FEB 2015 by TESOL Arabia Perspectives

Feature Article

In this issue: Feature Articles A Targeted Role for L1 in L2 Vocabulary Acquisition with Mobile Learning Technology

Daniel Baxter Jackson Tracing Modals in the Writing of Native and NonNative English Speakers

Masoumeh Ahmadi Shirazi & Amir Ahmadzadeh Koukia The Nexus of Language and Culture in Foreign Language Education

Ashma Shamail

Lesson Ideas Educational Technology Reviews TESOL Arabia News

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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 TESOL Arabia Perspectives invites previously unpublished manuscripts that address the diverse topics that make up our profession, including, but not limited to, methodology, pedagogy, curriculum and materials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: 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 uses 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 offer 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: Julie Riddlebarger and Suhair Al Alami, perspectives@tesolarabia.org

TESOL Arabia Perspectives is published three times a year: October, February, and June Deadline for submissions: August 15, December 15, and April 15 Volume 23

No. 1

February 2015

TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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C o n t e n t s

Pers p e c t ives Volume 23 No. 1 February 2015

From the Editors

Message from the Conference Chair

Message from the President

TESOL Arabia Strategic Plan

Feature Articles A Targeted Role for L1 in L2 Vocabulary Acquisition with Mobile Learning Technology

Daniel Baxter Jackson 6

Tracing Modals in the Writing of Native Masoumeh Ahmadi Shirazi & Amir Ahmadzadeh Koukia 12 and Non-Native English Speakers The Nexus of Language and Culture in Foreign Language Education Ashma Shamail 18

Lesson Ideas Harnessing Mobile Technology for Vocabulary Review: A Lesson Idea Introducing Basic Information Literacy into a Freshman Writing Course Travelling Around the World

Richard Taylor

Zofia Reid

Mansour Habbash

Sebah Al-Ali

Educational Technology How Can Language Skills Be Tested Using an iPad?

Reviews Teacher Research in Language Teaching: A Critical Analysis Spotlight on Learning Styles: Teacher Strategies for Learner Success IELTS Advantage: Speaking and Listening Skills Listening and Note Taking Skills

Neil McBeath 38 Sarah Camsuzou 40 Tara Maher 42 Matthew A. Carey 44

Networking Charity School Bwejuu: A Teacher Training Project Bwejuu, Zanzibar

Rob Wilson

TESOL Arabia News SIG Reports Chapter Reports SIGs Chapter Representatives Executive Council

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From Feature the Article Editors

Dear Readers,

Editors

Happy 2015! We are amazed at how quickly the time has flown by. Soon many of us will be gathering in Dubai for the 21st Annual TESOL Arabia International Conference & Exhibition, to be held at the Hyatt Regency on March 12-14. Before then, we hope you will enjoy the current issue.

Julie Riddlebarger Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi

As usual, we have a variety of feature articles from around the region. From the UAE, Daniel Jackson combines several hot topics in “A Targeted Role for L1 in L2 Vocabulary Acquisition with Mobile Learning Technology.” From Iran, Masoumeh Shirazi and Amir Koukia discuss a key issue for ESL/EFL practitioners with their report on “Tracing Modals in the Writing of Native and Non-Native English Speakers.” Finally, from Saudi Arabia, Ashma Shamail writes about “The Nexus of Language and Culture in Foreign Language Education.”

Suhair Al Alami Al Ghurair University, Dubai

Of course, there is more. Our education technology article, “How Can Language Skills Be Tested Using an iPad?” by Sebah Al-Ali, gives tips and tools that those of us who are teaching with or considering teaching with iPads can utilize for assessments. Three lesson ideas are also presented to spark your teaching practice. One, “Harnessing Mobile Technology for Vocabulary Review,” by Richard Taylor, has some great suggestions for working with vocabulary, something we all do. Another, Zofia Reid’s “Introducing Basic Information Literacy into a Freshman Writing Course,” presents a clear, cogent way to get new students started on the right path with information literacy. Finally, Mansour Habbash’s “Travelling around the World” shows us a fun, interactive activity that doesn’t depend on the latest technology but still gets the job done. We also include a networking article about a volunteer teacher training project conducted last summer in Zanzibar, “Charity School Bwejuu: A Teacher Training Project,” which ties in with our cover photo, taken by Rob Wilson on a beach near the school. Finally we have our usual complement of Chapter and SIG reports to keep you informed about their many activities and the latest trends in the region. We are excited to have such a diversity of articles from a variety of people and places which we hope you will find both informative and entertaining. We would like to briefly mention some changes that will be coming in future issues of Perspectives. Firstly, we are adjusting the publication schedule: issues will now come out in February, June and October. Also, we are considering ideas that arose from the recent TESOL Arabia member survey. For example, many respondents asked for more practical teaching ideas, and others asked for more book and material reviews. In order to publish more, however, we need you to write more! Please think about writing up a great lesson idea, a practical application of new technology, a review of a new title, or an article about your current research. The submission guidelines are inside the front cover and on the website. If you have any questions about writing or submitting an article, please feel free to contact us at perspectives@tesolarabia.org. We look forward to seeing you at the Conference in March!

