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In this issue: Feature Articles Caught or Taught: Indirect and Direct Instruction
Christopher Morrow Professional Teaching Portfolios
Helen Donaghue, Ida Dolci Intercultural Issues in Teaching and Learning
Michael Tasseron
Lesson Idea Reviews Networking Chapter Reports SIG Reports
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Guidelines
Contributors for
General Editorial Policies TESOL Arabia Perspectives is the official publication of TESOL Arabia, designed to meet the organization’s professional objectives by publishing articles that discuss the teaching and learning of English as an additional language at all levels and with a particular focus on the region (the Gulf, Middle East, North Africa and South Asia). TESOL Arabia Perspectives invites previously unpublished manuscripts that address the diverse topics that make up our profession, including, but not limited to, methodology, pedagogy, curriculum and materials development, assessment, classroom inquiry and research, teacher education and language and culture.
Submission Categories & Guidelines Feature Articles Features should generally be between 2000-4000 words in length, and address educational issues (theory leading to practice) relevant to the membership. The articles can document a critical survey of a particular aspect of the field, detail and analyze pedagogical issues, describe and discuss research findings, or highlight contextual factors and their implications for educational practice. All submissions should be thought through, organized, and clearly written. APA style format will be strictly adhered to regarding referencing. Submissions must be in Times New Roman, font size 12, double spaced. Submissions not meeting APA standards will not be reviewed. Every feature article will go through a review process where the reviewers consider how well it: ■ ■
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discusses issues that seek to inform practice; contributes to the knowledge base for teaching and teacher education in general, and in the region in particular; addresses educational issues and needs of ELT in the region; identifies an educational research agenda.
Reviews Reviews should evaluate any recent textbook, resource book, CD/DVD audio or video title, or website. Reviews should be 500–1000 words in length and evaluate materials for their approach, content, appropriateness, adaptability, and relevancy. A list of
materials received for review will be made available periodically in Perspectives. Please contact Paul Dessoir, the Reviews Editor, at pdessoir@uaeu.ac.ae.
Educational Technology This section will document short articles of about 5002000 words that provide overviews of educational technologies, their utilities and incorporation into practice. This could include software, hardware, and web-based resources.
Networking This section will feature conference and country reports. Reports will be about 500 words. Conference reports should provide the readers with a good overview of the conference in question as well as some personal insights of how it impacted the author. Photos with captions must accompany the submission.
Reader’s Response Reader’s Response gives the readers a forum to respond to articles published in previous issues or respond to a critical issue in the region. Responses should focus on the content of an article and provide reasoned feedback. Responses should be between 500-2000 words.
Lesson Ideas Do you have a great lesson idea or an activity that others should know about? Lesson Ideas offers teachers the opportunity to share their activities in context. Submissions should be between 500-2000 words and detail the activity as well as provide a context for usage. Lesson ideas can be a one-off lesson or a series of lessons.
Photographs and other images In order to avoid poor quality images, please submit the largest size and best resolution images you have. This should be at least 300 dpi and saved as a tiff, eps, or jpeg (in order of preference). Headshots and brief bios including the author's current professional affiliation must accompany all submissions.
Send your submissions to: Melanie Gobert & Tandy Bailey TESOL Arabia Perspectives Editors perspectives@tesolarabia.org
TESOL Arabia Perspectives is published three times a year: November, January and June
Deadline for next issues: September 15, November 15, and April 15 Volume 21
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Pers p e c t ives Volume 21 No. 2 June 2013
From the Editors
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Message from the President
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Message from the Conference Co-Chairs
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Feature Articles Caught or Taught: Indirect and Direct Instruction Professional Teaching Portfolios
Christopher Morrow Helen Donaghue & Ida Dolci
Intercultural Issues in Teaching and Learning
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Michael Tasseron 18
Reader Response Neil McBeath
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Andrew McInulty
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Colin Toms Neil McBeath Matthew A. Carey Barbara R. Reimer
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TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo Beth Wiens & James Mcdonald TESOL International Conference 2013 Mouhamad Mouhanna IATEFL Associate Report Sally McQuinn 47th Annual International IATEFL Conference & Exhibition Vicky A. Allen Confluence IV Leila Mouhanna The 4th Annual Gulf Comparative Education Society Symposium Neil McBeath Gulf Comparative Education Society Symposium Melanie Gobert Oman International ELT Conference Neil McBeath Mobile Learning in the 21st Century Melanie Gobert
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Publish or Perish – So Pay Up!
Lesson Idea Literature in an EFL Context
Reviews The Tempest & Steve Jobs, Genius by Design Literary Translation in Oman: Issues and Perspectives World English 2, Middle East Edition Achieve IELTS 1 & 2
Networking
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Special Interest Group Reports Chapter Reports SIGs Chapter Representatives Executive Council Volume 21
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From Feature the Article Editors
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Dear Readers,
Editors
The semester is winding down and some of us may be busy marking papers, proctoring, or better yet, packing. We hope you make time to read through this month’s issue.
Melanie Gobert Abu Dhabi Men’s College
In our lead feature “Caught or Taught: Indirect and Direct Instruction,” Christopher Morrow explains why both implicit and explicit knowledge are needed for successful language learning, and suggests how teachers can provide a rich language learning environment. Our second feature will get you reflecting and thinking ahead. In “Professional Teaching Portfolios,” Helen Donaghue and Ida Dolci share their expertise on portfolios and offer some excellent ideas on what we can put in them. Our third feature, “Intercultural Issues in Teaching and Learning” by Michael Tasseron, presents the results of an action research project on teacher and learner perceptions of time and on male versus female classroom participation. His recommendations will benefit teachers and learners in the Gulf and beyond. We are pleased to present our Reader’s Response, “Publish or Perish – So Pay Up!,” especially as it’s from Neil McBeath, a long-time supporter of TESOL Arabia.You might be surprised at the price, literally, of getting published nowadays. In our Lesson Idea, “Literature in an EFL Context,” Andrew McInulty tells us how using a novel and its accompanying film motivated his students. He shares how he chose a book, some of the activities he used, and how his students felt about it all. Our Reviews section looks at a diverse range of publications from Shakespeare to IELTS. If you would like to review a book for our November issue, please get in touch with our Reviews Editor Paul Dessoir at pdessoir@uaeu.ac.ae. In our Networking section, we have reports from Liverpool, Dallas, Nagpur and Muscat. Our members have circled the globe! We hope this semester was rewarding and we wish you all a safe and enjoyable summer.
Tandy Bailey Abu Dhabi Women’s College
Reviews Editor Paul Dessoir United Arab Emirates University
TA News/Copy Editor Julie Riddlebarger Emirates College for Advanced Education
Advisory Panel Christopher Morrow Daniel Mangrum Janet Olearski Kourosh Lachini Nagwa Soliman Dennis Balint Rania Jabr Paul James Dessoir Peter McLaren Sally Ali Hala Nur Neil McBeath Rachel Lange Lobat Asadi Ibrahim M. Shaabi Julie Riddlebarger Laura Lau Richard Lau Indrani Ibrahim Suhair Al Alami
CREDITS Layout / Artwork Sudeep Kumar
Melanie Gobert
Printing
Tandy Bailey
International Printing Press Dubai, UAE
Editors, Perspectives The editors would like to remind the readers that the views expressed in this periodical are those of the individual authors. These views are not necessarily shared by the other authors in this issue or by TESOL Arabia. Responsibility for the content and opinion of articles and advertisements rests with the authors. TESOL Arabia is a non-profit organization based in the United Arab Emirates with membership from the Arabian Gulf and beyond. TESOL Arabia does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, gender, national origin, disability, religion, age, or native language. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.tesolarabia.org
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June Cover Photo Khasab, Oman Peter Waters Higher Colleges of Technology
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Message Feature Article from the President
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Dear TESOL Arabia Members, At the recent TESOL Arabia International conference and as part of the presidential line plenary, I was asked to give a short speech about the future of TESOL Arabia and our vision for the next few years. Answering such a question for any organization requires a lot of strategic planning and the ability to read into the changes around us. This task has become quite a challenge due to the rapid changes in educational settings in the Middle East in general and the Gulf region in particular. In the UAE, for example, English has become the main medium of instruction in many public schools, so one of the main goals for the future is to cater to the needs of CLIL in the region. Please invite your math and science colleagues who now have shifted to teaching in English to join TESOL Arabia. Another noticeable change is the amount of technology that has been introduced with 1:1 tablet programs and other technological initiatives at both tertiary and K-12 levels. For this reason, one of the goals of the TESOL Arabia retreat this year, where all TESOL Arabia Executive Council members meet to plan for the year, will be to consider the growing need for professional development related to technology integration. It gives me pleasure to report that TESOL Arabia has been as dynamic as ever under the leadership of the past President, James McDonald. So far we have had over 40 Chapter and Special Interest Groups local events this year. We have noticed increased interest in hands-on and practical professional development activities, as opposed to research-based presentations. This could be a result of the growing membership body from K-12 schools. The online presence of the organization has grown substantially this year through Join TESOL Arabia on Social Media: social media with over 2,300 FaceBook fans, 2,255 Twitter followers, and 1,255 Twitter: @tesolarabia | #TESOLArabia members of the TA group on LinkedIn. We post all the news related to upcoming Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tesolarabia PD activities by TESOL Arabia as well as PD opportunities by other institutions Linked In Group: TESOL Arabia on our social media pages, so like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to hear about interesting sessions all year long. When you attend TA events, post your feedback on our page and let us know what topics interest you. Growing online is another area I hope to see TESOL Arabia flourish in to extend professional development beyond geographical boundaries and to cultivate the benefits of reaching a wider audience. Perhaps this will not happen immediately, but it is definitely a goal that I am going to work towards. A successful 19th International Conference, co-chaired by Les Kirkham and Sandra Oddy, attracted over 1,200 delegates this year. The conference was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dubai from March 14-16, 2013. The conference co-chairs are organizing the upcoming 20th TESOL International Conference. More information about the theme of the conference and the proposals submission deadline will be announced soon. One of the new benefits for TESOL Arabia members is the possibility to get one of the seven, one-year complimentary TESOL International association memberships. This year seven TA members who renewed or joined the organization between November 15, 2012 and January 15, 2013 qualified for a draw and won a membership worth $95. The criteria to grant these complimentary memberships to TA members will vary from year to year, so stay tuned for this year’s announcement soon after the retreat. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all TESOL Arabia volunteers who devote hundreds of hours serving the organization. Special thanks go to three TESOL Arabia Executive Council members who have relinquished their leadership positions: Peter Davidson, Publications Coordinator; Sandra Oddy, Member-at-Large (who continues to be the 2014 conference Co-Chair); and Sandra Zaher, SIG Coordinator. All three have been supporting TA for years, and I would like to wish them all the best. I would also like to congratulate the re-elected TESOL Arabia Executive Council members: Sally McQuinn, Eastern Region Chapter Representative; Ian Taylor, Al Ain Chapter Representative; Sufian Abu Rmailah, Executive Treasurer. And welcome to new members: Cynthia Weston, Executive Secretary; Peter McLaren, Publications Coordinator; and Daniel Stebbins, acting SIG Coordinator. RAK and Western Region Chapters remain unrepresented, so if you would like to become a part of the TESOL Arabia family as a chapter representative or use the opportunity to participate in any way, your contribution will indeed be appreciated. I would like to wish you all a great summer break and hope to see you at TESOL Arabia events in the coming year.
Rehab Rajab
President rehabrajab@tesolarabia.org Volume 21
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Message from the Conference Co-Chairs Feature Article
The 19th International TESOL Arabia Conference and Exhibition held in March 2013 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dubai, UAE, proved once again TESOL Arabia’s commitment to providing first class professional development to the region and to those who joined us from further afield. Although official figures are not yet available, it would appear that over 1,600 delegates participated in the conference, a figure which compares well with other recent conferences. The theme of the conference, “From KG to College to Career,” was all embracing, emphasizing the fact that learning is indeed a life-long experience. A record number of 455 proposals were received for this conference together with pleas to extend the deadline for submission from those who just missed it. While a lot of other conferences seem to be facing difficulties in obtaining proposals, TESOL Arabia is going from strength to strength in this area. While it is always regrettable that we need to decline some proposals, this is in fact good news for our delegates. Of the 455 proposals submitted for consideration, only 192, less than half, were accepted. So delegates at the conference could rest assured that Volume 21
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the conference program presented the crème de la crème of all the submissions. We were really sorry to have to turn down very many excellent proposals but space in hotels tends to be limited. Conference 2014, which will be in an institution, will hopefully have more space for breakout sessions, so TESOL Arabia will be able to offer an even greater number of sessions for delegates to choose from. Breakout session presenters this year came from 24 countries with the top five being the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Oman, and Egypt. As well as the main conference, TESOL Arabia offers a pre-conference event of day-long workshops. Unfortunately, one of the intended pre-conference events focusing on Young Learners had to be cancelled due to the presenter’s commitments elsewhere. However, the “Mobile Learning in the 21st Century Classroom” course presented by our featured speaker Dr Linda Price, Open University, UK, and Andrew Blackmore and Troy Priest, Zayed University, UAE, was a sell-out. TESOL Arabia would like to take this opportunity to thank Zayed University for their most generous financial support which allowed this event to take place.
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Message the Conference Co-Chairs Featurefrom Article
Another feature of the conference which is rapidly gaining popularity is TESOL Arabia 20x20, powered by PechaKucha. This feature of the conference, which was initiated two years ago, is now averaging audiences of 60 delegates. The Exhibition reached new heights this year with demand outstripping availability of space. On the one hand, this is very good for TESOL Arabia’s coffers, which also means it is good for conference delegates as it allowed us to keep registration fees as low as possible. On the other hand, however, it meant that TESOL Arabia stands had to be moved to a less advantageous area on the mezzanine floor. The success of an undertaking such as TESOL Arabia Conference and Exhibition 2013 does not depend on only one person. Behind events such as this, there is a team of dedicated volunteers working together for months to put on an event that will offer all delegates the most rewarding professional experience possible. The Chairs of the 2013 Conference would
like to personally thank the committee involved in making Conference 2013 such a success: Beth Wiens, Conference Treasurer; Konrad Cedro, Proposals; Maria Brown, Professional Development Courses; Trace Manuel and Paul Sirban, Job Fair; Rehab Rajab and Racquel Warner, Special Sessions; Sufian Abu-Rmaileh, Presenters Registration; James McDonald,Volunteers; and Melanie Gobert and Tandy Bailey, Conference Book Editors. Finally, we would like to offer our sincere thanks to the following sponsors for their most generous support: Platinum sponsors – British Council; IDP; Gold sponsors – American Center for Press and Cultural Affairs; Higher Colleges of Technology; Silver sponsors – AMIDEAST; Arab Gulf Education; International House, Dubai; United Arab Emirates University; and University of Wollongong, Dubai. Sandra Oddy and Les Kirkham TESOL Arabia Conference and Exhibition 2013, Co-chairs
Outgoing President James McDonald presents Anna Bailey and Trace Manuel with TESOL Arabia Professional Service Awards.
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Christopher Morrow United Arab Emirates University Al Ain, UAE
Caught or Taught: Indirect and Direct Instruction
Something rather mysterious and wonderful can happen when young children immigrate to an English-speaking country, are surrounded by English peers, and are taught to use that language for academic purposes in school. In spite of the children’s relatively low cognitive levels and limited background knowledge, they are sometimes able to perform at grade level within a few years. Compared to their L1 peers, such children still lag far behind in their vocabulary knowledge by thousands of words, but with proper support they can gradually catch up. Unfortunately, few learners ever get to experience such an ideal convergence of important factors for language learning: the right kind of comprehensible input, a supportive context, large amounts of time and conducive psychological characteristics (e.g., patience, tolerance of ambiguity, and integrative motivation). Miraculously, in some cases basic language acquisition seems to happen without that much planning, effort, or even conscious awareness on the part of the students.
Many educators in the Arabian Gulf recognize that their English courses are no match for the type of learning environment that I described. The input our students receive is often not that engaging or comprehensible, and our curricula often tend to stress a kind of formal academic correctness that is not relevant for common communication. Nevertheless, more and more indirect learning activities are helping to accelerate the spread of English in the region, and much of it is happening outside the school as a result of sweeping social and population movements. Attempts to harness the power of such indirect learning and bring it into the classroom have become a popular trend in language education, even though these processes are by nature difficult to manage and control. This article will review the role of indirect learning in recent large-scale educational reforms such as immersion education, and it will conclude with a discussion of ways that teachers can balance direct and indirect learning in their own classrooms.
The history of language education could be described as a search for such ideal conditions. The pendulum of methodologies has swung back and forth between more academic, direct approaches and more natural, indirect ones. For a few lucky learners like those new arrivals, the available opportunities for input and interaction seem to be suitable matches for their preferences, needs, and abilities. In such cases, indirect learning processes are activated just as they are in first language acquisition. In fact, such new arrivals probably get more useful input from their English-speaking peers on the playground than they do from their teachers in the classroom.
Implicit and Explicit Language Knowledge
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A great deal of research in the last few decades has established the existence of two types of language knowledge that undergird normal linguistic development. The first type, explicit knowledge, is conscious and analyzed, and enables users to perform tasks like deciding if a sentence is grammatical or not (R. Ellis, 2005). Teachers traditionally provide this type of knowledge, but its usefulness is minor in normal contexts when rapid processing is needed. The second type, implicit knowledge, is accessed
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in normal communicative situations when fluency and meaningfulness are required. Researchers tap this knowledge in free production tasks such as those in which learners are asked to describe a series of pictures or retell a story they have heard. R. Ellis (2005) demonstrated that these two types of knowledge are distinct, but each contributes uniquely to general linguistic proficiency. Krashen and Terrell (1983) were among the first to popularize a second language teaching approach that reflected the existence of two types of linguistic knowledge. Drawing largely on research of first language acquisition, they surmised that the development of a kind of implicit knowledge, which they referred to as acquisition, was much more important than developing explicit knowledge. Based on L1 research findings, they claimed that grammar instruction had a relatively small effect on L2 development. The dichotomy between these two forms of knowledge is evident when students are able to self-correct their own errors in spite of the fact that they have such trouble consciously avoiding those errors during spontaneous communication. A number of hypotheses of Krashen and Terrell (1983) have been confirmed in the past decades as a result of careful research in applied linguistics and psychology. As Krashen proposed, fluent processing of input and output is much too complex to be explained as being the result of conscious application of rules. Instead, students appear to rapidly access preprocessed chunks of language from implicit knowledge (Hulstijn, 2007). Krashen’s rejection of explicit learning of language has not been upheld by many studies, however. Instead, research studies have shown that explicit knowledge gained from such instruction can help learners improve in a variety of ways (R. Ellis, 2010). Even though explicit knowledge of grammar is not useful by itself, it seems to facilitate the development of implicit knowledge, especially when rules and patterns are somewhat consistent and straightforward.
