the expectation in the boys’ abilities, maximizing the social workers’ roles in dealing with the boys’ behaviours and self-esteem, and increasing the professional development workshops for teachers. The significance of this case study comes from its connection to the UAE educational system, so it could help the educators to form or adapt policies to solve the problem of boys’ academic underachievement.The British University in Dubai (BUiD)2020-02-16T08:22:46Z2020-02-16T08:22:46Z2019-10Dissertationapplication/pdf20171430https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/1564enoai:bspace.buid.ac.ae:1234/15642021-09-13T11:07:47Z
spellingShingle Investigating High School Boys’ Academic Underachievement in Second Language Classrooms
Samra, Nora
underachievement
conversation analysis
gender gap
sociocultural theory
interpretive approach
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
second language
UAE educational system
title Investigating High School Boys’ Academic Underachievement in Second Language Classrooms
title_full Investigating High School Boys’ Academic Underachievement in Second Language Classrooms
title_fullStr Investigating High School Boys’ Academic Underachievement in Second Language Classrooms
title_full_unstemmed Investigating High School Boys’ Academic Underachievement in Second Language Classrooms
title_short Investigating High School Boys’ Academic Underachievement in Second Language Classrooms
title_sort Investigating High School Boys’ Academic Underachievement in Second Language Classrooms
topic underachievement
conversation analysis
gender gap
sociocultural theory
interpretive approach
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
second language
UAE educational system
url https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/1564