Reviews Editor Paul Dessoir United Arab Emirates University

Advisory Panel Daniel Mangrum Dennis Balint Hala Nur Indrani Ibrahim James Buckingham Jane Hoelker Janet Olearski Karl Kripps Kay Gallagher Kourosh Lachini Mick King Neil McBeath Paul James Dessoir Peter McLaren Rania Jabr Sahbi Hidri Sally Ali Susan Toth Suzanne Littlewood Tamas Lorinz Taoufik Ferjani Yasser Salem

CREDITS Layout / Artwork Sudeep Kumar

Printing

Julie Riddlebarger

International Printing Press Dubai, UAE

Suhair Al Alami

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

February Cover Photo World Cup Fever! Bwejuu, Zanzibar

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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Rob Wilson, Khalifa University

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Message the Conference Chair Featurefrom Article

Dear TESOL Arabia Members, The 21st Annual TESOL Arabia Exhibition and Conference is almost upon us, and we think that you will experience a fabulous conference this year. Our conference theme is “Theory. Practice. Innovation. Teaching and Learning in the Digital World,” and to that end we have lined up some of the foremost experts in our field as plenary and featured speakers. Lindsay Clandfield, freelance ELT consultant and awardwinning author of the Global series of course books, will present on social media and teacher development. Deena Boraie, Immediate Past-President of TESOL International Association from the American University of Cairo, will present on the shifting sands of teaching and learning English. Ken Hyland from the University of Hong Kong, one of ELT’s most renowned researchers in academic writing, will present on teaching writing: understanding texts, readers, and writers. Bernd Rüschoff, Past-President of the International Association for Applied Linguistics, a specialist in Technology Enhanced Language Learning from the University of Münster, will present on digital tools and competenceorientation in the language classroom. Christine Coombe, Past-President of TESOL International Association and author, co-author, editor and co-editor of over 31 ELT publications, from Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai Men’s College, will present on professionalizing English language teaching. Our featured speakers include Tom Robb, creator of the MReader website, from Kyoto Sangyo University, Japan, who will present on extensive reading, while Donna Brinton, freelance consultant and author from California, will present on implementing new technologies in English language teaching. Carmel McNaught, Emeritus Professor of Learning Enhancement at the University of Hong Kong, will present on using mobile technologies to enhance students’ engagement in learning. Ramin Akbari, Chair of the ELT Department at Tarbiat Modares University, will present on critical pedagogy in English language learning. For teachers of young learners, Diane Phillips, of the Open University, UK will give two workshops on project-based learning, and Steve Thompson, freelance author and consultant, who has written course books for the Saudi Ministry of Education and the Abu Dhabi Educational Zone, will present on English spelling and phonics.We have recently added freelance author and consultant Ben Goldstein, who teaches on the MA program at the New School in New York as a featured speaker. He will present two workshops on the use of video in ELT and questions on identity concerning the English as a Lingua Franca debate.