Two Kinds of Learning
The two types of linguistic knowledge that were described above are commonly associated with two different types of learning. In this article, I will distinguish between these two forms of language learning using the terminology of R. Ellis (1990). He classified spontaneous acquisition as Volume 21
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naturalistic learning (NL) and linked it to implicit knowledge such as the kind that occurs in first language acquisition. He referred to classroombased education as instructed learning (IL), and he viewed it as a primary source of explicit knowledge. Instructed learning (IL) is planned and managed by teachers and school systems. Consequently, it frequently lacks the type of interaction and contextualized relevance that is normal for NL. Although IL and NL are normally associated with explicit and implicit knowledge respectively, the relationship between these forms of knowledge and learning is not exclusive. NL processes are normally unpredictable and beyond the learners’ awareness. Nevertheless, for some learners, NL can lead to a certain amount of explicit knowledge as a result of noticing and inductive reasoning. Similarly, some motivated, mature, and disciplined students seem to be able to convert some explicit knowledge from IL into implicit knowledge through activities like reviewing and practicing (Hulstijn, 2007). Personal factors and learning styles will obviously affect these processes, but developing this kind of flexibility in learning empowers students to take full advantage of diverse opportunities.
Distinguishing L1 from L2 Acquisition Although mixing IL and NL has clear advantages, the nature of L2 learning makes it impossible for most students to engage fully in NL in the ways that Krashen and Terell (1983) envisioned. Key differences between these types of learning have been clarified recently through the work of researchers like N. Ellis (2008). He claimed that young L1 learners are able to start fluently producing tricky grammatical features (e.g., the third person “s”) based on implicit knowledge that is developed only after a great deal of exposure. Numerous examples of a structure or word give such children a kind of top-down knowledge about the normal, expected patterns of language. L2 learners, however, lack both the automaticity and the top-down knowledge that comes from this kind of extensive input. In addition, their previous learning of their own mother tongue sometimes interferes by making them sensitive to certain features of L2 (e.g., verb endings) even though they function differently in L1. N. Ellis explains why L2 learners rarely achieve native-like levels of complexity in their language, and why some L1 methods do not work in L2 learning.
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The Rise of Indirect Approaches
In the UAE, the goal of IL is frequently framed as preparing students for English-medium courses in university. Traditional IL in the UAE appears quite inadequate in that respect, however, because very few students leave high school with the required scores (e.g., IELTS Band 5.5). Given the limited effectiveness of current IL schemes, one could conclude that a daily lesson is not enough time for such ambitious goals. Another possibility, however, is that IL itself is inherently limited in its effectiveness, and it needs to be supplemented with activities that allow for more indirect learning or NL. There are many other trends in general education and language education that have prompted local tendencies away from formal IL toward more contextualized NL. For example, most TESOL educators have been strongly influenced by the principles of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). With its emphasis on fluency over accuracy, CLT guides teachers to design and manage class activities that maximize input, output, and interaction (Richards, 2005). This approach intentionally blurs the line between learning English directly and practicing it in meaningful ways. Instead of determining exactly which form of explicit language knowledge is to be developed at each point of a lesson, CLT usually gives some freedom for the same activity to help weaker students and stronger ones with different linguistic features. These aspects of CLT resemble NL to a degree, but it is much more amenable to direct and explicit forms of IL than the Natural Approach espoused by Krashen and Terrell (1983). In this regard, CLT should be considered a general approach rather than a complete method since it can accommodate quite a variety of direct and indirect techniques. Nevertheless, proponents of CLT are more likely to support indirect styles of instruction that have features of NL. Chris Morrow has been an assistant professor of English Education at UAE University since 2008. He maintains a website at iteach.co.nr and can be reached at gomorrow@gmail.com.
Another great impetus for moving toward more indirect approaches and NL comes from the fact that quite a few Arabs are already doing it on their own outside of school. English has invaded many Volume 21
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aspects of social and economic life in the region, so a growing number of students are gaining rudimentary conversational skills at home or in the community. Some are actively seeking such language improvement, but others are passively exposed to friends or household workers that use English as a second language. Television, the Internet and various types of print media are conditioning our students for an English world in ways that are hard to fully appreciate. I am often amazed at how many posters and signs in the UAE use Arabic letters to spell out the sounds of English words rather than using the common Arabic equivalents. Students with frequent opportunities for NL are likely to have several advantages over peers who depend exclusively on classroom-based IL. In my experience, their achievements in vocabulary, listening, and speaking are most noticeable, and these are likely to also facilitate their participation in lessons emphasizing formal academic literacy. The pervasiveness of English is clearly an asset for language teachers, but it is not always easy to determine if English is more like a second language or a foreign language for each student. Some segments of the population, especially urban ones, seem very favorable to English and base their schooling decisions mainly on this factor. In contrast, other groups appear indifferent to English in comparison to Arabic. Of course, in certain schools both types of students can be mixed together in the same classes. The basic English conversational ability of students from the first group may have little to do with a school’s skill at delivering IL when it is mainly the product of NL. While informal NL clearly enriches our language classrooms, it complicates our teaching by creating a more heterogeneous mix of students with varying needs. In addition, when English is the medium of instruction in several classes, students who have experienced NL at home are likely to excel in those subjects as well as their English classes. Accommodating NL students together with IL students is inherently complex.
New Efforts to Accelerate English
An increasing number of school leaders seem to be questioning the efficacy of a daily English lesson as a route to true fluency. The amount of instruction and practice that is possible under this traditional IL scheme is limited, of course, but weak TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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methodologies, materials, and extracurricular support are also hindering the effectiveness of a daily lesson. Interestingly, very few schools are increasing the time spent on direct English instruction the way Abu Dhabi has done in its government secondary schools. Instead, most are finding other ways to boost English through more indirect channels, especially by using it to teach other subjects. Much research is needed to determine how those indirect approaches compare with and/or supplement direct ones in the Gulf context. In cases where rapidly boosting English proficiency is the main priority, overreliance on indirect means may not be wise. University foundation programs, for example, rely primarily on direct forms of IL, but university officials also expect a certain amount of indirect learning to occur subsequently. My own institution, UAE University, would like students to continue developing their English after achieving an IELTS 5.0 and beginning normal academic courses. Tests I have conducted for graduating seniors indicate that many are improving as a result of exposure to and use of academic English in their coursework. However, a small group is not, and may actually be declining in certain areas (e.g., grammatical accuracy) despite their demanding English coursework. This finding agrees with results of research on CLIL learning in Europe in programs where language and content are emphasized simultaneously. English-medium instruction tends to boost receptive skills and vocabulary knowledge in ways resembling NL, but it generally does not help formal accuracy or productive skills (Dalton-Puffer, 2007). One could say that many meaning-focused aspects of language can be caught or acquired via NL, but the form-focused ones probably need to be taught through forms of IL.
Planning Bilingual Education
While TESOL educators normally only have to focus on managing their own class periods, bilingual educational models prompt them to think about English development in broader terms. For example, May, Hill, and Tiakiwai (2004) reviewed numerous studies and concluded that a second language must be used for at least 50% of instructional time in order to achieve high levels of proficiency. A scheme such as that has been adopted by the Abu Dhabi Education Council by making math and science English-medium courses. This plan corresponds closely with the Dual Language models used in Volume 21
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North America to teach English and Spanish (Thomas & Collier, 2002). Some have been very successful and yielded broad educational benefits that allowed students to outperform control groups in many subjects. However, a distinctive feature of the most successful ones was the way they mixed learners of English with learners of Spanish in the same classes using two-way immersion. As students are immersed in each other’s languages, some of the NL processes may operate and supplement IL. If successful NL depends mainly on extensive exposure, one would predict that English-only programs would best facilitate that. However, Collier and Thomas (2007) found that the very worst educational outcomes were obtained in programs that withdrew all support for L1 literacy development. According to Collier and Thomas, the academic success of bilinguals in schools in the USA is closely related to the degree of support they receive for L1 development. This finding appears relevant for private schools in the Arab Gulf where Arabic instruction is often restricted to a language and/or religion class. Collier and Thomas have developed a theoretical model of bilingual education which emphasizes an even balance of cognitive, linguistic, social, and academic proficiency in both L1 and L2. They claim that more advanced types of abilities such as reasoning skills are usually developed first in L1 and then transferred to L2. Programs that downplay L1 development are probably not supporting normal cognitive and academic growth, and this ends up hurting L2 learning in turn. This finding is critical for all bilingual educators because it indicates that overall educational development, not extensive L2 exposure alone, is the key to excellent English.
Evaluating Recent Strategies for Accelerating English
The extremely high priority of English in the Arab Gulf has caused policymakers to seek expensive, and sometimes radical, ways of supplementing formal instruction. In addition to teaching more subjects through the medium of English, other strategies such as English preschool education and the hiring of native-speaking teachers are being used to boost English directly and indirectly. Before adopting such measures, I believe reform efforts must begin with a thorough reassessment of existing IL programs. More recent pedagogical styles should be adopted TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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which would infuse old IL methods with some NL techniques such as those previously mentioned. Courses which stress the memorization of discrete knowledge for passing tests need to be revised. The supplemental strategy with the most empirical support for accelerating English learning is teaching a subject like math in English. Such instruction has some of the features of NL since the main focus is on content and relatively little attention is given to the language. If such a scheme doubles a student’s overall exposure to English, the amount of implicit knowledge developed may double as well theoretically. Ideally, features of grammar and vocabulary which are quite difficult to explain may be acquired indirectly through context. In addition, such schemes normally support the development of academic language proficiency. This more abstract, advanced type of English is hard to develop in lessons where challenging content and concepts are not taken seriously because English linguistic knowledge and skills are the priorities. However, balancing content learning with suitable language learning takes considerable knowledge and skill, and its benefits are far more likely to be in the area of receptive skills than productive ones.
Soaking It Up
Another popular strategy for boosting English in the Arab Gulf is to send children to English-medium or bilingual kindergartens. These programs have the potential to stimulate NL and implicit processes for young learners, but their true long-term benefits are not that well understood. Morrow (2011) summarizes research showing that the benefits of learning a foreign language below the age of eight are usually more practical and psychological in nature than they are linguistic. Compared to older learners, young learners often have more time and patience, but their rate of learning is slower than their older peers. While their learning styles accommodate frequent repetition and intensive exposure, qualities which are useful for learning the first five hundred words of English, their limited cognitive abilities seriously hinder them in comparison to older learners. By starting English during their early years, children are more likely to employ some NL processes and gain some confidence in their ability to succeed with the language. These benefits are significant, but they are Volume 21
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not enough to prepare learners for the cognitive challenges that are typical of upper elementary literacy tasks. Primary level foreign language teachers in places like Europe usually understand these processes and rely on schemes like the Cambridge Test of English for Young Learners to focus mainly on lexical competence and oral proficiency in the early years. However, in places like the UAE where English is an emerging second language, some children have picked up oral English abilities and may appear ready to dive into literacy tasks directly in Grade 1. Unfortunately, too many primary schools are unprepared to assess and address students’ weak English backgrounds, so they may begin treating them like little native speakers in the hope that basic English rubs off. As a result, young Arab children may be spending countless hours struggling to read and write English at the expense of their lexical and oral development. Cameron (2003) predicted that such problems would arise from the application of teaching methods for older learners to younger students. She warned that the demands of second language literacy are so great for young children that reading and writing should not be emphasized until they reach the age of nine. She also claimed that English literacy skills need to become automatized enough that they can support rather than interfere with general language learning. Reading and writing can begin early as a small component of language learning, but the difficulty they present for young children indicates they should not be the major focus. The second grader who needs ten minutes to write one sentence should be spending the bulk of his time more efficiently by listening, speaking, and learning new words.
Balance in Nation’s Four Strands
CLT and immersion education are not the only teaching models attempting to mix some aspects of NL and IL. One recent language teaching framework which gives a principled approach for balancing indirect and direct forms of teaching and learning is the Four Stands model developed by Nation (2007). Rather than stressing one particular method or technique, Nation claims teachers should achieve a balance by dividing their instructional time evenly between the four components shown in the following table. TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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Strand
Purpose
Example Activities
Meaningfocused Input
Practice and indirect learning
Extensive reading Repeated reading and listening
Meaningfocused Output
Practice and indirect learning
Exchanging messages through speaking and writing
Languagefocused Learning
Fluency Practice
Building Inductive and deductive study explicit knowledge Intensive reading or listening about features of grammar, spelling, etc. Timed writing Quick and reading processing of easy input and Retelling stories output
(Adapted from Nation & Macalister, 2010, p. 94) The first two components consist of using English to give and receive messages in activities that do not demand accuracy. These components may appear to be nothing more than practicing language which was previously learned, but they are also a possible source of NL through exposure and pushed output (Swain, 1985). These first two components will be familiar to advocates of CLT, because in these Nation recognizes that learning and practicing English are frequently mixed together in complex, naturalistic ways. The third component, however, consists of direct forms of IL and includes instructional activities that emphasize and clarify the systematic features of the language (e.g., grammar, spelling, vocabulary). Nation suggests that new learning is most likely to begin in this component of instruction. Elements of learning will occur in the other strands, of course, but they are mainly intended for extending, practicing or applying knowledge in communicative skills. The final component of language instruction deals with reviewing and rapidly accessing previously learned language. This strand helps make up for the lack of automaticity that L2 learners tend to suffer from. With its strong emphasis on meaning-focused practice, the Four Strands model presents a challenge Volume 21
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to the traditional accuracy-oriented forms of language teaching that are prevalent across Asia, where it was developed. In contrast, its relevance to Middle Eastern contexts may be quite different. In this part of the world, the neglect of explicit forms of language-focused learning has become more common in some programs recently. Formal features of writing (e.g., punctuation) are being taught directly just as they are in L1 literacy classes, but lessons on grammar and vocabulary are sometimes being neglected because they seem ineffective. Nation’s model gives a direct form of IL a minor but critical supporting role in instruction. It can take the form of an inductive activity or a direct lecture with L1 translations and cross-linguistic comparisons, but it must support the more meaning-focused strands, whether directly or indirectly.
Conclusion
Given the recent popularity of more indirect forms of IL, there is a danger that some programs and teachers will attempt to imitate a style of instruction that is very close to NL and excludes explicit knowledge from the classroom. Immersion education and English-medium instruction have considerable empirical support as methods that include some aspects of NL, but the value of these indirect strategies needs to be carefully researched in the Gulf context. Language teachers must find suitable models of incorporating features of NL into their lessons without neglecting the key role played by direct IL. Finding this balance is not only needed to optimize classes, but it is also necessary to demonstrate that truly effective IL can be part of bilingual curricula which give equal weight to L1 and L2 development.
References
Cameron, L. (2003). Challenges for ELT from the expansion in teaching children. ELT Journal, 57(2), 105-112. Collier,V. P., & Thomas, W. P. (2007). Predicting second language academic success in English using the prism model. In J. Cummins & C. Davison (Eds.), International handbook of English language teaching (Vol. 15, pp. 333-348). Dordrecht: Springer. Dalton-Puffer, C. (2007). Outcomes and processes in content and language integrated learning (CLIL): Current research from Europe. Future perspectives for English language Teaching. Heidelberg: Carl Winter. Ellis, N. (2008). Language use, language change, language acquisition, language instruction:The dynamics of SLA. Keynote Presentation presented at the PacSLRF & The Third National Symposium on SLA, Beijing, China. TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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Ellis, R. (1990). Instructed second language acquisition: Learning in the classroom. New York:Wiley-Blackwell. Ellis, R. (2005). Measuring implicit and explicit knowledge of a second language: A psychometric study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27(02), 141–172. Ellis, R. (2010). Does explicit grammar instruction work? NINJAL Project Review, 2, 3–22. Hulstijn, J. (2007). Psycholinguistic perspectives on language and its acquisition. In J. Cummins & C. Davison (Eds.), International handbook of English language teaching, (Vol. 15, pp. 783–795). Dordrecht: Springer. Krashen, S. D., & Terrell, T. D. (1983). The natural approach: Language acquisition in the classroom. San Francisco: The Alemany Press. May, S., Hill, R., & Tiakiwai, S. (2004). Bilingual/ immersion education: Indicators of good practice (Final Report to the New Zealand Ministry of Education). Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research School of Education, University of Waikato.
Morrow, C. K. (2011). How important is English in elementary school? In Papers from the Second Annual Symposium of the Gulf Comparative Education Society (pp. 54–61). Presented at the Gulf Comparative Education Symposium, Ras Al Kaimah, U.A.E.: Dubai School of Government. Nation, P. (2007). The four strands. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 1(1), 2–13. Nation, P., & Macalister, J. (2010). Language curriculum design. New York: Routledge. Richards, J. C. (2005). Communicative language teaching today. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. In S. M. Gass & C. G. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 165–179). Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers, Inc. Thomas, W. P., & Collier,V. P. (2002). A national study of school effectiveness for language minority students’ long-term academic achievement. Santa Cruz, CA: Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence, University of California-Santa Cruz. i
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Professional Teaching Portfolios This article considers the uses and benefits of a professional teaching portfolio. Portfolios can vary according to their use and audience but will probably have similar features in content and format. We discuss portfolios as professional development tools and as a means to review teacher performance. In addition, we make suggestions about what might be included in a professional portfolio and report on its use for teacher evaluation at a federal university in the UAE.
Professional Teaching Portfolios
A professional portfolio is a collection of evidence which aims to “document, summarize, and highlight your growth, your experiences and your strengths as a teacher� (University of New Hampshire, 2001). It plays a dual role: a record of accomplishments, showcasing the depth and quality of practice, as well as a means of giving teachers a voice to express their beliefs and values about teaching.The portfolio can convey strengths, abilities, style, and achievement and can also document effective teaching and other aspects of work such as materials and assessment development, teamwork, involvement in special projects, and extracurricular activities. A well-assembled portfolio can therefore provide a multifaceted view of the teacher. As well as a showcase for skills and achievements, the portfolio can serve as a tool to promote teacher development and understanding and therefore help a teacher improve practice. As with reflective writing, the process of documenting and reflecting on teaching experience whilst putting together a portfolio will help teachers gain a better awareness of themselves as professionals which in turn may help inform decisions made about teaching. Whether reflection is about goals, teacher/student relationships, teaching techniques, strategies, or methods, the portfolio provides a means for Volume 21
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Helen Donaghue Higher Colleges of Technology Sharjah, UAE
Ida Dolci Zayed University Dubai, UAE
teachers to consider their practice and thus develop knowledge. As such, the portfolio is similar to keeping a journal in that it gives teachers an opportunity to reflect and learn and by encouraging teachers to organize and articulate their thoughts can be a catalyst for change and development (Engin, 2011). Thus, a portfolio can at the same time promote and demonstrate growth as well as help define and develop interests. In addition, the portfolio can give potential employers memorable insight into a teacher. Digital versions can be particularly impressive because they allow the inclusion of multimedia elements. Portfolios can be made attractive and interesting, enhancing the image of a teacher, and thus can create a good impression at appraisal, promotion, or job application opportunities.
E-Portfolios
Potential portfolio audiences include self, peers, employers, associations, accreditation bodies, future employers or, via the Internet, the wider public. Technology is changing the appearance of portfolios but perhaps more importantly is also facilitating sharing and networking with other teachers and potential employers. In the same way that social networking is increasingly influencing our social and political worlds with its ability to store documents, share experience, showcase accomplishments, communicate, and collaborate, professional e-Portfolios have the potential to involve not only collecting, selecting, reflecting, presenting, and receiving feedback but also to collaborate (Barrett, 2010). Buckingham (2012) outlines helpful criteria to consider when choosing a format for an e-Portfolio. These include cost and a format which is easy to realize, flexible and adaptable (e.g., easy to edit and update), and capable of increasing in size TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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14 and complexity as the portfolio grows. E-portfolios can be realized in different ways. For example, a blog in Wordpress is a possible way to compile a portfolio. Wordpress is fairly easy to learn how to use, content is easy to store and organize, and the portfolio can look attractive and professional. Most importantly, the blog can be continually updated and has the potential to accommodate growth. Barrett’s (2007) portfolio is a good example of what can be done in Wordpress – it is well laid out and showcases her interests and achievements. As a blog which is accessible via the Internet, this portfolio can reach a larger audience. However, if a restricted audience is preferable, software such as Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 enables teachers to build an attractive and professional looking e-Portfolio relatively easily, which can then be made accessible to chosen recipients via email.
