Sociocultural Causes of Ambiguity in Arab Academic Writings

Abdulrahman Essa Al Lily (), Abdelrahim Fathy Ismail, Rahima Aissani, Fathi M. Abunasser (), Samia M. Shahpo, Ali Khalifa Atwa Abdullatif and Ghada N. Elmorsy
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Abdulrahman Essa Al Lily: Department of Curriculum and Teaching Methods, College of Education, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Abdelrahim Fathy Ismail: Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, Assiut University, Assiut 71515, Egypt
Rahima Aissani: Department of Communication and Media, College of Communication and Media, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 112612, United Arab Emirates
Fathi M. Abunasser: Educational Foundation and Administration Department, College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University, Seeb 123, Oman
Samia M. Shahpo: Department of Early Childhood, College of Sciences and Humanities in Jubail, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Jubail 35811, Saudi Arabia
Ali Khalifa Atwa Abdullatif: The Scientific Journal of King Faisal University, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Ghada N. Elmorsy: Department Kindergarten, College of Education, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia

Publications, 2023, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: Although ambiguity in written, oral, and visual communication is inevitably present across all human societies and cultures, variation among these societies and cultures occurs in the sociocultural causes of its existence. This study helps formulate a conceptual framework that enables the enrichment of knowledge about this variation. It takes a first step by highlighting Arab-specific reasons behind ambiguity in academic writings in humanities and social sciences. The investigation entails thematically analysing the thoughts of 905 Arabs in academia. The findings point to a ‘doing-the-minimum’ mentality, whereby one may act hastily and impatiently and do just enough for one’s manuscript to be published in any journal, thereby rushing into publication while skimping on quality and diminishing attention to manuscript clarity. Another finding is the ambition for rewards that Arab institutions assign to publication, whereby one may boost their publication records to reap these rewards, resulting in high quantity while sacrificing quality (e.g., clarity). Another reason discovered is the conceptualisation of writing as a formulaic and ‘fill-in-the-blanks’ task (templates to be completed and, thus, manuscripts to be constructed), instilling a focus on technicality instead of cognitive depth and clarity. An additional reason found is the passive application of foreign theories and conceptual frameworks without subjecting them to critical reflection, reapplying foreign surveys and mimicking survey-based articles, thereby making their articles culturally shallow, suffer from cultural irrelevance, and thus, ambiguity. This is along with the integration of poetry (wherein ambiguity is culturally viewed as desirable and showing poets to be sophisticated) into Arabs’ daily social and educational lives and mindsets, encouraging the acceptability of ambiguity as a possible linguistic quality in scholarly writing as well. The social context lacks direct, explicit, and free articulation, encouraging one to resort to roundabout ways of composing their manuscripts, thus, making the manuscripts fall into ambiguity.

Keywords: Arab ambiguity; Arab vagueness; Arab obscurity; Arab writing; Arab research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A2 D83 L82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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