What to Include in a Portfolio
Every teacher is unique, and his/her portfolio will reflect this. Autonomy is motivating, reflecting our basic need for self-direction, and teachers need to have the freedom and independence to build their portfolio according to their interests and needs. However, from experience in delivering workshops and seminars on professional portfolios, we have learned that teachers appreciate suggestions about what to include. We recommend that teachers incorporate some evidence of classroom practice such as video clips of lessons, lesson plans, and samples of student work, which demonstrate an interest in student development and an understanding of how students learn. Evaluations from both students and peers (e.g., lesson observation feedback from supervisors, formal institutional appraisal documents, feedback from colleagues, student surveys) will lend credibility to a portfolio. Other aspects of a teacher’s job such as curriculum, material, and assessment development can strengthen the portfolio, as can details of team or project work. Teachers should also consider including descriptions of efforts to improve teaching such as action research and professional development. Key workshops, seminars, conferences and courses attended will demonstrate a teacher’s interests and learning. In addition, including achievements such as qualifications, awards, publications, conference presentations, or training sessions delivered will show commitment to developing the profession, collegiality, and sharing knowledge. Finally, portfolios should contain some basic information about the teacher such as a résumé or Volume 21
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CV and a personal statement of teaching philosophy and goals. This should be a short, concise, and cogent expression of the teacher’s beliefs, attitudes, and values regarding teaching and learning (Chism, 1998) and can include goals for student development with an action plan for achieving these goals. When writing a statement of teaching philosophy, it may help to consider what constitutes effective teaching (University of New Hampshire, 2001).
Portfolios at Zayed University
In this section, we report on the mandatory use of portfolios at Zayed University, in the Academic Bridge Program (ABP), an English program which prepares students for admission to University College. In this context, a teacher portfolio is viewed as an evaluation tool for faculty to reflect and comment on their teaching and for management to evaluate a teacher’s performance and growth. The faculty annual review performance, in the form of a teaching portfolio, is used in three ways (Armstrong, 2005). First, portfolios are used as a formative assessment measure. This takes place in the probationary year and/or with new faculty. In many ways, the portfolio can be seen as a map of where faculty intend to go in their teaching career and provide evidence of how teachers expect to achieve that goal. At this stage, a portfolio is intended to increase reflection and provide an on-going record of a teacher’s growth. At mid-contract and at each step of the evaluation process, teachers receive a written statement from management indicating whether they meet/do not meet the expectations of the department and university. This review is added to the portfolio and provides recommended action to instructors. Teachers may then reflect on successful and less successful experiences in order to improve their current classroom practices. Hence, this phase of the faculty performance review could be referred to as the developmental stage of the evaluation process. Dowswell (2010) asserts the following: Portfolios should give instructors a chance to highlight the extent to which activities such as participating on committees, giving workshops and attending conferences contribute to both their own professional development and to the on-going development of ABP and Zayed University in general. (p.4) Thirdly, teacher portfolios are summative and are used as a means of authentic assessment in evaluating TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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the effectiveness of a teacher for promotion and/ or employment decisions especially for contract renewal. In the other Colleges at Zayed University, such as the College of Education, recognition of professional accomplishments is also judged by the number of publications. Thus an additional section is attached with appendices, copies of publications, and copies of work for professional development. This seems to support the idea put forward by the University of New Hampshire (2001): For someone preparing for tenure or promotion review, or being considered for a teaching award, the portfolio is part of a ‘summative’ evaluation process. As such, it is an essentially retrospective process, the intent of which is to document teaching achievements, in addition to research and publications.
The Academic Bridge Program (ABP)
In the Academic Bridge Program, the focus for each section of the annual performance review varies but only slightly. Since the review is formative for probationary teachers and new faculty, the emphasis is mainly based on establishing developmental goals and settling into the workplace. Faculty are encouraged to develop a strong rapport with both students and colleagues, incorporate technology into the teaching/ learning mix, and demonstrate the use of technology in carrying out responsibilities within the department. During mid-contract, where the review is developmental, the focus is primarily on the teacher’s performance to date and his/her contribution to the department and university as a whole. Once again, the instructor is expected to provide evidence of his/her ability to incorporate technology and demonstrate the professional development activities undertaken. Moreover, he/she is required to review goal planning and any other future goals. For contract renewal, the review is summative. In many ways, the focus is similar to the previous form. The only difference is reflected in the achievement of past goals and in the future, short and long-term goals (Dowswell, 2010). In essence, a teaching portfolio has as a primary strength the ability to integrate information from several areas, rather than relying on a single measure. It allows teaching and learning to be considered in their appropriate context, a context that changes due to class size, level and student personalities. It should Volume 21
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15 not be used as a tool for challenging the effectiveness of teachers. Rather, it should encourage instructors to develop and grow professionally.
Portfolio Components
Because teaching is such a creative activity, with no two individuals teaching alike, it is justifiable to say that no two portfolios will look the same. Performance reviews should therefore not compare one instructor to another. Helen Donaghue is the coordinator for the Centre for Teaching and Learning at Sharjah HCT and worked previously as an EFL teacher in Hungary, Scotland and the UAE. She has an MSc in Applied Linguistics from Edinburgh University and is currently a PhD candidate at Aston University researching the discourse of the post observation feedback meeting. Ida Dolci has been involved in international education for over 30 years on three continents, as a teacher, teacher trainer and language consultant/ manager. She started her career as a modern languages teacher in the UK and then moved overseas to teach EFL/ESOL/EAP. She has worked in France, Italy, Portugal, Ecuador and UAE. Her teaching experience has been both diverse and broad. She has had the opportunity to teach learners in varied backgrounds in education including secondary, tertiary and in business. Her most recent position is at tertiary level. She is at present working for Zayed University on the Academic Bridge Program as faculty/level coordinator.
In the ABP at Zayed University, there are four specific areas the portfolio addresses. These include sections in general teaching effectiveness, scholarly and creative activities, and service contribution. The latter may not be relevant to all members of faculty and hence is not mandatory. Evidence of teacher accomplishments is primarily reflected through: • student feedback at the end of a course. Each student completes an online evaluation of the learning environment. This may cover areas of teacher performance in class and student satisfaction. • peer and administration feedback (observations). Two informal peer observations are organized between faculty, whereby each instructor observes his/her colleague and focuses on a specific area of interest in the lesson such as interaction patterns, time management and presentation styles. The exercise is intended to be part of a developing process by which instructors support each other in a trusting environment. Management, on the other hand, is required to observe and provide evaluative feedback in a constructive, positive manner for developmental purposes. • reflection and periodic self-review (goal setting and reflective statements). Each teacher is expected to set goals at the beginning of the TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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16 academic period and review completion of each goal. • faculty review of student performance at the end of each course (class reflections). At the end of each course taught, teachers collate their ideas and reflect on successful and less successful experiences in order to improve their current classroom practices. • teaching materials produced, used, and peer reviewed. Teachers are encouraged to collaborate, review, and share teaching materials as part of a team effort. • student pass rates (exam results). • updated résumé and on-going professional development on an online database. Faculty are required to update their professional achievements and manage personal and professional development online.
Perspectives
In order to find out how participants viewed the use and benefits of portfolios, two managers and four faculty members were interviewed using a structured interview schedule, with both groups answering the same questions. Interview questions were designed to answer the following research questions: • What do participants regard the purpose of a professional portfolio to be? • What benefits have portfolios given participants? • Have participants experienced any challenges in the process of maintaining/reviewing a portfolio? Participants’ perspectives are outlined below.
Management’s Perspectives
The managers’ thoughts on the use of portfolios were surprisingly similar. They believe that a portfolio provides a starting point for discussion with teachers on attainment of professional standards as laid down by the institution. A portfolio offers an opportunity for faculty to share their successes and professional development over the academic year. In addition, it gives management insight into what the employee is doing in terms of professional and personal development inside and outside the working environment. It also allows faculty to Volume 21
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reflect on their teaching practice and set teaching and personal development goals. If a teacher has any issues regarding teaching, research, and service, these areas come to light in a performance review. Finally, a portfolio provides objective data via student evaluation, an online database resume, courses taught, and reflection. On the whole, suggestions put forward by management are positive. They particularly stress that comments provided for the portfolio are not intended to highlight any weakness or negative elements.
Faculty Perspectives
Opinions by instructors are varied and generally positive. It is of general opinion that a teaching portfolio should help faculty members have an understanding of how students learn and should help develop a concern for students’ intellectual development. Teachers believe that the components of portfolios provide them with opportunities to work with and learn from colleagues and reflect continually on their own professional practice. The faculty members that participated believe that portfolios “make teachers reflect on what they are doing/need to do and set goals.” One of the respondents goes on to say she likes setting goals for herself because it helps her work towards something during the year. Another member of faculty reports that “portfolios give teachers an opportunity to talk about their teaching groups and to compare their perception with that reflected in the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ student evaluation.” Others believe that the purpose of portfolios “is to give managers data about how/what teachers are thinking,” “to collate evidence of and reflect on teaching and development activities during an academic year,” and “to observe probationary teachers and for contract renewal purposes.” In contrast, some faculty see certain components as an extra work burden in that it is required by administration and so complete their portfolios only because it is mandatory. A case in point is the updating of the online database, which is one of the requirements of the portfolio. Some respondents feel that it is a time consuming process, since it is complicated and difficult to access and manage. Moreover, they believe it can be a useless activity if not done immediately since all details, such as professional development sessions attended, cannot be remembered and updated accurately. Hence, they feel as though they are going through the motions to keep management satisfied. TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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Conclusion
In conclusion, whether a portfolio is used for evaluative purposes, as at Zayed University, or simply as a means for documenting and presenting different aspects of a teacher’s work, the benefits to the teacher, in terms of learning, development and sharing, are great. It is also satisfying and rewarding to showcase accomplishments and express beliefs, and the product of this process, the portfolio, is something a teacher can take pride in, particularly if it is viewed appropriately and respectfully by management.
References
Armstrong, M. & Baron, A. (2005). Managing performance: Performance management in action. London: CIPD. Barrett, H. (2010, February 25). TEDxASB - Helen Barrett - 2/25/10 [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ckcSegrwjkA
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Barrett, H. (2007). Helen Barrett Electronic Portfolios and Digital Storytelling to Support Lifelong and Life Wide Learning. Retrieved from http://hbarrett.wordpress.com/my-portfolio/ my-goals-and-mission/ Buckingham, J. (2012). Realizing your 1st ePortfolio. Retrieved from http://taedtech.ning.com/video/ realizing-your-1st-eportfolio Chism, N. (1998). Developing a philosophy of teaching statement. Essays on Teaching Excellence: Toward the Best in the Academy, 9(3). Retrieved from http://www.podnetwork.org/publications/ teachingexcellence/97-98/V9,%20N3%20Chism.pdf Dowswell, K. (2010). Academic Bridge Program Faculty Performance Review System: Zayed University. Engin, M. (2011). Research diary: A tool for scaffolding. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 10 (3), 296-306. University of New Hampshire. (2001). A Guide to the Teaching Portfolio. Retrieved from http://www. cs.tufts.edu/~ablumer/portfolio.html#What i
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Intercultural Issues in Teaching and Learning Michael Tasseron Tokyo, Japan Teachers new to Oman are likely to encounter a number of differences between the Omani culture and their own. These differences may be subtle, or they may be significant. This paper details an action research project conducted at a college in Oman which attempted to raise awareness of the intercultural issues of time and unequal participation based on gender. The project was undertaken due to the perceived impact that these issues were having on teaching and learning at the college. Pedagogical materials were created as part of the project and were used by a number of teachers with their learners. The findings suggest that in the Omani context a marked difference exists between how learners and expatriate teachers perceive the issues of time and male versus female learner participation. The findings make the recommendation that new teachers at the college should be provided with training about certain intercultural issues. Such training would be beneficial for these teachers in Oman and elsewhere in the Arabian Gulf. In the globalised English teaching classroom it could be argued that cultural awareness is becoming increasingly important. Teachers working in their own countries or as expatriates need to be aware of aspects of culture which might affect the way they relate to their learners, and may contribute to the effectiveness of their lessons (Sowden, 2007). This was made clear to me as the intercultural issues of time and unequal participation based on gender
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began to impact my teaching soon after I started working at a college in Oman. I decided to conduct an action research project, which I hoped would provide some insight into these issues and help me to deal with them. The paper will discuss the project in which these intercultural issues were investigated, and the attempts to raise learner awareness about them through the use of specifically designed pedagogical materials. The paper will conclude with a discussion about the findings of the research, as well as the implications thereof.
The Socio-Cultural and Educational Context
Oman is a Muslim country and religion manifests itself in all aspects of life; education is no exception. Primary and secondary schools are single-sex, and there is little or no interaction between members of the opposite sex who are not related. The majority of colleges and universities in Oman are, however, coeducational (Al Bandary, 2005). Schools and colleges have traditionally been staffed by expatriate teachers, but there is a concerted effort underway to replace them with Omani educators (Al Bandary, 2005).
Identifying the Research Problem
Lecturing at the college was my first teaching experience in Oman, and shortly after the start of classes a number of issues caught my attention. The two I determined to need most attention were: • The learners’ lack of attention to punctuality. TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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• The noticeable difference between male and female learners with regard to participation. These issues were adversely impacting my lessons, particularly the issue of punctuality. Having taught in Japan before coming to Oman, being punctual was something I was accustomed to. I regarded it as non-negotiable barring exceptional circumstances. Furthermore, the importance of being on time for lessons was emphasised during orientation sessions for learners at the college prior to the start of the trimester. In the first part of the trimester this was a constant source of tension between the learners and me. Typically, three quarters of a class of twenty-five would not be present at the start of the lesson. When the latecomers did eventually arrive, around ten to fifteen minutes after the start of the lesson, they proceeded to argue with me because I marked them late. This was despite making my attendance policy clear in the first week of classes. With regard to participation between the male and female learners, I observed that the male learners were far more vocal than their female counterparts in the majority of my classes. I found myself constantly having to ask the male learners to listen to their female counterparts’ responses to questions I had asked, as the male learners would often interrupt or start talking to each other when a female learner spoke. The female learners did, however, always make an effort to participate by raising their hands. However, they would not shout out the answers as the male learners did. I discussed these observations informally with some of my colleagues, and after determining that these issues were not only limited to my classes, I decided to investigate them further. I was of the opinion that by addressing these issues, I might be able to improve the quality of my lessons and lessen the chances of confrontation with my learners. Since these issues appeared to be widespread throughout my department, I believed that research into these issues, and attempting to provide ways in which to address them, would be beneficial not only to myself, but to my department and the college as a whole.
Research Questions
The underlying aim of the project was to raise awareness about punctuality and unequal Volume 21
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participation based on gender in classes, and to attempt to provide a means of addressing these issues. In order to do this the following research questions were posed: 1) How do the issues of punctuality and poor female participation impact teaching and learning at the college? 2) To what extent can these issues be addressed through the use of specifically designed pedagogical materials?
Literature Review Time Marcus and Slansky (1994) argue that a difference in the interpretation of time is likely to occur in many cross-cultural settings. A view shared by Setian (1972) and Malmberg (1992, cited in Marcus and Slansky, 1994) is that in western cultures an importance is placed on punctuality in private life and in the workplace. The attitude to time differs markedly in Arab cultures, where partaking in activities such as drinking coffee and engaging in small talk are expected before the commencement of formal business (Marcus and Slansky, 1994). Bagnole (1977) states that expatriate teachers new to Arab countries are often dismayed by the difference in the way time is perceived. He states that clear distinctions in time are not made in the Arab world, whereas in the West time pervades literally every part of life. According to Setian (1972), the future [in Arab culture] is a feature of time regarded as “too remote” (p. 294), and this is influenced by the belief that it is determined only by God. Zaharna (1995) states further that Western culture is “futureorientated,” and as such this is problematic for “pastorientated” (p. 251) Arab cultures. On a linguistic level specific temporal references in Arabic are lacking (Setian, 1972), possibly compounding the above mentioned problems relating to punctuality. Zaharna (1995) states there is no equivalent of the English future tense forms in Arabic, and that Arabic verb tenses refer only to completed actions, or actions not yet completed. Al-Khawalda (2001), however, argues that the future tense exists in Arabic and is indicated by the verb form /sayaf9alu/, which is translated as “he will do” (p.70), but he also notes that this form is typically TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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overlooked when discussing references to the future. He also shares the view that the multiple ways of expressing futurity in English, such as the use of will, be going to and the present continuous tense are not found in Arabic, concurring to an extent with what is argued by Zaharna (1995). Setian (1972) argues that Arabic demonstrates a vagueness with regard to time, and he refers to several lexical structures in English and how they are manifested in Arabic to demonstrate this. Examples he mentions are the terms in time and on time. For the Westerner there is a clear distinction between what is meant by these. However, this is not the case in Arabic, where these terms can be used interchangeably. Thus, a learner in the Arab context would regard himself as being on time as well as in time if he arrives in class at 9:10 a.m., if the teacher routinely begins taking attendance at 9:00 a.m. but only starts teaching the lesson at 9:10 a.m.
case in a more recent study conducted by Jones and Dindia (2004), who found that teachers tend to initiate and interact more with male learners. However, Sunderland (2000) also cautions against broad generalisations in this regard, and states that female learners should not be represented simply as “passive victims” (p. 150) in such types of interactions. She argues that a teacher speaking more to male learners than female learners is not indicative of a male learner dominated class, since studies have also demonstrated that male learners speak more to teachers than female learners do. A point worthy of further consideration is that while female learners may be less vocal than male learners in certain contexts, they may dominate the classroom in other ways (Sunderland, 2000). To strengthen this proposition, Shehadeh (1999) adds that the manner in which conversation is used also differs between sexes.
Taking cognisance of what has been discussed above, the perceived attitudes towards time in Arab cultures, as well as the lack of linguistic forms which denote precise temporal concepts, may therefore be seen as factors which complicate matters in relation to how time is interpreted by learners and teachers in this context.
Gender is one of a number of factors which is believed to influence classroom behaviour throughout the world. However, in the Arab world the issue of inequity relating to gender and classroom participation might be more pronounced, due to external societal factors (Fairley, 2011). These factors are particularly relevant with regard to male and female interaction (Mynard & Almarzouqi, 2006). According to Fairley (2011), recent research in Egypt suggests that female learners are encouraged to adopt a more passive role compared to male learners. Female learners in this context may therefore be at a disadvantage compared with their male counterparts. In Oman, education has been traditionally regarded as more of a necessity for men (Al-Barwani & Kelly, 1985), and female learners have in the past faced a number of challenges in this regard. This is changing however, with almost equal numbers of female and male students graduating from colleges in recent years (Al Shaibani, 2011). Recent statistics in Oman show that females are outperforming males academically (“Women Students in Oman,” 2012). This is despite the perceived disadvantages which might result from unbalanced classroom participation between the sexes. This may corroborate what was mentioned by Sunderland (2000) regarding different types of domination which exist in the classroom.
Michael Tasseron is from South Africa and has been teaching English as a Foreign Language since 2004. His first teaching experience was in China, after which he moved to Japan, where he spent six years. He worked in Oman from mid-2011 to mid-2012. He holds a CELTA and an MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL. His current research interest is pedagogical materials and second language acquisition.
Gender and Participation Unequal participation is an area of ongoing concern in TEFL according to Fairley (2011). Menzel and Carrell (1999) state that gender is regarded as a factor which impacts both teachers and learners, and can also be described as a form of classroom culture. Research has shown that males tend to be more vocal in mixed gender contexts, and exercise more control over classroom interaction (Cooper, 1995, cited in Menzel & Carrell, 1999). Furthermore, Sunderland (2000) states that teachers tend to speak considerably more to male learners than female learners, according to studies conducted in the 1970s and 1980s. This was also found to be the
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Research Methodology
In order to better understand the above mentioned issues and to try and address them, it was determined that classroom-based action research was particularly appropriate for this study. The project proceeded according to the four stages typically used when conducting such research, namely: planning, action (intervention), observation, and reflection.
The Participants
It was decided beforehand that the project would be conducted on a small scale, due to constraints related to time and the availability of the lecturers able to participate. The study took place over a ten week period at the college and involved seven female and male lecturers from the English department. The lecturers were from several different countries and were all experienced, with some having taught in Oman and at the college for several years. Some were new to Oman. It was believed that selecting lecturers from a range of nationalities would offer a number of interesting and relevant perspectives, which in turn might offer a better insight into the intercultural issues under investigation. Learners at the college are required to complete a foundation year general English programme over the course of three trimesters, which constitute the academic year. Learners in the foundation programme are aged between 18 and 20 years old and receive approximately 15 contact teaching hours per week. After completion of the foundation programme, learners progress to the post-foundation level, where they enrol in certificate or diploma courses. The study was limited to foundation year learners.
Data Collection
Throughout the planning, action, and observation stages, field notes were made about what was observed in the classes pertaining to the issues under investigation, namely learner perceptions of time and unequal participation based on gender. Interviews were conducted with lecturers in the planning stage, which were recorded and transcribed (please see Appendix A for the interview questions). For the action stage, materials were designed to be used to raise learner awareness of the intercultural issues under discussion (Appendix B). These materials were then trialled by the teachers involved in the project. At the end of the trialling period, questionnaires were administered to the participating lecturers. Volume 21
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The data collected in this project was qualitative, as is the norm with action research. The data from the findings has been presented in a manner to ensure ease of readability and avoid a statistical emphasis.
Time Data Analysis
The responses from the interviews suggested that many of the lecturers believed that time was perceived differently in their own countries compared with Oman. All seven stated that punctuality was a problem in their lessons at the college. Responses included “...there’s really no concept of time,...the students are not conscious of time,” and “People don’t respect time.” In order to address this, the lecturers resorted to punitive measures such as marking learners late, which had undesirable consequences for them. However, some of the lecturers also tried to reach a compromise with their learners by allowing a grace period of several minutes at the start of lessons before resorting to punishing latecomers. There was a general consensus among the lecturers that learners responded negatively when they were marked late, and that tardiness impacted the learner-lecturer relationship.
Gender and Participation Data Analysis
The majority of the lecturers stated that in their own countries participation was usually equal between male and female learners. However, all of the lecturers said that they noticed a difference in participation between male and female learners at the college. There was consensus that male learners tended to be more vocal than their female counterparts, judging from responses such as “The female students are quiet and I feel like I have to bring up the issue with them needing to participate,” and “...the boys tend to speak a lot. However, the girls tend to be quiet and shy.” All of the participants commented that female learners were unlikely to challenge the male learners, or react in any way to their input. Some respondents observed that male learners appeared to disregard what the female learners said, but also indicated that when they intervened and dealt with this, the situation improved. There were however exceptions, with two of the lecturers stating that in their respective classes, male learners were respectful toward female learners. The reasons for this behaviour among learners were largely attributed to perceived cultural norms of the region. TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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Action Plan
In order to address the issues identified in the planning stage of the project, two worksheets dealing with these issues were designed and trialled by myself and the participating lecturers who were able to do so (see Appendix B).
Observations
For the initial two weeks of the new trimester, notes were made about learner behaviour in my classes with regard to the issues under investigation. The materials were then trialled with these classes over the following three weeks, and notes were made about what was observed. The other lecturers participating in the project were asked to do the same. They were then asked to complete a questionnaire about their observations at the end of the trialling period. Due to scheduling changes at the college only five of the seven lecturers were able to trial the materials.
Time Observations
In the first class of the trimester, the issue of time was discussed with the learners in my classes, and it was agreed that there should be a ten minute period allowed to accommodate latecomers after the start of the lessons. It was noted in my observations over the first two weeks that the majority of the learners adhered to the ten minute rule. No behavioural change was observed with regard to punctuality in the three weeks following the use of the materials.
Gender and Participation Observations
As with the issue of time, the issue of equal participation between male and female learners was raised in the first lesson of the trimester. In the first two weeks it was noted that the male learners were more vocal than the female learners. For instance, when a question was posed to the entire class, the male learners typically shouted out answers. If questions were addressed to the female learners, the male learners would often interrupt and answer first, thus dominating the teacher-learner exchanges. In the weeks following the use of the materials, no behavioural changes were observed regarding the issue of participation and gender.
Questionnaire
Three of the five lecturers observed a change in the behaviour of their learners with regard to Volume 21
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punctuality, two of whom attributed this change to using the worksheet. Most lecturers indicated that their learners had a better understanding of how time was perceived outside of the Omani culture after using the worksheet. Three lecturers noticed a difference in participation between male and female learners; however, only one lecturer attributed this to using the worksheet. Two lecturers indicated that their learners had a better understanding of the issue of participation and gender after using the worksheet. All five lecturers agreed that it would be beneficial to both lecturers and learners to incorporate some form of intercultural training into the college syllabus in the future.
Reflection
Based on what was articulated by Bagnole (1977) about the perceptions of time in Arab culture, the findings of this project suggest that this applies to the Omani educational context as well. However, it would be inaccurate to make sweeping generalisations about this issue in terms of punctuality at the college. With regard to the issue of female and male learner participation, the findings indicate that what has been observed in other Arab countries also applies to the Omani context. This is relevant with reference to what Fairley (2011) states about the relationship between culture and participation. In terms of how to address this I noted a particularly interesting point. The learners in my class suggested that it was the lecturer’s responsibility to ensure equal participation by, for example, asking a male learner to read a question and asking a female learner to answer. The implications of this are that close attention to classroom management is required on the part of the lecturer to ensure male and female learners participate equally. Conducting action research revealed to me not only how complex the concept of culture is, but also that culture and education are interrelated concepts. It has also made me reflect on my teaching practices, and what has become clear is that attempting to impose “foreign� rules in this context, is likely to achieve the opposite result.
Recommendations
It is acknowledged that due to the size and scope of the project the findings are by no means conclusive. However, my recommendation is that providing TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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intercultural training to new lecturers and learners at the college would be beneficial. This is chiefly because the majority of lecturers at the college are expatriate teachers, many of whom hail from cultures different from the Omani culture. This training could be incorporated into the orientation sessions which are held prior to the start of the academic year. Such programmes may aid in alleviating certain problems in the classroom, as well as engendering a mutual understanding of the importance of culture both in and outside of the classroom. Further research on a larger scale could indicate whether the implementation of such programmes would be viable at the college.
Conclusion
This action research project investigated two intercultural issues at a college in Oman. The study aimed to determine how the issues of differing perceptions of time between learners and foreign lecturers, and unequal participation based on gender were impacting the teaching and learning process. Based on the findings of the initial stage of the project, the decision was made to produce intercultural teaching materials which aimed to raise learner awareness about these issues. The findings of the project indicated that a need exists at the college for intercultural training. Such training would aim to facilitate a better understanding of the cultural issues faced by lecturers and learners in a diverse teaching context. This in turn might prevent misunderstandings from arising between lecturers and learners with regard to these issues.
References
Al Bandary, M. S. (2005). Meeting the challenges: The development of quality assurance in Oman’s colleges of education. Higher Education, 50(2), 181-195. Al-Barwani, T., & Kelly, F. (1985). Factors influencing the recruitment and retention of literacy learners in Oman. International Review of Education, 31(2), 145-154. Al-Khawalda, M. (2001). The expression of futurity in the Arabic and English languages. In Z. Ibrahim, N. Kassabgy, & S. Aydelott (Eds.), Diversity in language (pp. 70–76). Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. Al Shaibani, S. (2011, December 24). More women than men eye at education benefits in Oman. Volume 21
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Times of Oman. Retrieved from http://www. timesofoman.com/echoice.asp?detail=53042 Bagnole, J. (1977). TEFL, perceptions, and the Arab world. Washington, DC: American Friends of the Middle East. Cooper, P. J. (1995). Communication for the classroom teacher. Scottsdale, AZ: Gorsuch Scarisbrick Publishers. Fairley, M. (2011). Gendered participation: Addressing inequity in the Egyptian language classroom. AUC TESOL Journal, 1(Spring 2011), 13-39. Jones, S., & Dindia, K. (2004). A meta-analytic perspective on sex equity in the classroom. Review of Educational Research, 74(4), 443-471. Malmberg, R. (1992). Culture and communication: A video training programme. Language Training, 12(3). Marcus, S., & Slansky, N. (1994). Teaching the unwritten rules of time and space. ELT Journal, 48(4), 306-314. Menzel, K., & Carrell, L.J. (1999). The impact of gender and immediacy on willingness to talk and perceived learning. Communication Education, 48(1), 31-40. Mynard, J., & Almarzouqi, I. (2006). Investigating peer tutoring. ELT Journal, 60(1), 13-22. Setian, S. (1972). Problems in teaching concepts of time to Egyptian students. ELT Journal, XXVI(3), 292-294. Shehadeh, A. (1999). Gender differences and equal opportunities in the ESL classroom. ELT Journal, 53(4), 256-261. Sowden, C. (2007). Culture and the ‘good teacher’ in the English language classroom. ELT Journal, 61(4), 304-310. Sunderland, J. (2000). New understandings of gender and language classroom research: Texts, teacher talk and student talk. Language Teaching Research, 4(2), 149-173. Women students in Oman outshine men by 10%. (2012, November 6). Muscat Daily. Retrieved from http://www.muscatdaily.com/Archive/ Oman/Women-students-in-Oman-outshinemen-by-10-1tel Zaharna, R. S. (1995). Understanding cultural preferences of Arab communication patterns. Public Relations Review, 21(3), 241-255.
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Appendix A Perceptions of Time 1. What has your experience been with the students you teach at the college with regard to issues of time? 2. How do you react when students are late for class? 3. How do students react when you mark them late for not being on time? 4. Do you feel that issues of time may impact the relationship between lecturers and students? 5. How is time thought of in your culture compared to your experience here? Gender and Participation 1. In your culture, is there a noticeable difference between how male and female students participate? 2. In the classes you teach at the college, is there a difference between how male and female students participate? 3. Who are more likely to answer questions in class - male or female students, and why do you think this is? 4. How do male students usually respond to female students’ answers or input? 5. How do female students usually respond to male students’ answers or input?
Appendix B
Yes
A little (so so)
OK, no problem?
not good?
Your teacher is going to a movie.The movie starts at 7 p.m. Your teacher arrives at the cinema at 7:30 pm. Is this... OK, no problem?
not good?
*** ASK YOUR TEACHER ***
3. Time and culture In your culture... coming to class on time or early is... good? OK, no problem?
not good?
coming to class 10 minutes late is... good? OK, no problem?
not good?
coming to class 20 minutes late is... good? OK, no problem?
not good?
In your teacher’s culture... coming to class on time or early is... good? OK, no problem?
not good?
coming to class 10 minutes late is... good? OK, no problem?
not good?
coming to class 20 minutes late is... good? OK, no problem?
not good?
*** ASK YOUR TEACHER *** Is the way you think about time the same or different to your teacher?
It’s ok to be ____________________ minutes late. Your teacher WILL NOT mark you late. It’s not good to be more than ___________________ minutes late.Your teacher WILL mark you late. Talk to your teacher. What times did you agree on? It’s good to be in class at ____________________. It’s ok to be ____________________ minutes late. Your teacher WILL NOT mark you late. It’s not good to be more than __________________ late.Your teacher WILL mark you late.
2. Time and college What time does this class start? _________________
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It’s good to be in class at ____________________.
You are going to watch a movie with your friends. The movie starts at 7 p.m.You arrive at the cinema at 7:30 p.m. Is this...
good?
Were you late?
4. Fill in the spaces with your answers.
Culture in the Classroom: Time 1. Time and your friends Circle your answers
good?
What time did you come to class today? _________
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Culture in the Classroom: Women and Men 1. In the home: Put a check [✔] in the boxes. a.
In your family, who...
The men
The women
The men and the women
cooks? cleans your house? works? drives? does the grocery shopping? Check with your partner. Do you have the same or different answers? b.
In your teacher’s family, who...
The men
The women
The men and the women
cooks? cleans your house? works? drives? does the grocery shopping? Ask your teacher for his or her answers.
3. In YOUR class:
c. Is it the same in your teacher’s country and in Oman?
Circle your answers a. In your class, who participates more?
2. In the classroom:
The men? The women? It’s the same.
The men are participating more than the women.
b. Which is the best for your class?
a. Is this... good? OK, no problem? not good?
The men and women participating equally. The women participating more than the men. The men participating more than the women.
b. Why? ___________________________________ __________________________________________
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c. Tell your teacher which answer you think is the best. d. How can you make sure that everyone participates equally in your class? TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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Publish or Perish – So Pay Up! Neil McBeath Sultan Qaboos University Muscat, Oman Nearly ten years ago there was an interesting article in The Spectator (Johnson, 2003) explaining how a quality control mechanism called the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) impinged on life in British universities. Basically, the RAE rated university departments in the basis of how much research they were conducting. Depending on the rating - from 0 to 5 - the departments were allocated government money. So if university academics did not publish, and publish regularly, their parent departments could see funding cuts, and funding cuts meant that jobs might be at stake. The, possibly unforeseen, result of this was a rush of short articles, rather than full-length book studies, and the publication of “research” that might not always have been as rigorous as is desirable. Little seems to have changed in the past decade, for Hannam (2012, p. 26) refers to “an increasing emphasis on publication in universities” almost as an aside. In the Arab Gulf we have not reached the same position…yet. On the other hand, in my own institution, candidates for internal promotion are expected, among other things, to provide evidence that they have published, and only publications from the two years prior to their application will count. Applications for promotion have to be submitted in the fall semester, with the result that a sudden flurry of work tends to appear in the spring issues of certain academic journals. The policy adopted by some of these journals, however, is slightly suspect. In the 1990s, I published both articles and book reviews in Pharos, a small ESP journal that was published under the aegis of Alexandria University. That arrangement ceased after I received a letter from the editor saying that Pharos Volume 21
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was now a “refereed journal,” and would I please send US $200 as a “reader’s fee” for the most recent book review. I never replied to the letter or to the demand. I have no intention now, or ever, of paying someone to read my work. I would rather keep the money and let the work go unread. It is called the Emily Dickinson approach. There is also the point, however, that “refereed journals” are only as good as the referees they employ. In October 2011, TESL Reporter, a refereed journal published by the Brigham Young University in Hawaii, offered us this piece of information: “English was first introduced into China during the Sui Dynasty (581-617 CE) and the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE)” (Sun & Hendrichsen, 2011, p. 3). Quite how that rewriting of historical linguistics passed scrutiny is anybody’s guess, but clearly the journal’s referees must shoulder most of the responsibility. I have also had a personal instance where 5000+ words on sociolinguistics were rejected by a referee who took exception to my “idiosyncratic use of the semi-colon.” There was more, but having read that far I swore at the screen and pressed the DELETE button. I then sent the same article off to another journal, which took it, semi-colons and all. Another article, again eventually published, fell foul of a referee who disliked my criticisms of the old Royal Society of Arts Certificate in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language to Adults. This was the forerunner of CTEFLA and DTEFLA, CELTA and DELTA, a course so poisonously difficult that only 34% of the candidates passed in the first four years. What I had not known, however, was that the referee TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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had served on the working party that had established the Certificate’s examination criteria, and that he was still, oddly, proud of his contributions. Personalities, of course, are one thing, but policies are another. In April 2012 I gave a paper at a small regional conference in Oman, and then edited it and sent it off to the Arab World English Journal, which is published on-line. Six weeks later there was an acknowledgement, explaining that the paper would be sent to three referees, and asking that I refer to their attachment outlining terms and conditions. Along with the usual caution against trying to publish the same material in two journals simultaneously, there was one sentence that literally stood out because it was printed in bold. It said, “If your paper is accepted, you are required to pay a paper fee of $150.” My paper was immediately withdrawn. Now let me be clear here. The Arab World English Journal is not a vanity press. A vanity press will publish anything, no matter how awful, provided that the writer is prepared to pay. What we see here is a kind of mirror-image of the vanity press, because effectively it does not matter how original your research, how well-written your paper, how authoritative and recent your sources, how valid and reliable your findings may be. Without the payment of $150, your paper will not be published.
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Do you really want to see your work appear in a journal that is known to place cash before scholarship? What does that say about the journal? What does it say about you? What does it say about your work?
References
Hannam, S. (2012) Sara Hannam asks why more EL teachers don’t do PhDs.IATEFL Voices 227, 26. Johnson, R. (2003, June 14). Publish or be damned. The Spectator. Sun, C., & Henrichsen, L. (2011). Major university English tests in China: Their importance, nature and development. TESL Reporter, 44(1-2), 1-24. i
i
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This is wicked. It automatically penalizes poorer scholars, that is, younger scholars, less-established scholars and scholars from countries like Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen - places where life is often so difficult for members of the academic community that they hardly need fresh obstacles to be placed in their way. This policy also undermines the efforts of organizations like TESOL, TESOL Arabia and IATEFL, which offer scholarships, grants, concessionary rates, and other forms of assistance to teachers who are at the start of their careers or who come from societies that have particular financial difficulties. It is a policy that favors academics who are already financially secure, but in the final analysis I would suggest that it is also a policy that favors no-one. No matter how desperate you may be to publish, ask yourself these questions. Volume 21
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Literature in an EFL Context Andrew McInulty University of Shiga Otsu City, Japan
The number one objective when selecting a novel is to provide learners with a meaningful context in which they can practise and develop their reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills. Learning any language is inherently linked to culture. Chastain (1988) confirms that “culture is an integral, organized component of the course context” (p. 298). Thus, where else could such a rich source of culture be found that also helps learners to understand literature and language more deeply? Almost certainly, a textbook could not provide such an array of linguistic components in their authentic state.
year English and non-English major students in the Department of Education at a university in Japan), I encountered some typical initial difficulties. My already-stated main objective was to use literature to teach second language skills, but an unstated and underlying objective was also to use literature in order to appreciate and enjoy the worth of the story. The problem I encountered, though, was to ensure that one objective did not impinge upon the other; something that could occur if the chosen text were too rich in meaning or, conversely, if it were oversimplified. In both cases, EFL learning would be nugatory or negated. Accordingly, I wanted an “easy” authentic novel; however, I found that easy novel was by no means an absolute term. Although there are scientifically calibrated readability scales that can aid a teacher in choosing a suitable novel for a class, it is much more difficult to measure what really constitutes an easy text. Easy texts do not imply graded readers as their focus is on reading comprehensible language for meaning and fluency (Waring, 2012). The goal of using a novel was to delve into the nuances of authentic language. This is fine if the learners can cope with it, and so novel selection was of critical importance to me with this aim in mind. As McKay (1982) observed, there can be multiple layers of cultural assumptions and deviations in plots that can transcend purely linguistic considerations. Moreover, he concludes that oversimplified texts lacked cohesion and logic, while young-adult texts lost their appeal with slightly older audiences due to their straightforward storylines, plots, and dearth of characters.
When choosing a novel for my second semester Aural English class (comprising second- and third-
Bearing these potential pitfalls in mind, and after careful consideration, the novel selected for use
An authentic material so often overlooked in an EFL context is that of literature, and the novel to be more precise. One reason why teachers tend to shy away from this medium is that it can be complex and perhaps too rich in meaning. However, literature can be utilized easily and profitably through careful consideration of book selection and also by choosing a novel that has been adapted to screen with few changes made. By using a combination of text and video, the communicative message becomes more complete, not to mention the corollary rise in learner motivation as the verbal/linguistic stimuli of the novel is complemented by the visual/spatial stimuli of the video (Gardner, 2000; Veenema & Gardner, 1996). The novel is somewhat underused in EFL settings, but by exploiting the authenticity of its language and combining language activities with communicative activities, the novel and video combination can prove to be an enriching experience.
Choosing a Novel
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was The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. This was a text that I had used as a primary school teacher back in my formative teaching days. I had used it with a primary 4 level class, and felt that the text would be a challenging one for a tertiary EFL class, but not to such an extent that their comprehension would be grossly impeded. As the EFL class was actually designated a listening class and not a reading class, I wanted to use the reading of the text as homework assignments, and then use that reading knowledge in conjunction with the subsequent watching of the movie segments in the following class as a springboard for listening and discussion. Due to time constraints (one 90-minute class a week), too, I had no time to address the structural and mechanical aspects of the novel, nor did I have any intention to explore in much depth some of the interpretative issues that might have confused the learners and/ or rendered the meaning of the text unintelligible to many students.
read what they were to watch, a level of reality and authenticity was added, therefore reinforcing a deeper understanding of meaning as well as target language.
Therefore, the pedagogical basis of the class was built around language, whereby vocabulary, prediction, jigsaw, cloze passages, hypotheses, and a number of other language tasks could be undertaken, as well as reader-responses through which students would report on their opinions, feelings, and experiences. Day and Bamford (1998) emphasise the importance of creating a strong reading/speaking community in the classroom and highlight student-to-student interaction as a powerful way of establishing such a community.
The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe contains a great deal of vocabulary unknown to students, such as all the real and mythical creatures (e.g., fauns, centaurs) and the attendant large number of adjectives that describe them. There were also many onomatopoeic words used, for example, crash, bang, slurp, scrunch, and munch. This lent itself to activities where the students had fun preparing quizzes for each other and perhaps was of interest to them because Japanese features so many onomatopoeic and mimetic expressions.
Video Usage
The value of implementing video segments that mirror exactly what students read is that they expose the students to a wider range of learning strategies. Students, who may find reading extensively troublesome, look on the video segment as a great gift as it reveals the story bit by bit (Sherman, 2003). At the beginning of class, the students would watch the movie portion that they had read for homework. These segments were often no longer than six to seven minutes in length; therefore, they could be reviewed if necessary. Dual coding, using both visual and aural stimuli, has long been proven to heighten learner perception and understanding (Clark & Paivio, 1991). Mayer’s (2001) research also signifies that dual coding is most effective with novice learners, providing meaningful stimulus and deeper learning. Since the students had already
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Language Model
The authenticity of the language in a novel provides real-life communication with readers. This real-life communication represents both the relevance and the reason why authentic material should be used (Widdowson, 1990). By interacting with authentic texts, students can employ reading strategies. Therefore, the students were asked to read one or two chapters a week. There are 17 chapters and 208 pages inthe novel. This means that each chapter on average is about 12 to 13 pages including many pictures. Therefore, it was not a daunting amount of homework per week. Key and useful vocabulary was preselected, and a number of tasks, such as matching and brainteaser activities, were adopted.
Andrew McInulty teaches at the University of Shiga in the Department of Education, English Faculty, Otsu City, Japan. He has taught in Abu Dhabi, Spain and New Zealand. He is currently investigating strategies for supporting the learning of reading at tertiary level and particularly lower level, non-English course/major students.
Grammatical awareness cannot be ignored when dealing with a text, and this kind of literature can expose students to various patterns. One that was explored during the semester was the narrative style used by Lewis. The novel is written from the third person point of view; however, the author also frequently makes encroachments into the narrative using the first person voice, “I,” giving the impression that he is telling the story directly to the reader. He also uses the second person “you,” and frequently takes the reader on trips through the TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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forests and onto the battlefields of the story as if the reader were actually there. Alliteration, similes, homophones, old-fashioned expressions, closed summaries, and differences between British and American expressions were all studied under this umbrella of the language model.
The Reader-Response Model
This design creates the genuine communicative interaction that an EFL teacher strives to generate within a class. It can be task-based in approach or just communicative, but it draws from the students’ schemata and top-down reading models, forming questions and making assumptions about what they have read or watched and what they already know. At times, students make connections in which they bring aspects of their own lives into the classroom, making learning more meaningful to them (McInulty, 2009). This can be observed in an activity that requires the students to think about a hero in their own lives. The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe involves many heroes. After reading and watching, students prepare details about their own heroes for homework and then share them in smaller groups in the class. Another example would be when Edmund told lies to his sisters and brothers about Narnia and then again about his meetings with the witch. An activity arising from this could relate to social responsibility, whereby students prepare interview questions and report back in smaller groups. Thus, this activity makes use of the students’ emotionally charged reactions that are ideal for sparking the communicative classroom. It also makes this readerresponse model one that is extremely student centred and one that provides the students with a great deal of motivation toward the materials. Genuine motivation and engagement are vital keys to successful teaching and learning for both teachers and learners. Skehan (1989) defines motivation as being both extrinsic and intrinsic, triggering an internal force compelling people to pursue a completion of a task. This force appears to vary for different levels of learners and has a great deal to do with cultural influences and the age and maturity of learners. Skehan (1989) asserts that without motivation the English language class may be boring and disheartening for both learners and teachers.
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Students’ Responses
Since this novel was used as a textbook in an education department, in which most students are striving to become teachers, at the end of the semester I asked them to write a report assessing their role as learners in the class as well as the materials used. Most students asserted that it was the first time that they had used a book as homework in advanced preparation for activities in the following week’s class. Many claimed that it was interesting and enjoyable to study and learn in this way. They mentioned that it was good training for them to do the homework, so they could be more active and have more autonomy in class the next week. They also said that, because it was authentic work, it provided them with more motivation. Besides this motivation, there was a huge sense of accomplishment for them to have succeeded in reading and discussing a novel written in a foreign language. Generally, all twenty-five students were positive about the experience although one student wanted to read more modern literature, feeling that the language used in The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe was sometimes archaic. Even so, this difference between older and newer forms of English also provided an opportunity for study and discussion as it was used as an activity during the language model.
Conclusion
Choosing a novel as a course book can be difficult as so many complications can arise, mainly concerning lexical-grammatical patterns used in the novel. However, the novel/video combination is one that offers EFL students a rich source of cultural information while at the same time giving them an authentic source of grammatical patterns and usage. Lazar (1990), for example, claims that a good novel “addresses itself to complex situations and adult dilemmas. It engages our students intellectually, emotionally, and linguistically…” (p. 204). The reader-response design certainly engages students actively and stimulates conversation, providing an enriched learning experience.
References
Chastain, K. (1988). Developing second-language skills: Theory and practice (3rd ed.) USA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers.
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Clark, J. M., & Paivio, A. (1991). Dual coding theory and education. Educational Psychology Review, 3(3), 149-210. Day, R., & Bamford, J. (1998). Extensive reading in the classroom. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Gardner, H. (2000). Can technology exploit our many ways of knowing? In D. T. Gordon (Ed.), The digital classroom: How technology is changing the way we teach and learn (pp. 32–35). Cambridge, MA: President and Fellows of Harvard College. Lazar, G. (1990). Using novels in the language learning classroom. ELT Journal, 44(3), 204–214. Lewis, C.S. (2005). The lion, the witch and the wardrobe. New York: Harper Collins. Mayer, R. E. (2001). Multimedia learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. McKay, S. (1982). Literature in the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 16(4), 529-536.
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McInulty, A. (2009). Bookworms club stories for reading circles. Modern English Teacher, 18(3), 84-85. Sherman, J. (2003). Using authentic video in the language classroom. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Skehan, P. (1989). Individual differences in second language learning. London: Edward Arnold/Hodder and Stoughton. Veenema, S., & Gardner, H. (1996, Nov-Dec). Multimedia and multiple intelligences. The American Prospect, 7(29), 69-75. Waring, R. (2012, September 25). Why extensive reading should be an indispensable part of all language programs. Retrieved from http:// erfoundation.org/wordpress/ Widdowson, H. G. (1990). Aspects of language teaching. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. i
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Call for Conference Proceedings The editors of the Proceedings of the 2013 TESOL Arabia Conference would like to invite you to submit a paper based on your presentation at the TESOL Arabia 2013 Conference to be considered for publication in the next volume of the Proceedings. Only those who presented at the conference may submit articles for the Proceedings. Please send your article to Publications Coordinator, Peter McClaren at: pmclaren@uaeu.ac.ae
The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, October 1, 2013. Please follow the specifications outlined below: u Articles should be 3000-4000 words. u Articles should be typed using Times New Roman, font size 12, with 1½ line spacing. u If you include Tables and/or Figures, make sure they are no wider than 12 cm. u Do not use color in Tables or Figures. u Do not use footnotes. u Only use “portrait” orientation (i.e., do not insert any pages in “landscape” orientation). u Remove all hyperlinks in the text. u Include a complete list of references using APA style. Consult the Publications Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Edition (2009) if necessary. u Send articles electronically as a Word attachment.
We will acknowledge receipt of articles within two weeks. Volume 21
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TESOL Arabia Needs You!
If you are interested in volunteering for the position of Western Region Representative or Ras Al Khaimah Representative, please contact Rehab Rajab at rehabrajab@tesolarabia.org or Naziha Ali at nazihaali2005@yahoo.co.uk
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The Tempest & Steve Jobs, Genius by Design Amit Tayal & Manikandan / Jason Quinn & Amit Tayal Campfire, 2012 ISBN: 978-81-907515-6-8 & 978-93-80023-76-7 96 pages & 102 pages
“Reading is boring, teacher!” Sound familiar? Speaking from experience, if I had a pound for every time I’d heard those words, I’d be writing this from a hammock on my own private island. Actually, no, I wouldn’t: my faithful spirit Ariel would be writing it for me. It is an unfortunate truism that however much we may love reading, trying to instill a like appreciation in our students is an uphill task, to say the least. Equally true is that in order to make any real headway in English, their education, and their lives, those students will almost inevitably have to read, whether they like it or not. It’s a double bind – for both parties. What we need is a champion and, in the nick of time, one has appeared. Hailing from New Delhi, Campfire is a name hitherto unfamiliar to this reviewer.Yet be that as it may, their mission statement will prove as lyrical to teachers of reading as anything that ever flowed from the pen of William Shakespeare: “To entertain and educate young minds by creating unique illustrated books to recount stories of human values, to arouse curiosity in the world around us, and to inspire by tales of great deeds of unforgettable people.” Their take on The Tempest, then, starts with a cameo of Will himself, before moving to a page whereon the play’s dramatis personae are depicted. Silver-haired and imposing, Prospero is every bit the iconic wizard, while Caliban might have shuffled and slavered his way out of a 1930’s Hollywood horror film. Now comics are, by their very nature, compelling, and this version of The Tempest is ample testament to Volume 21
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the fact – put simply, this is brilliant stuff. Beautifully illustrated in vibrant color, Campfire’s take on Shakespeare brings him to life in snappy, voicebubble prose. As a graduate in English literature, I have both studied The Tempest and seen it performed. Somehow, however, I seem not to recall that Prospero was purportedly modeled upon 16th century Welsh occultist John Dee. Nor, indeed, that his relationship with Caliban is an analogue of that between colonizing Europeans and the natives of the New World. That I now possess such knowledge
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comes courtesy of the handy two-page fact file which closes this volume. Bravo, once more. If a graphic book can bring Shakespeare to the modern world, then it is surely a fitting vehicle to document the life of Steve Jobs, the man who did so much to shape that world. Steve Jobs, Genius by Design is different in feel to The Tempest. From the monochrome cover, to the spare, unfussy artwork and muted colurs within, it’s testament to the fact that the graphic genre can be sensitive to its subject. “Steve Jobs was a design icon,” offers Amit Tayal, in the introduction to the book, “so…I decided on a simple, reader-friendly approach, and a style with clean lines.” Salient for us as language teachers, though, must be that phrase “reader-friendly.. For, refreshing and engaging though both books might appear, they were never aimed at an L2 audience. Their objective, as we recall, is “to entertain…..educate…..and inspire,, rather than to teach English. What, then, of the language in these pages? By way of example, let us take the celebrated speech from The Tempest, in Act 5, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s original: “O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, that has such people in’t!” and then contrast it with its counterpart in the graphic novel, as Miranda exclaims: “Oh awesome! How many fine-looking creatures are here! How beautiful mankind is! O brave new world that has such people in it!” While the message remains unchanged, its constituent language clearly does not.Yet 86.4% of that language very manageably falls within the first 1000 words of Laufer and Nation’s Lexical Frequency Profile (http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/). Steve Jobs, Genius by Design, on the other hand, is couched in colloquial American English. And while this may place more of a burden upon the L2 reader, familiarity with the topic (in tandem with the visual support afforded by the graphic genre) should go a long way towards mitigating any linguistic deficit. Finally, then, we must ask ourselves: are these titles suited to a Middle Eastern readership? The response must be an almost unqualified “yes.” Why
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the reservation? Only for the fact that Ariel (The Tempest) is perhaps inappropriately dressed for a Middle Eastern audience, while the character of Stephano (ditto) is, of course, a drunk. And Steve Jobs, Genius by Design comes with the proviso noted in the preceding paragraph. Beyond that, both titles live up to their mission statement, and both serve as proof that reading need not be boring after all. So let us gather round the campfire and, with apologies to Mr. Shakespeare, conclude with the words: “O brave new world that has such volumes in’t!”
Colin Toms Petroleum Institute Abu Dhabi, UAE
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Literary Translation in Oman: Issues and Perspectives Rahma Al-Mahrooqi & Badr Al Jahwari (Eds.) Omani Society for Writers and Literati, 2011 ISBN: 978-614-404-220-5 220 pages
This is a collection of nine papers, the results of a symposium on translation that was held in Muscat at some unspecified date. The chronology is a little confused here. The collection is dated 2011, but publication delays meant that the book did not actually appear until the latter half of 2012. The papers are offered first in English (112 pages) and then in Arabic (108 pages), which effectively makes the collection far shorter than its physical size suggests. For readers of Perspectives, the most interesting paper is likely to be Al-Mahrouqi’s “The Responses of Omani Female College Students to Translated Literature.” Given the possibilities of cross-cultural misunderstanding (see Heble, 2006) and expatriate teachers’ concerns regarding sensitive topics, it is interesting that Al-Mahrouqi was able to use Alice Walker’s short-story “The Abortion” in comparison with Wafa Munawar’s “The Duties of a Working Mother.” The first was translated into Arabic and the second into English, but the results suggest that students’ culture, rather than language, has “a profound effect on their understanding of and response to literature” (p. 80). Quite how this tension between culture and language affects the subject matter of Al-Jilani ben Zid’s “Translating Modern Omani Poetry into English and French: Current Strategies and Future Paradigms” (pp. 87-107) is another matter. McCloughlin (2010) quotes the Italian proverb “Traduttore, traditore” (p. 14), signifying that the translator is a traitor, and Ben Zid’s attempts to reconcile linguistic equivalence and “faithfulness” to the original, with the demands of creating “a poem in its own right within the target language” (p. 99) may strike some as being over-ambitious. Volume 21
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In fact, however, this is no more than the continuation of a quest that has existed in Arabic translation since the eleventh century and the theories of Abdul Qahir al Jurajani (Abukhudairi, 2008), and the fact that it is difficult to achieve is hardly a reason not to try. In this instance, however, the lines taken from Said al Sakwani’s poem “Confused Tears”: Under the shade of ambition, in his childhood’s tenderness I slept For he was my youthful prime and model for my heart
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appear to be very different from the French version: Je m’endormais a l’ombre, dans la tendresse de son enfance, Car il est pour moi la jeunesse et toute ce que le coeur desire. The French omits all mention of ambition. La jeunesse is the general spirit of youth, with all its implicitly positive associations, rather than “youthful prime,” and toute ce que le coeur desire – “everything the heart desires” – suggests more than the rather scientific concept of a model. For the rest, there are interesting papers on the translation of Baluchi poetry into Arabic (pp. 30-49), the translation of Shehri (the principal indigenous language of Dhofar) into Arabic (pp. 50-62), and a consideration of the role played by Omani women’s verbal arts (pp. 82-86). These papers will be of interest to theoretical linguists, ethnographers, and feminist writers, but they have, perhaps, only limited application in the classroom. Even so, this is an impressive collection that deserves success. Both literature and translation can be
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ignored by teachers of general English, and these symposium proceedings have brought them forward and offered a number of intriguing insights.
References
Abukhudairi, A. (2008). The Arabs and the art of translation. Negara Brunei Darussallam: Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka. Heble, A. (2006). Cultural interaction in the classroom in the 21st century. IATEFL Voices 190, 5-6. McCloughlin, L. (2010). Confessions of an Arabic interpreter:The Odyssey of an Arabist 1959-2009. Dubai: Motivate Publishing.
Neil McBeath Sultan Qaboos University Muscat, Oman
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World English 2 Middle East Edition
Kristin Johannsen, Martin Milner, & Rebecca Tarver Chase Heinle, 2011 ISBN: 978-1-111-21644-3 160 pages World English 2 is designed for secondary and tertiary students who have a pre-intermediate English proficiency level. This book is the second book in a four part series from National Geographic. World English 2, as well as other textbooks within the World English series, focuses on the development of students’ all around English proficiency by integrating the four skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking into each unit within the textbook. According to the authors, upon completing World English, students should be positioned to continue their study at an intermediate proficiency level. The authors claim that a major strength of the textbook is that it contains engrossing text, photos, art, maps, and videos from National Geographic that will increase student engagement in the curriculum. Furthermore, the authors stress that through using this text students will become more interested in the material and the world around them as the chapters utilize authentic content. This idea of authenticity is supported by the fact that the contents of each chapter focus on the experiences of people of varying cultures throughout the world. In addition, the video journal sections at the end of each chapter present video segments and sound bites from National Geographic documentaries. These segments help students develop their listening skills while, at the same time, using English to learn more about the world around them. As increasing student engagement and introducing students to how they can utilize English to explore the world are the major goals of this integrated skills textbook, the chapters are arranged by themes. Chapter themes include: food, communication, the body, challenges, life transitions, luxuries, nature, Volume 21
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history and how people lived in the past, travel, careers, and celebrations. Each chapter begins with several full color pictures from National Geographic that center on a theme. The authors suggest that these photos can be useful for beginning a classroom discussion on the theme. The second section of each chapter introduces new vocabulary and a specific grammar point to students.Vocabulary words are introduced in context through a short written paragraph. After each vocabulary word is introduced, a short productive exercise follows the vocabulary in context paragraph. Following the vocabulary exercises a grammar point TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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is introduced in a similar manner. The new vocabulary and grammar that were introduced through writing are then further reviewed in a listening exercise. The third section of each chapter focuses more on listening.This section is structured in such a way that students listen to each recording twice. At first, students listen for the gist of the entire listening passage.When students listen for a second time, they are asked to extract more detailed information and specific points to complete a more in-depth listening exercise. The fourth section focsses on pronunciation and speaking. As this section develops a productive skill, a second grammar point is introduced and practiced in this part of each chapter. The fifth section contains a short reading and questions that predominately focus on scanning strategies. There is also a short writing section at the end of each reading section where students are asked to write a paragraph that has some connection to what they have read. Finally, the last section of each chapter is a video journal section. This is where students watch a three to four minute video clip from a National Geographic documentary and answer questions about it. The questions here again tend to focus on developing students’ ability to listen for details. The only claims that the authors make regarding World English 2 tend to relate to student engagement and using English to introduce students to the world around them; it is easy to see how these claims can be accomplished. However, one should keep in mind that keeping students engaged in the curriculum and making students more aware about the world around them are noble goals that are often not easily accomplished. The media content from National Geographic in this book might even encourage students to read the book on their own. In addition, the content of each chapter could make for lively classroom discussions. One problem with the thematic approach this book uses is that each unit introduces new vocabulary words or new grammar, but then these new items are not encountered again for the remainder of the book. The book has twelve units and introduces two grammar points in each unit. Therefore, it is possible that in studying the book cover to cover, students will be introduced to 24 different grammar points. Volume 21
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Without teacher-created supplemental practice and careful selection of which vocabulary or grammar points will be studied in courses that utilize this book, students may not get enough practice with important vocabulary and grammar. Most of the themes in this book are student centered and culturally appropriate. There is actually a lot of content in this book that is centered around people and cultures of the Arab world. However, there is also content from other areas that teachers may want to avoid presenting or appropriately contextualize in their classrooms. Particularly teachers should carefully examine the unit on celebrations, as holidays like Halloween, Dia de Los Muertos, Kwanzaa, and O-bon are presented within this chapter. Students may have difficulty understanding this material without appropriate teacher guidance. Overall this is a very interesting textbook. Students will enjoy using this book and if the content is presented appropriately, they will broaden their understanding of the work. The reading, writing, and grammar sections may require teacher supplementation. However, because this book has so much interesting content, it could be very useful for initiating discussions in a listening and speaking classroom. At the very least, programs that add this textbook to their curriculums will have more interesting classrooms with more engaged students.
Matthew A. Carey Qatar University Doha, Qatar
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Achieve IELTS 1 & 2 Louis Harrison, Caroline Cushen and Susan Hutchison Heinle Cengage Learning, 2013 ISBN: 978-1-133-31319-9 & 978-1-133-31387-8 165 pages & 175 pages
The second editions of Achieve IELTS 1 and Achieve IELTS 2 from Heinle Cengage Learning are examples of engaging, clearly-focused textbooks that provide student training for success in taking the IELTS exam. They are well-designed and visually appealing, with short units that move quickly and logically through the preparation process. The books are strategyoriented, and the practice focus is on each type of IELTS question commonly found in the exams. The accompanying workbooks are also helpful for additional practice, but do not appear strictly necessary, given the wealth of practice activities contained in the main textbooks themselves.
for a variety of possible IELTS questions. There is a clear book map at the front of each book that lays out the specific content of each unit as it relates to the four sections of an IELTS exam: speaking, reading, listening, and writing. It also outlines the language, pronunciation, and speaking focus addressed in each unit, along with the IELTS strategy practiced within it. One of the best features of the books is the inclusion of the audio scripts which allow students to see where the required information was, following the listening exercises. The helpful hints and tips contained in the “IELTS Strategies” boxes are short and to the point.
The format of the books is attractive, printed in full color with sections of white space to relieve density, although the margins are not large.The content is clear and focused, well-aimed at the levels indicated, with good coverage of all the skills.The topics of the units are interesting and not repetitive in the two levels so that students using them in progression are introduced to a wide range of topics that also help to prepare them
I found the content of the books appropriate for this region, with the exception of one small section. Unit 3, “Living Space,” in Book 1 contains listening tracks (1.18 – 1.21) that would be better avoided, with two describing preparation for and the aftermath of a party in a co-ed living situation (with one of the students named Ahmed!). There is also another section specifically describing either co-ed or single-
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40 sex dormitory options. I would omit this small section if using the books in this region. A reference to a messy kitchen being “an absolute tip” (used in one listening and also in a following exercise) confused me for a minute. This expression may be more common in British English; it is not a North American expression. However, that being said, I found very little language bias in these books which makes them amenable to wide appeal. There are a few other very minor issues, but they are easily addressed. The reading topics are interesting, but, as with most IELTS textbooks, the length of the readings in Book 1 is not commensurate with the length of the readings in an actual IELTS exam. Book 2 does a much better job of including longer readings. Most students tend to tire easily when faced with a long passage but need this exposure and training to assess and build their endurance. The exposure to longer readings should start at the Band 4.5-6.0 level that most tertiary institutions in the UAE require, but this can easily be supplied via other resources. Also, on occasion, specific tasks do not seem to tie together as well as they might. For example, in Book 1, Unit 4, “Film Society,” the Speaking Individual Long Turn/
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Activity 1 (p. 48) asks students to discuss ways to raise funds for equipment for a student society they decide upon, but Activities 2, 3, and 4 are about “a film you saw that made an impression on you.” It would be easy to focus Activity 1 on equipment for a film society to be consistent. Overall, the books are attractive and easy to use. The wide range of activities and varied topics should ensure that students remain interested and gain facility in the skills they need to be successful in an IELTS exam. Having books that focus clearly on the specific IELTS levels they are designed to meet is a major benefit for classes aimed at achieving a particular proficiency band. i
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Barbara R. Reimer United Arab Emirates University Al Ain, UAE
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TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo Dallas, Texas, USA Beth Wiens & James McDonald It was our pleasure to represent TESOL Arabia as the Affiliate Representatives at TESOL’s Annual Convention and English Language Expo in Dallas, Texas, USA this year, from March 20-23, 2013. It was a great opportunity to learn more about organization and governance and to network with other national and international affiliates of TESOL. The first day for Affiliate Leaders was Tuesday, March 20. James McDonald, TESOL Arabia Immediate Past President, and Beth Wiens, the Affiliate Representative, attended the PreConference Affiliate Leaders’ Workshop. This was a great opportunity to network with other affiliate leaders and to learn about strategic planning and governance for our organization. This gave us ideas about strategic planning activities for the leadership of TESOL Arabia. Affiliate Leader meetings kept us busy much of the convention, but we did attend the Opening Plenary by John Hunter, a humble elementary school teacher with remarkable vision. His TED talk brought him to be a plenary speaker at TESOL this year. His plenary, titled “World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements,” was a very moving and inspirational talk that brought the auditorium to a standing ovation. It was the highlight of all the presentations that we saw. TESOL Arabia was invited to participate in the Affiliate Leaders’ Colloquium, the focus of which was TESOL educator identity. The panel of speakers included representatives from Australia, Japan, Argentina, the UAE, and Haiti. Wiens gave a presentation on TESOL educator identity in the
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UAE. This particular presentation generated quite a bit of interest in teaching in the Middle East! Wiens also presented at the Affiliate Leaders’ Editors’ Workshop. She gave a presentation on TESOL Arabia Publications and distributed copies of Perspectives to other editors there. We did several activities to highlight the practices and issues of publishing affiliate newsletters. One fact that struck Wiens was that very few of the affiliates actually print their newsletters. They are almost all exclusively online or electronic. We also volunteered to sit in the TESOL Affiliates booth for an hour on Friday, March 22. This is a booth near registration where affiliates can showcase their materials and show convention delegates what they have to offer. It was a great opportunity to connect and network with other delegates and colleagues. Our suggestion for the future is that the Affiliate Representative always does this, but that we take a pop-up banner and more materials about TESOL Arabia to give to visiting delegates. One interesting aspect of the conference was the way the Annual Budget Meeting (ABM) was held. This is TESOL International’s version of our Annual General Meeting (AGM). Rather than being centered solely on the president’s report, it was broken up into specific areas with multiple speakers focused on membership and budget, a report by the out-going president, and a speech by the in-coming president. We are grateful to have served as this year’s Affiliate Representatives for TESOL Arabia. It was a great opportunity to serve the organization and learn more about TESOL and our other affiliates in the USA and around the world. TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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TESOL International Conference 2013 Dallas, Texas, USA Mouhamad Mouhanna The TESOL 2013 International Convention took place at the Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas on March 20-23. The theme was “Harmonizing Language Heritage and Cultures,” with the convention attracting over 1,500 presenters and more than 6,000 attendees from over a hundred different countries. This is by far the biggest and most prestigious TESOL conference in the world, hosting a diverse range of sessions to cater to the professional development needs of the diverse backgrounds and experiences of its attendees through presentations, roundtable discussions, leadership programs, and doctoral forums. In addition to presentations, the convention also hosted other professional opportunities, such as an exhibit hall, the Job MarketPlace, Breakfast with TESOL’s Best, K-12 Dream Day, a huge book fair, the Electronic Village, and a host of training workshops. A number of world renowned scholars and practitioners in the fields of TESOL and linguistics presented at the convention. The opening session was conducted by John Hunter, an award-winning teacher who spoke about teaching children critical thinking and problem solving skills by utilising real-world problems. Keynote speakers included Bonny Norton, who spoke about student and teacher identities in the classroom. Other prominent keynote speakers were Thomas Nakayama as well as the current TESOL International President, Suzanne Panferov. Attendees and presenters from the GCC region were also well-represented at the convention. Dudley Reynolds of Carnegie Mellon University Qatar examined the role of teachers’ knowledge of students’ first language for effective teaching and learning. Other researchers from the MENA Region, who examined local challenges, included a panel discussion of teacher trainers from Arab countries, hosted by Kassim Shaaban of the Volume 21
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American University of Beirut, who reported on professional development challenges in various countries in the Arab world. Also from the region were Diane Malcolm of Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain, and Chris Evers of Qatar University College of Law, Qatar, among others. Additionally, there were a range of presentations which concentrated on meeting the needs of Muslim and Arabic-speaking learners of English. Kendra Staley of Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia, explored how EFL teachers could effectively adapt classroom content for Muslim learners. The Convention’s book fair was huge with many major publishers represented. Of particular interest to me was the increase in the newer testing methods being developed in the industry as many publishers become more interested in developing online examinations to offer universities around the world. The Job MarketPlace hosted many employers, several of whom were from the MENA region and from the GCC in particular. Apart from the professional development experiences I gained through attending the convention, I was also able to network with colleagues from many different parts of the world, and discuss various concerns and challenges associated with our profession. I was accompanied by many colleagues including TESOL International’s past president Dr Christine Coombe, Beth Weins, Dr Ali Shehadeh and others from TESOL Arabia. It was a great privilege to be able to attend the TESOL International Convention in Dallas, and one that I will remember for a long time to come.
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IATEFL Associate Report Liverpool, England Sally McQuinn It was a “Hard Day’s Night,” but I had a great time representing TESOL Arabia as our associate at the Annual International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language Conference in Liverpool, UK, April 8-12. I give the entire experience five stars from beginning to end, particularly due to the way the local heritage (and heroes!) were intertwined with conference events, sessions, and even plenaries. Who could have guessed that Dr David Crystal would open the conference with a topic such as “The World in Which We Live in: Beatles, Blends and Blogs?”Crystal was not the only one to connect current trends in teaching to the Fab Four. One of my favorite activities actually took place after the formal sessions ended, part of the evening events that conference organizers put into place to make a very welcome and enjoyable experience for all. “Maggie May…a Celebration of Liverpool” had the crowd singing along to Beatles’ tunes and contemplating questions about the slave trade in an interactive magical mystery, history tour. As an associate, I participated in several events which were above and beyond my expectations. The conference included pre-conference events such as the lovely SVA dinner and Associate’s Day which provided affiliated teaching associations like TESOL Arabia with valuable opportunities to share ideas on key issues and get to know other associates from around the world. I made several new aquaintances from these associations, some of which use acronyms that made me smile: SNELT is the name of the teacher’s association in Niger, and SPELT is where I met some new friends from Pakistan. I was very pleased by the convenient Conference App offered by IATEFL. I particularly appreciated Liverpool Online, sponsored by the British Council. I was able to catch the early morning plenary speakers during my breakfast without having to hurry over to the venue itself. In fact, with more than 2000 participants, the venue got quite full, quite fast, so at times it was just easier to watch the proceedings live on my iPad (all whilst enjoying a nice cup of hot tea, which I sorely needed as temperatures dropped to 0ºC some days). Obviously conference planners were not considering just my comfort when they added Volume 21
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this online element – it was a great way to include teachers from around the world who were not able to get to the UK, giving them a chance to be a part of it all from wherever they could log on. The online forum was yet another chance to connect with others that I took advantage of in order to find people with interests similar to mine. My week in Liverpool was a fabulous one indeed. From the excellent selection of speakers and the variety of presentations, to the Fab Four sing-alongs and local heritage highlights, this conference had it all. I appreciated the way networking was encouraged throughout the week with so many opportunities to get to know teachers from around the globe. The motto of IATEFL is “Linking, developing and supporting English Language Teaching professionals worldwide,” and that is exactly what I experienced at this year’s annual conference. For TESOL Arabia members, we have an associate membership form available if you are interested in joining IATEFL (at a reduced fee for TA members).The website for IATEFL is www.iatefl.org. Please email me if you would like further details on how to join. Perhaps I will see you at next year’s conference in Harrogate, UK, April 2014. Remember, TA offers grants for travel, and IATEFL also has funds available to aid conference goers. It is a conference well worth attending.
(From left) Naziha Ali, Sally McQuinn, and Vicky Allen attend the 47th Annual IATEFL International Conference and Exhibition in Liverpool, England.
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47th Annual International IATEFL Conference & Exhibition Liverpool, England Vicky A. Allen This year I had the honor of receiving a grant from TESOL Arabia to help with my expenses to attend the Annual International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition in Liverpool, UK, April 8-12. Before moving to the United Arab Emirates three years ago, I had attended conferences in the United States but never abroad. Since arriving here, I have attended many conferences and workshops within the UAE, but this was my first international one. It was an amazing experience from beginning to end, and I hope that this is only my first of many more such events. I was truly in awe of such highly acclaimed people from all over the world, and I even met teachers from distant countries I had never heard of previously. The conference was held at the Liverpool Convention Center, which was, without a doubt, the most organized venue I have ever attended. There was always a security person around to answer questions, and I appreciated the way signs were put on meeting room doors when the session was full and/or had already begun, eliminating interruptions for both speakers and participants. Another aspect of this conference was the Conference App offered by IATEFL. In the past, attending a large conference, I would be completely overwhelmed by the numerous sessions from which to choose. This app allowed me to look through all of the presentation topics and descriptions and add my choices to my planner, also part of the app. If I wasn’t sure which session to pick, which happened several times, I was able to bookmark my indecision for a later time. No more conference book to carry around and shuffle through. What prompted me to attend IATEFL 2013 was the fact that my proposal,“An Intensive Approach to Extensive Learning,” was accepted, and I was asked to be a presenter for the Learner Autonomy Special Interest Group (LASIG) pre-conference event on Monday, April 8.This promised to be a week of “firsts” for me. On Sunday, April 7, the Learner Autonomy SIG, headed by Leni Dam and Lienhard Legenhausen, held a welcome dinner. I immediately saw that most of the people knew each other, but they quickly brought me into the mix, introducing me to the group. Being new to international conferences, this was a delightful Volume 21
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way for me to meet some of my colleagues before my presentation the next day. I sat near many of the leaders in Learner Autonomy: Jo Mynard, Neil Dean, Klaus Schwienhorst, plus others. We enjoyed a delicious meal with relaxed conversation, and this was only the beginning of a very well organized event. Monday was the Pre-Conference Event in which 15 different SIGs had their own sessions. As part of the Learner Autonomy group, we remained together for the day, listening to the opening keynote by David Little and the closing keynote by Jo Mynard. Presentations and poster talks filled the rest of the day while Christian Ludwig made sure the technology ran smoothly. I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to speak at such an event! This day was particularly beneficial for me, both personally and professionally, and definitely was not just an ”add-on” to the conference. It was well thought-out, thanks again to the organizers Dam and Legenhaused, and chock full of pertinent and practical information to carry back home. On Tuesday, the opening plenary session entitled “The World in Which We Live in: Beatles, Blends and Blogs” was presented by the fascinating David Crystal, who illustrated trends in syntax and phonology that appear in pop music and beyond. One of the presentations that day was “Enhancing Students’ Reading Fluency,” presented by Syed M. Golam Faruk, in which he quoted research by Paul Nation and others to show a direct correlation between reading fluency and standardized reading scores. He stated how fluency benefits our students across the other skill areas, as well. His presentation delivered perfect support for our pilot Intensive English Program at Fujairah Women’s College. Overall, this conference experience has been lifechanging. Sometimes we, as teachers, get so wrapped up in our own little worlds, consisting of our classrooms and our local areas, that it’s important for us to look outside of our boxes. As well, it’s vital for those who are no longer in the classroom to hear from those of us who are, to see what is actually working or not working with our students. This conference allowed me a time to network with people from so many different cultures. Thank you, TESOL Arabia, for giving me this opportunity. TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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Confluence IV Nagpur, India Leila Mouhanna Confluence IV on Teaching and Learning English as a Second Language was held on February 23-24, 2013. The event was organized and hosted by the Tulsiramji Gaikwad- Patil College of Engineering and Technology (TGPCET), located in Nagpur, Maharashtra, in association with the Abha GaikwadPatil College of Engineering (AGPCE). The Confluence attracted presenters and attendees internationally and from all parts of India, and hosted over 500 papers. Presentations concentrated on a diverse range of fields, including teacher training for ELT, CALL, language assessment, world Englishes, language teaching in technical institutions, and ESL teaching to young learners. The first keynote presenter was Dr Margaret Lieb of Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan. Dr Leib’s research interests include intercultural communication, crosscultural issues and ethics in education. These interests were the themes of her presentation, which focused on the role of EFL teachers in fostering intercultural awareness and appreciation for linguistic and cultural diversity amongst students. Her discussion was based on her experiences in teaching a Language and Culture course to both Japanese and international students at Meiji University. In her presentation, Dr Lieb supported the need for developing a code of ethics for guiding the EFL profession. My presentation was based on the role of gender in language use in the workplace. In particular, I referred to the workplace communication model (Brady, 2006), earlier studies, particularly by Tannen (1990), and Indian-based research concerning gender and workplace communication (Kaul, 2012). I then discussed some of these findings’ implications for teaching EFL. The presentation triggered lengthy debate, largely between the men and the women in the forum, concerning the increasing participation of women in the Indian workplace, the role of language in gender equality, and gender equality in general. During the course of the conference, there was also significant interest in the role and value assigned to non-standard varieties of English, notably Volume 21
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Indian English, and language identity. This theme was pertinently raised during a panel discussion which senior engineering and IT students from the college were invited to attend. Many of the questions raised by students were concerned with the extent to which English language fluency, Indian varieties of English, and accent influenced their capacities for employment and specifically, their competitiveness in the Nagpurian workforce. This city has recently undergone significant industrial growth, becoming one of the most important cities of the state of Maharashtra, particularly for the IT sector, and has witnessed the establishment of a number of multinational IT firms and the growth of international call centers in the city. These developments have meant a further emphasis on English language competency amongst graduates for increased workforce marketability. Delegates’ responses concentrated on emphasising the value of students’ linguistic identities, characterised by local models of Indian English. Overall, Confluence IV provided a rich professional development opportunity which hosted a variety of informative presentations and presented attendees with opportunities to meet and learn from colleagues in the EFL profession from around the world. I also valued the experience as a rare opportunity to experience Nagpur, India, where I was warmly welcomed by the staff and students at Tulsiramji Gaikwad-Patil College of Engineering and Technology.
References
Brady, K. (2006). Gender matters: Challenges of cross-gender communication in the workplace. Law Practice Today. Retrieved from http://apps. americanbar.org/lpm/lpt/articles/mkt02061. shtml Kaul, A. (2012). Man and woman talk in Indian organizations: Grammatical and syntactical similarities. Journal of Business Communication, 49(3), pp. 254-276. Tannen, D. (1990). You just don’t understand:Women and men in conversation. New York: Harper Collins.
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The 4th Annual Gulf Comparative Education Society Symposium Muscat, Oman Neil McBeath Billed as a symposium, this was really a fullfledged three-day conference, held under the joint sponsorship of the Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research and Sultan Qaboos University, from March 16-18, 2013. There were presymposium workshops on Saturday, March 16, but these unfortunately coincided with the final day of the 19th International TESOL Arabia Conference. The next two days, however, allowed participation by a large number of delegates. The symposium was arranged so that it was possible to hear plenary speakers, attend featured panels, and then choose between parallel breakout sessions (held in English and Arabic) which were also constructed on a panel basis. The upshot of this was that, on average, a panel of four speakers would share a 50-minute time slot. This arrangement prevented prolixity, but also gave little room for detailed explanations. Fernando Reimers, the plenary speaker (“Learning from the Facts: Can Educational Research Inform Policy and Practice?”) argued that the relationship between research and policy was considerably more complex than had initially been believed, and that the early assumption that empirical research would produce informed knowledge that, in turn, would lead to better policy and practices was probably naïve. Stakeholders frequently had their own agendas and preferred to work to those rather than implement initiatives based on outside research findings. He suggested that, against this scenario, schools of education could only offer persuasion, policy dialogue, and negotiation. My own paper, “Worm’s Eye View: The Impact of Policy and Research on the Classroom Practitioner,” took issue with Kennedy’s (2001) model of educational planning, which relegates the teacher to the status of a variable, at the lowest level of the policy Volume 21
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ladder. The paper argued that in terms of learner outcomes, dedicated teachers had far more impact than the education programs in which they worked, and that teachers should be moved to center stage. Veena Raiganger’s “Policy Analysis: Inclusive Education in the United Arab Emirates” reported on an entirely admirable initiative, which prohibits schools in the UAE from excluding children who have special needs. The difficulty here, however, is quite how severe those needs may be, and the extent to which some children can ever be truly included in a conventional classroom. Some schools are already suspected of accepting pupils with special needs so that the school will score higher ratings, while making little provision for the children themselves. Many teachers feel unprepared to teach pupils who have special needs and claim that they are given inadequate support. This segued into Aleya James’s “What is Education for? A Biestan Perspective.” This paper outlined the theories of Gert Biesta, Professor of Educational Theory and Policy at the University of Luxemburg. The presenter suggested that the UAE Vision 2030 document implies that the country’s primary educational aims are socialization and qualification – producing a “certificated” national population. These aims exclude the subjectification that lies at the heart of Biesta’s approach, and consequently suggest that the educational process is finite, as opposed to lifelong and introspective. This was a difficult paper, but it raised important concerns that go beyond educational practices in the Arab Gulf.
References
Kennedy, C. (2001). Language use, language planning and EAP. In J. Flowerdew & M. Peacock (Eds.), Research perspectives on English for academic purposes (pp. 25-41). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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Gulf Comparative Education Society Symposium Muscat, Oman Melanie Gobert The 4th Annual Gulf Comparative Education Society Symposium (GCES) was held at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman, March 16-18. The theme of the conference was “Bridging the Policy/Research Divide in the Gulf Cooperation Council.” The keynote speaker was Fernando Reimers, the Ford Foundation’s Professor of International Education and Director of the International Policy Program at the Graduate School of Education. Professor Reimers spoke about a well-developed body of research examining the relationship between empirical evidence and educational policy. He proposed reframing the research enterprise with a more direct and deliberate intent to inform the nexus between policy and practice using emerging technologies. The rest of the conference was divided up into hourly panel sessions made up of three speakers and one chair. The first panel was entitled “Linking Research to Educational Policy.” The speakers presented on educational research policy and institutions in Oman; the impact of policy and research on the classroom practitioner; evidence-based policy development at the Knowledge and Human Development Authority in Dubai; and cultural gaps between researchers, practioners, and policy makers. The second panel was the New Scholars Panel chaired by Melanie Gobert.Veena Raigangar of the University of Sharjah presented on “Policy Analysis: Inclusive Education in the UAE,” followed by Mariam El Hashemi of the Emirates National Schools presenting on “A Comparative Study of Islamic and Western Learner Profile Traditions Relevant to an Evaluation of the International Baccalaureate Program.” Hanna Buchler Eden of the British University in Dubai contributed “The Implementation of the New ADEC Policy in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi,” which was followed by Aleya James of the Higher Colleges of Technology presenting on “What Is Education for? A Biestan Perspective.” Volume 21
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The final breakout session of the first day’s sessions, “Evaluating and Transforming Educational Systems,” was chaired by David Palfreyman. Melanie Gobert presented on the reading curriculum, followed by Faten S. M. Abdel-Hammeed and Salah A. A. Emara from the University of Bahrain, who presented the preliminary findings of a review of the Cycle 2-Primary science textbooks in Bahrain. Gameel Mohamed of Emirates College for Advanced Education in Abu Dhabi concluded the session with a talk on globalization, education, and identity. The symposium hosted over 100 speakers on educational policy from the Gulf and neighboring Middle Eastern countries as well as Europe and the United States. A number of panel presentations and discussions were in Arabic as well as English. Panels ranged from “Applying Transnational Models of Education” to “Student Leadership and Development.” The symposium encouraged the generation of a better model for enabling policy makers to formulate evidence-based policy decisions which support their ideological and political constraints. I am grateful to TESOL Arabia for awarding me an International Travel Grant to attend and present at the GCES Symposium.
Panelists (from left) Gameel Mohamed, Melanie Gobert, Salah A. A. Emara, Faten S. M. Abdel-Hammeed, and Chair David Palfreyman present on “Evaluating and Transforming Educational Systems.” TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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Oman International ELT Conference Muscat, Oman Neil McBeath One of the advantages of the International TESOL Arabia Conferences is that they offer a change of venues. In the past three years, they have been held in Dubai at the Marriott Hotel, the Dubai Women’s College, and the Hyatt Regency Hotel. This variation makes direct comparisons difficult.
several vocabulary word lists, little attention has been given to students’ spelling needs, despite the fact that poor spelling is the first thing native-speakers tend to criticize. He then outlined the rationale and methodology for the creation of a new word list and asked for collaborators in this project.
The same is not true, however, of the Oman International ELT Conference, which has now been held in the same venue for 13 years at Sultan Qaboos University, and was held this year from April 17-18. The format is beginning to look tired. Once again, delegates arrived to find a scrum at registration, nowhere to sit, and no refreshments. When snack boxes were available – after the opening address – the catering ran short, although at least this year more outdoor seating had been provided.
Other outstanding speakers were Ali Al Issa whose paper, “Making a Case for SQU ELT Research,” could be summarized in a single quotation: “We have done a lot of research but have little to show for it.” Until the gap between the researchers and the major decision makers is bridged, this will remain the case.
For the first time, moreover, pre-booking was essential. The Omani Ministry of Education had reserved 300 places for school teachers, and the University of Sohar had reserved 90 more. Sadly, no one seems to have informed the Shinas College of Technology of the dates, and so that institution held its own annual workshop on April 15. Liaison between the two organizing committees might have avoided this “London bus” scenario. So far as the plenary sessions were concerned, Ann Johns was a disappointment. Time was, she was a major name in ESP, bracketed in Tickoo (1988) between John Swales and Tony Dudley-Evans. In Muscat, she offered a paper entitled “Rhetorical Genre Theories in the EFL Classroom,” a topic that offered little to those outside tertiary education, and nothing to those who were looking for something to take back into their classrooms. Keith Folse, by contrast, was excellent. His paper, “The Creation of a New ESL Spelling Vocabulary List,” explained that while EFL has given rise to Volume 21
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Fatima al Khalifin’s “I’m a Teenager” suggested that teenagers were often very insecure, and that teachers needed to be more empathetic. There is no point in teaching “the book” and repeating that “you’ll need these skills later” because teenagers are primarily interested in language that has an immediate surrender value. She also suggested that feedback should provide direction rather than criticism. Anyone can underline errors; the trick is ensuring that they do not occur. Finally, what on earth persuaded the conference organizers to offer only four speakers for the penultimate session? There must have been speaker proposals that could have filled up the program. If ever there was an invitation to delegates to push off home and ignore the conference wrap up, then this was it. Scheduled to finish at 1700 hours, the Oman 13th International ELT Conference actually expired some two hours earlier – not with a bang, but a whimper.
References
Reda, G. (2003). English coursebooks: Prototype texts and vocabulary norms. English Language Teaching Journal, 57(3), 260-268. Tickoo, M. L. (ed). (1988). ESP: State of the Art. Singapore: SEAMEO RELC. TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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Mobile Learning in the 21st Century Dubai, United Arab Emirates Melanie Gobert The aim of Mobile Learning in the 21st Century, a pre-conference professional development course held on March 13 at the Hyatt Regency as part of the 19th International TESOL Arabia Conference, was to provide participants with an opportunity to explore the potential of mobile technologies in their own teaching context. Participants came from various countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council including the UAE, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia to attend the course.
In the third session, the presenters reviewed how 21st Century learning principles changed ways of thinking, ways of working, and tools for learning. The presenters alluded to the fact that digital natives (our students of today) will need to learn in a different way so that they can be prepared for the future job market which will avail of the new technologies to change the collaboration, achievement, and productivity of the work environment.
The course began with an introduction to the educational principles of using technology to support student learning presented by Featured Speaker Linda Price of the Open University, UK. One of the principles is that mobile technology such as mobile phones are ubiquitous, so they are an ideal tool to be used for learning anywhere by anyone. A second principle is that mobile technology is changing the time and space dimensions of learning between the teacher, the technology, and the learner. Learning is no longer restricted to the desktop PC or the computer lab, as everyone has their preferred mobile device with them at all times. Students do not need to be in a fixed place to do their homework or connect to their teacher. These attributes enable learners to construct knowledge as active participants rather than be passive recipients as in traditional classrooms. This in turn affects the normal patterns of participation and learning because learning can now occur at any time of the day or night. The presenter concluded with the advice that for technology use to be an effective strategy for learning, it must be aligned with the overall pedagogical outcomes of the program of study.
The fourth session explained the SAMR model, which was originally conceived as a transformational business model for the application of technology in the workplace. SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition, whereby the introduction of new technologies eventually redefines what you can do as a business, or, in this case, as educators. The fifth and final session provided a platform for course participants to create a work flow (lesson plan) with apps for the language classroom. Many interesting ideas were shared including how to integrate apps, keynote, and speaking into a seamless workflow.
The second session was an introduction to iPads by Andrew Blackmore and Troy Priest, invited speakers from Zayed University in the UAE.They provided a hands-on introduction to the devices general operation including its ports, switches, and home screen icons. Participants also became familiar with multi-tasking gestures and everyday functions such as search, copy, paste, define, reader, and so on. At the end of the session, participants were familiar with the device and able to participate in the sessions which followed. Volume 21
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I am grateful to TESOL Arabia for awarding me a Professional Development Grant to attend this helpful, hands-on workshop.
Andrew Blackmore jokes with participants at the TESOL Arabia pre-conference professional development course, “Mobile Learning in the 21st Century.� TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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Research & Teacher Training and Development SIG Conference Mohamed Azaza The Teacher-led Research Conference took place at Abu Dhabi University on February 9, 2013. It was a joint event organized by the Research SIG, Teacher Training and Development SIG, and Abu Dhabi Chapter. One of the most important goals of organizing this conference was to promote an interest in teacher research. The conference started with a welcome address by Fathi Ben Mohamed from the Abu Dhabi Chapter and Mick King from the TTD SIG. This was followed by a plenary, “Teacher-led Action Research as a Means of Personal and Professional Development,” by Dr Lois Smith from Middlesex University. In her presentation, Dr Smith explored the nature of action research in relation to teacher-led projects, with a particular emphasis on the way it can be used to bring about change. Dr Smith also gave examples of action research projects carried out by herself and her MA students. Finally, she discussed with the audience some of the methodological and ethical issues that are inherent in action research. During the third concurrent sessions Mahes Ali Al Olaimat talked about the effectiveness of a task-based language teaching (TBLT) approach in teaching ESL to students at a vocational institute in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. After explaining his rationale for conducting such a study, Al Olaimat presented the methodological procedures as well as the findings of his study. He concluded his presentation by confirming that the TBLT approach had some academic as well as motivational gains for his students. In another presentation Sue Medel explained how she designed focused vocabulary lessons in which she taught select collocations from IELTS textbooks. Elaborating more on this experience, Medel explained that the approach was helpful and useful to her weaker students. One important implication from this intervention is to rethink and restructure the way IELTS Task 1 is taught to lower level learners. Volume 21
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One of the highlights of the Research and TTD Conference was Dr Wafa Zoghbor’s presentation which was co-presented with her student, Rawdha Al-Mansuri. The major goal of the project according to Dr Zoghbor was to enhance students’ motivation in studying English composition through public presentation and interaction with society. She also explained how this project has been built into the syllabus to meet institutional as well as students’ needs, as well as the course’s goals and objectives. Finally, Al-Mansuri gave an overview of collaborative research she and her classmates had carried out earlier this year. She concluded her presentation by talking about her colleagues’ evaluation of their experience in the research project. Altogether, the conference was a great success. Suffice it to say that it has provided an opportunity for teachers and educators interested in educational research to present and discuss their research projects. I personally would like to thank all the members of the TTD SIG, the Research SIG and the Abu Dhabi Chapter SIG who made such an event possible. Thanks are also due to the presenters for their distinguished contribution and input. We are also indebted to our great TESOL Arabia members for attending and bringing interesting discussions to the presentations.
Dr Wafa Zoghbor presents “A Project-Based Approach for Enhancing Students’ Motivation in Writing Classes.” TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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READ SIG Update Daniel Stebbins The READ SIG has had a remarkably good year with several more than successful events and more books being given away and read than even we could have predicted. For that is our mission: to get people reading by hook or by crook, by night or day.
of Sharjah Community College campus, this time in Khorfakkan. Feedback on the event was very positive and the READ SIG members greatly appreciate all of the hard work the Eastern Region Chapter (ERC) put into the event.
We accomplish this through quality continuous professional development, teacher training, giving books away at our events, by collecting and donating books to schools, through the TESOL Arabia book drive, virtually through social media, and more practically by leaving them in the back seats of people’s cars. We are interested in any means to promote reading and encourage young and old alike to read for pleasure.
Our final event of the year was our best, hitting the third Emirate in as many tries. This was a large event shared with the Dubai Chapter and the Teacher Training and Development SIG. The venue was Middlesex University on the last Saturday in May.
We kicked off our year with the first event being held jointly with the Sharjah Chapter at the University of Sharjah Community College campus. Although this venue may be difficult to find the first time, it is well worth logging into your GPS. We were fortunate enough to have some highly respected and knowledgeable educators share their knowledge with those who attended. Our second event of the year was co-hosted with the Eastern Region Chapter, and 55 people turned out to this event. This too was held at a University
Attendance has been quite high at our events due to using many Web 2.0 tools and social media platforms to publicize the events: Slideshare for hosting flyers, Mailchimp for bulk mailing, and Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for bombarding. The result of this multi flank approach is well tracked through Google Analytics, which averages around 1000 clicks per document on Slideshare and attracts over 50 people per event. Read SIG sincerely hopes that you pick up a good book today and come out to one of our events where you may win a book, and if you see us on the net, pop up and say, “Hi.” And don’t be surprised if you find an unread book in the back seat of your car.
Yasser Salem, Daniel Stebbins, and Sally McQuinn (from left) host a join event in the Eastern Region. Volume 21
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News from the Leadership & Management SIG Christine Coombe TESOL Arabia’s Leadership and Management SIG started out 2013 with the 5th Annual Teacher Leadership Academy which took place at Dubai Men’s College on February 14-15. Plenary speakers Drs Lauren Stephenson, Dean Sheetz, Christine Coombe, and Rachel Lange shared their perspectives on leadership in ELT with approximately 150 attendees. Earlier the LM SIG collaborated with the LLLA and READ SIGs for an event held in Dubai in January 2013. Dr Peter Hatherely-Greene delivered the LM SIG featured speech at the TESOL Arabia Conference in March. The TESOL Arabia Conference also saw the launch of the LM SIG edited volume entitled Middle East Handbook of Applied Linguistics. This volume, edited by Ramin Akbari and Christine Coombe, featured 13 chapters from worldwide and locally-based experts in the field. As always, giving back to the profession is an important professional mandate of the LM SIG. To this end, we conducted two charity events this past academic year. The first was held in Dhaka,
Bangladesh, where five TESOL Arabia presenters (Christine Coombe, Konrad Cedro, Audrey Renton, Guy Brooksbank, and Mouhamad Mouhanna) shared their knowledge and expertise on aspects relating to personal and professional development with about 80 Bangladeshi teachers. This event is currently in its 3rd year and is held in collaboration with Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association. In April 2013, Dr Christine Coombe travelled to Islamabad with TESOL Arabia current Executive Council member, Dr Naziha Ali, and former Executive Council member, Hafeez Rahman, for two days of personal and professional development training with 75 Pakistani teachers. This event was coordinated with Vista Consult and took place at the Pakistan Academy of Sciences. While there we were able to inaugurate a teacher and student resource center in honor of the late Dr Lisa Barlow, TESOL Arabia Past President and LM SIG member. These charity events are self-funded. If you are interested in being a part of one in the next academic year, please contact us at ccoombe@hct.ac.ae.
LM SIG inaugurates DrTESOL Lisa Barlow Teachernow Student Center (from left Hafeez Rahman, Christine Coombe, and Naziha Ali). Arabia has Resource a facebook page! Volume 21
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EDTECH SIG News James Buckingham June has always been a great time to review what’s been accomplished in the past academic year and to use that review to help plot a path for the next academic year. It’s with this in mind that I share the following.The EDTECH SIG realized its commitment and then some, in working together with Chapter representatives in Fujairah (November), Abu Dhabi (January), and Dubai (April) to realize a combined total of 15 face to face presentations with a collective face to face audience of approximately 125 attendees. New this year was an effort to broaden that access to members in all parts of the Gulf region via the online posting of as many of these presentations as possible. Are you wondering what you missed? You are invited to check these out on the forums section of the TAEDTECH’s Online Ning Community at http://j.mp/taedtechforums or via the posted QR Code (below).
TAEDTECH’s Ning
We also continue to explore and promote other online PD opportunities. A stalwart to realizing this has been Vance Stevens’s insightful and weekly Learning2Gether events (at http://learning2gether. net) which feature EFL and IT related topics given by presenters from all corners of the world. It is always open to both participants and presenters. (QR code below.)
Learning2Gether The year has not been without its challenges. We are increasingly aware of how today’s EFL instructor is being asked to take on more administrative tasks, larger class sizes, and more IT integration demands (iPads immediately spring to mind).We are conscious of how TESOL Arabia is under increased pressure to be current and relevant for professional development training especially when more and more of that is available for free online. We are also aware of how many of us may be lacking incentives to pursue PD Volume 21
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opportunities outside of those offered by our employers when our energy and time are already in short supply. However, by facing many of these challenges, we have also become aware of exciting opportunities. One of those opportunities happens to be the increasing ability to economically reach TESOL Arabia members in all parts of the Gulf region via ICT, more specifically via live video streaming, video recordings, Twitter chats, and online discussions. We realize that via these same tools, TESOL Arabia members can now participate in greater numbers, discuss these challenges, and, in the process, identify best practices to overcome them. So out of this come the following ideas for the coming academic year. Illustrate to TESOL Arabia members the PD opportunities that can be realized online • We hope to do this by demonstrating methods currently used by fellow members. Identify more clearly membership needs and interests • We hope to realize this via online membership surveys and online member focus groups. identify the uniqueness of EFL instruction and IT integration in the context of the Gulf region • We hope to realize this via themed workshops, online discussion threads, and resource sharing. We also recognize the need to be a leader in marketing the many benefits of pursuing informal PD and to also seek ways to more formally recognize member efforts to do so. Fundamental to all of this is the need for greater TESOL Arabia membership participation. We realize how difficult that may already be. However, all of us who help to make these ideas concrete are faced with the same issues, yet we find time for them because we fundamentally believe in the importance of the TAEDTECH SIG to help realize them. So in closing, if you too see the worth in any of the ideas listed above, and would welcome a chance to work with others who feel the same, we are excited about welcoming you to join us. Please contact us via edtechsig@gmail.com. TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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New Face of the Sharjah Chapter Amr El Zarka The new Sharjah Chapter team faced two major challenges to get the chapter back in action after one year of inactivity. The first major issue was to find a venue for the events, and the second one was to communicate with the members and get them back to fill the workshop rooms and make the presentations as lively as they had been. As for the venue, we found great help and a warm welcome from the Sharjah Community College. They hosted our events for the whole year, offering us all the facilities and staff to help our team organize very professional events. The second challenge was getting our audience back through both effective communication and reputable presenters. We contacted our audience through emails lists, Facebook, SlideShare, and personal communication. Getting presenters was not easy either. We resorted to various methods such as calls for papers, personal relationships, and inviting first timers to the chapters from TACON. We also had very good cooperative relationships with the Dubai Chapter to publicize our events both ways. The chapter organized five events with the last one on May 11. Our first event took place in October, and was a strong return of the chapter. It was a joint
Mick King presents at the Sharjah Chapter and Teacher Training and Development SIG joint event. Volume 21
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event with the Read SIG. We had attendees from different walks of education and also from different cities. The next event was another big success with the Teacher Training and Development (TTD) SIG in November. We were proud that our event was described by one of the TTD SIG team members as “faultless!” One goal we managed to achieve this year is gaining new faces at almost every event, including audience members coming from remote areas in Fujairah. The third event was in February; it was our first solo event. Since that event our relationships have reached new horizons with the British Council in terms of presenters and publicity. This was a new and very good door to open to reach a wider audience; meanwhile, the idea of joint events with the British Council is in process. The fourth event took place in April and was also a solo event. The audience was very satisfied with the areas the workshops dealt with – differentiation and EFL research. The May event ended our events for 2012-2013. This year we had presenters from the Higher Colleges of Technology, Al Ghurair University, the University of Sharjah, the British University in Dubai, and the American University in Sharjah. In the year to come we have high hopes that we will have even more attendees and a bigger diversity of presenters.
Dr Asmaa Awad presents at a Sharjah Chapter event. TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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Chapter Feature Reports Article
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Abu Dhabi Ends on a High Note Fathi Bin Mohamed
The current academic year has been particularly successful for the Abu Dhabi Chapter community. Our events featured amazing opportunities for professional development around 54 stimulating and thought-provoking talks and workshops offered to our members and supporters, reflecting the best ELT practice that is essential to the way educators learn, teach, and lead. The six main events were primarily an opportunity to link, develop, and support English Language Teaching professionals in the area. As organizers of these events, the AD Chapter team feels privileged to interact with so many wonderfully-talented teachers who always add value to each event. Meeting new friends and reconnecting with old ones is just a joyful experience. We were privileged to network, listen to, and enter into a mutually beneficial relationship with a network of language educators from so many different contexts. The events offered all of us a
platform to grow as professionals through a dynamic process of sharing and learning. We are grateful to all past, current, and prospective colleagues and members who have been making continuous efforts to make our activities a success. The bedrock of our events is colleagues who give countless hours of their free time to present and share ideas, experiences, and practices. We would certainly like this practice to continue and invite you all to attend, present, and contribute to this collective effort. We are also always very grateful to the many host institutes for their support and collaboration. We wish you all very rewarding experiences with TESOL Arabia and promise to stay an outwardlooking community of professionals that strives to form bridges between the many contexts of English language teaching and learning. Please visit our Facebook page; www.facebook.com/TA.ADchapter for more information.
Mouna Abou-Assali presents “Teachers’ Emotions and Teachers’ Persistence” at an Abu Dhabi Chapter event.
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Open House in Al Ain Ian Taylor
The Al Ain Chapter put on two events on either side of the TESOL Arabia conference, providing a rather large sandwich of professional development. Feasting themselves on the PD delights in Al Ain, teachers, instructors and educators attended the first event on February 9 at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) where the chapter held a joint fixture with the Literature, Literacy, Language Arts (LLLA) SIG entitled “Pedagogical Fitness: Literature, Literacy and Language Arts for ESL/EFL Learners.” Dr Peter McLaren spoke on “Reading Circles and Classroom Libraries: Getting Weaker Students to Read;” Dr Christopher Morrow delivered “Classroom Assessment of Reading and Vocabulary;” Andwatta Barnes talked about “Using Graded Readers: Autonomous, Online and Interactive;” and Dr Negmeldin Alsheikh presented “Strategies for Constructing, Reconstructing and Deconstructing Vocabulary Learning Process.” Presenters were all from UAEU. The second event was held at the Higher Colleges
Dr Peter McLaren presents on Reading Circles at an Al Ain Chapter Event. Volume 21
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of Technology Al Ain Women’s College on Saturday April 20, where Anthony Solloway of UAEU asked the question “Do Two Wrongs Ever Make a Write(r)?” which was an investigation into the efficacy of written corrective feedback on the formal accuracy of students’ academic writing. David Wayne Rumptz, from UAEU, also asked a question, the succinct “Why Moodle?” and then answered the question in his 45-minute presentation. Dr Lawrence Burke, of Al Ain Women’s College, examined the teacher’s dilemma of research at work, entitled “Exploring Action Research in the Workplace.” Also on the event roster from UAEU was Kholood Al Abed, a research assistant, whose presentation was called “Have Fun Teaching English Pronunciation.” Al Abed showed the way for many aspiring educators who would like to present a PD session. This is something we at the Al Ain Chapter are very keen on developing. If anyone would like to try their hand at giving a talk, why not contact a member of the Al Ain Chapter? Our contact details can be found on the TESOL Arabia website, or email itaylor1@hct.ac.ae
The writing is on the wall for Anthony Solloway at the Al Ain Chapter event. TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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News from Eastern Region Sally McQuinn
Our Eastern Region Chapter’s most recent event, “From Low Tech to High Tech: Testing the 21st Century Student,” took place Saturday, April 20, at Ajman University in Fujairah in partnership with Ajman University of Science & Technology (AUST) and the Testing, Assessment, and Evaluation SIG. The workshop was attended by more than 50 teachers and administrators from the region. Key speakers Christine Coombe and Peter Davidson addressed “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Computerized Assessment” which highlighted some of the pros and cons of going high tech with tests in various levels of education. Issues of validity, cheating, and subjective versus objective marking were discussed along with a practical debate on whether or not computerizing tests is best practice for today’s learners and teachers. Other workshops included Gillian Wright and Denise Josiah’s popular session on “iPads and Assessment – What and How?” in which participants worked alongside the presenters as they exhibited how to use
apps that assess learners’ language use in creative ways. Other presenters included Mohamed EL Zamil of AUST, “Assessment to Enhance Student Learning: Guidelines & Principles;” Dr Jim Ishler from HCT-Fujairah, “Using Projects to Assess Student Learning;” and Slim Khemakhem of HCT-Fujairah, “How Valid Are Our Test Scores?” We are very grateful to Ajman University Fujairah for hosting this event, our second joint event to date. Our previous event was a READ SIG joint event held in partnership with Sharjah University in Khorfakon. More than 60 participants came to take part in this event which included presentations from Christine Baldwin, Cindy Davis, Sally McQuinn and Yasser Salem focusing on “Reaching All Readers.” The Eastern Region Chapter is looking for new team members to join the leadership team in August 2013. If you are interested in helping plan and organize events, please contact local representative Sally McQuinn at smcquinn@hct.ac.ae.
The Eastern Region Chapter team, with partners from Ajman University of Science and Technology and the TAE SIG, pose at the end of the event. Volume 21
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Special Interest Groups SpecialFeature Interest Article Groups
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TESOL Arabia Special Interest Groups English for Special Purposes SIG Phone: 02 644 0339 Email: esptesolarabia@gmail.com
Saad Rabia Chair
Leadership & Management SIG
Najaat Saadi Hezber Co-Chair
Literature, Literacy & Language Arts SIG
Phone: 050 619 4796 Email: christine.coombe@hct.ac.ae
Phone: 050 527 7685 Email: tarabialit@gmail.com
Phone: 050 465 5234 Email: lauren.stephenson@zu.ac.ae Dr Christine Coombe Co-Chair
Hala El Muniawai Chair
Lauren Stephenson Co-Chair
Teacher Training & Teacher Development SIG
Email: tatdsig@gmail.com Mick King Radhika O’Sullivan Dr Marion Engin Events Coordinator Webmaster Co-Chair/Editor
Helen Donaghue Co-Chair
Young Learners SIG
Independent Learning SIG
Phone: 050 151 3613 Email: kathygardner007@gmail.com
Email: tailearn@yahoo.com Website: http://ilearn.20m.com
Kathya Garder AlPhone: Haddad 050 616 8059 Kathy Gardner Secretary
Testing, Assessment & Evaluation SIG
Samah El Shal Treasurer
Mary Mayall Treasurer
Bridie Farah Chair
Read SIG
Phone: 050 619 4796 Email: christine.coombe@hct.ac.ae Yasser Salem Phone: 050 266 8937 Email: yassersalem@yahoo.com
Phone: 050 843 8782 Email: peter.davidson@zu.ac.ae Dr Christine Coombe Peter Davidson Co-Chair Co-Chair
Yasser Salem Chair
Educational Technology SIG Email: edtechsig@gmail.com Ning: http://taedtech.ning.com edtecharabia.twitter.com #taedtech James Buckingham
Vance Stevens
Research SIG Phone: 050 780 3988 Email: amelki22@yahoo.com researchsig22@gmail.com
Mohammad Azaza Denise Mcqueen Sevhan Acar Hammudeh Helene Demirci Secretary/Networking Treasurer/Event Ozdeniz Chair Event Coordinator Coordinator Coordinator
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Abu Dhabi Representative
Ian Taylor
Al Ain Chapter Representative Higher Colleges of Technology/CERT P.O. Box 17155, Al Ain, UAE 050 277 3981 (mobile) itaylor1@hct.ac.ae
Amr El Zarka
Madaras Al Ghad (MAG) 050 711 7980 (mobile) amr2000r@yahoo.com
Position Vacant! If interested, contact Rehab Rajab at rehabrajab@tesolarabia.org or Naziha Ali at nazihaali2005@yahoo.co.uk
Position Vacant! If interested, contact Rehab Rajab at rehabrajab@tesolarabia.org or Naziha Ali at nazihaali2005@yahoo.co.uk
Position Vacant! If interested, contact Rehab Rajab at rehabrajab@tesolarabia.org or Naziha Ali at nazihaali2005@yahoo.co.uk
Volume 21
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Executive Council Feature Article Executive Council
60 64 President
Past President
Rehab Rajab Dubai, UAE 050 637 5957 (mobile) rehab.rajab@tesolarabia.org Twitter: @tesolarabia || #tesolarabia
James McDonald Academic Bridge Program Zayed University Dubai, UAE 04 402 1371 (office) james.mcdonald@zu.ac.ae
Vice-President/Perspectives Co-Editor
Executive Treasurer
Melanie Gobert Abu Dhabi Men's College Higher Colleges of Technology P. O. Box 25035 Abu Dhabi, UAE mgobert@hct.ac.ae
Sufian Abu Rmaileh UAE University - UGRU P. O. Box 17172 Al Ain, UAE 03 706 4562 (home) 050 713 1803 (mobile) sabu-rmaileh@uaeu.ac.ae
Conference Co-Chair/Membership Secretary
Conference Co-Chair
Les Kirkham c/o Al Ain Women’s College Higher College of Technology P. O. Box 17258, Al Ain, UAE leskirkham@gmail.com
Sandra Oddy Al Ain Women's College Higher Colleges of Technology P. O. Box 17258 Al Ain, UAE 03 709 5319 (office) Sandra.Oddy@hct.ac.ae
Executive Secretary
Conference Treasurer
Cynthia Weston Academic Bridge Program Zayed University Dubai, UAE 050 382 4377 (mobile) cynthia.weston@zu.ac.ae
Beth Wiens Zayed University P. O. Box 19282, Dubai, UAE 04 402 1350 (office) 04 402 1003 (fax) 050 4620566 (mobile) beth.wiens@zu.ac.ae
Member-at-Large
Co-Editor, Perspectives
Dr Naziha Ali (EdD TESOL) Emirates Aviation College - B Dubai, UAE 050 646 1788 (mobile) nazihaali2005@yahoo.co.uk
Tandy Bailey Abu Dhabi Women's College Higher Colleges of Technology P.O. Box 41012 Abu Dhabi, UAE tbailey-seffar@hct.ac.ae
Acting SIG Coordinator
Conference Proceedings Editor / Publications Coordinator
Daniel Stebbins Ministry of Education Sharjah, UAE 050 464 5002 (mobile) justaskdan@gmail.com
Peter McLaren United Arab Emirates University Al Ain, UAE 050 138 3406 (mobile) pmclaren@uaeu.ac.ae
Webmaster Konrad A Cedro Dubai Men's College Dubai, UAE 050 144 7680 (mobile) konard.cedro@hct.ac.ae
Volume 21 Volume 18
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Feature Article
61 Platinum sponsor of TESOL Arabia 2013
13
IDP: IELTS test locations across the Middle East
EGYPT IDP Education 31 Omar Bekeir St., off Othman Bin Affan, Nozha, 11361 Heliopolis Horeya, Ofce # 601, Cairo, Egypt T +202 2 241 6204/07 E ielts.egypt@idp.com IRAN IELTS Tehran Ofce 3, No 6, 21st Street, Khalid Eslamboli Street, Near Argentine Square, T +9821 8872 5427 E info@ieltstehran.com Islamic Azad University - IDP IELTS Test Centre No. 16 Ayeneh Boulevard, (on the corner of Goleyakh Street Pabarja Street), Gholhak Y-road, Shariati Ave Iran T +9821 88725427 E english.dept@iauazmoon.com JORDAN University House for Consultation & Studies (UniHouse) Jubiha, 2nd Investment Building of Jordan University, 3rd Floor, P.O.Box 1059 Amman, 11941 Jordan T +962 6 5356610 E info@unihouse.com.jo
KUWAIT IDP Education Pty Ltd 205-208 Al-Rabea Building, Salem Al-Mubarak street, Salmiya, Kuwait T +965 2574 3843 E ielts.kuwait@idp.com
QATAR College of North Atlantic Qatar CNA-Qatar Testing Centre Building 3, Room 263, 68 Al Tarafa, Duhail North, PO Box 24449 Doha, Qatar T +974 495 2126 / 495 2928 E testingcentre@cna-qatar.edu.qa
LIBYA International House – Elite Sh. Ibn Saadoun El Bagi, Hay Al Andalus, Tripoli, Libya T +218 21 477 9559 E info@ihtripoli-elite.com
SAUDI ARABIA IDP Education Pty Ltd Al Rabiea Tower – Al Fahd Hotel Building, 6th oor – ofce 601, Olaya main road (South) cross with Kherais, PO Box 51104 Riyadh 11543, Saudi Arabia T +9661 201 5010 /12/13 E ielts.saudi@idp.com
OMAN IDP Education Pty Ltd Nizwa House, Ground Floor, Behind Al Madina Plaza, Madinat Al Sultan Qaboos (MASQ), Muscat, Oman T +968 2460 2826/ 2469 6452 E ielts.muscat@idp.com Hawthorn Muscat English Centre Building 43, Way No. 1847, Muscat - Qurum Heights 113, T +968 24 563 510 / 24 563 501 E language@omantel.net.om
IDP Education – proud owner of IELTS
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TURKEY IDP Education Pty Ltd Inonu Cad Teknik Han No 38 / 1 Finansbank ustunde Gumussuyu Istanbul Turkey T +90 212 245 15 88 E ielts.istanbul@idp.com
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES AL AIN United Arab Emirates University UGRU-English Box 17172, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates T +971 37 13 13 23 (English) +971 37 13 18 04 (Arabic) E ielts@uaeu.ac.ae DUBAI IDP Education Pty Ltd Ofce No.104, Century Plaza Building, Jumeirah 1, P.O.Box 50085, Dubai. United Arab Emirates T +971 4 344 6814 E ielts.dubai@idp.com University of Wollongong in Dubai, Centre for Language and Culture Room 217, Block 15, Knowledge Village, Al Sufouh Road Dubai, United Arab Emirates T +971 4 390 0398 / 390 0603 E clcielts@uowdubai.ac.ae
Visit the IELTS booth at TESOL Arabia 2013 to nd out more or visit www.idpielts.me TESOL Arabia Perspectives
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Feature Article IPP WINS 8 AWARDS AT
DUBAI INTERNATIONAL
PRINT AWARD 2011 1 AWARD IN 2006
2 AWARDS IN 2007
4 AWARDS IN 2008
6 AWARDS IN 2009
8 AWARDS IN 2011 THE QUEST UEST FOR QUALITY CONT CONTINUES
5 GOLD 2 SILVER 1 BRONZE
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