busy developing the presentation schedule. This year we have grouped sessions around common themes with 20-minute presentations, regular sessions will be scheduled for 30 minutes, and eleven 90-minute in-depth workshops will be on offer for all regular conference attendees. We will have our regular special sessions including PechaKucha, Discussions, and our Showcase Strand, as well as two new specially scheduled sessions, an “Un-conference” session where delegates can share teaching ideas on the spot and Live Chats, where invited plenary and featured speakers will be interviewed up close and personal. We are offering four pre-conference certificate courses on Transforming Teaching and Learning with the iPad for advanced learners; Digital Learning: Technology Enhanced Instruction; Motivational Techniques for Learners; and IELTS and the Language Teacher. Our two in-conference certificate courses are Exploring Teaching & Learning with iPads (for beginners) and Curriculum Design and Assessment, which will be presented in special sessions given by plenary, featured, and invited speakers. This year we are excited to have special conference bags that have been outsourced to the Chetana Women’s Empowerment Group, a non-profit organization based in Nepal that trains women to become self-sufficient weavers to provide for their families. In the spirit of giving, TESOL Arabia has also implemented five scholarships for delegates from the greater MENA region to attend the conference for free. We hope to increase the number of scholarships on offer next year. Another initiative of TESOL Arabia, in keeping with the expanding role of Emiratis in the teaching profession, especially in the UAE Ministry of Education, is an offer of 100 TESOL Arabia Conference Scholarships for Emirati educators teaching at ministry schools to attend this year’s TESOL Arabia conference at no cost. The TESOL Arabia Annual Conference and Exhibition would not be what it is today without you, our members, conference delegates, and presenters. If you’d like to volunteer to help out at the conference by moderating sessions, showing people around, staffing the TA publication/information booth, facilitating the delivery of part of a professional development course, or working in the job fair, or if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us. Regards, Melanie Gobert (melanie.gobert@tesolarabia.org) TESOL Arabia Conference Chair, 2015

We had a record number of proposals this year, 611, and our proposals/program committee chairs are Volume 23

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Message from Feature the President Article

Dear Colleagues, At the annual TESOL Arabia Executive Council Retreat held September 5-6, 2014, at the Yas Island Rotana, we voted on the acceptance of TESOL Arabia’s first-ever strategic plan. Our strategic plan contains three main areas for growth and improvement, and now it is time to look back on the year and see how many of them we have obtained and where we still need to grow.You can see the TESOL Arabia Strategic Plan 2014-2015 on the opposite page. Our first goal was to increase membership. We had several strategies for accomplishing this. We offered seven free “taster” events across the UAE attended by over 200 teachers. We introduced a monthly e-newsletter. We also conducted the first in-depth survey of our membership, which will help us in future planning to meet the needs of our members. Another strategy to increase members’ involvement in all aspects of TA’s activities is to invite members to volunteer a few of hours of their time at the annual conference as session moderators, pre-conference and in-conference professional development course facilitators, and to volunteer at the TESOL Arabia publications and book drive booth. At the start of the academic year, we had 1,260 members of TESOL Arabia. As of February 15, 2015, our membership has increased to1,363 members. Our next strategic goal was financial. TESOL Arabia is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to provide low cost or free professional development opportunities to its members. Our first strategy to achieve this goal was to enhance the financial reporting of all our association activities. This has been accomplished by hiring a professional accountant to receive income and make payments on TESOL Arabia’s behalf as well as report monthly on the Chapter, SIG, Executive Committee, and Conference budgets. In addition, we are hiring an independent auditing firm to audit our conference and annual accounts for the first time in the history of our organization. We want to be 100% transparent about our finances in line with best practice for all not-for-profit organizations. Our third strategic goal was to support members’ professional development. One strategy to achieve this was to develop a system of awarding digital badges recognizing contributions to TESOL Arabia. James Buckingham, the EdTech SIG chair, spearheaded this initiative. At this year’s annual TESOL Arabia Conference, we will recognize presenters and volunteers through digital badges. Another strategy is to explore a variety of new professional development modes including online/ virtual, social networking and distance. Our TAE SIG Chair, Dr Christine Coombe, has taken the lead in this area by offering an online course in the Fundamentals of Language Assessment. It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve TESOL Arabia in the past year as president, and I hope with your help and support that our organization continues to grow and develop in keeping with the demands of the future in the UAE and beyond. Yours,

Melanie Gobert TESOL Arabia President

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TESOL FeatureArabia ArticleStrategic Plan

I. INCREASING MEMBERSHIP GOAL: All English Language Teachers in the Gulf region and beyond join the TESOL Arabia association to increase their field specific expertise and to increase their involvement in professional development activities. STRATEGIES:

ii. iii. iv.

Broaden the membership base to encompass all teachers who use English as the medium of instruction Facilitate free events to acquaint teachers with TESOL Arabia mission and values Enhance communication among TESOL Arabia members and entities Increase membership involvement in all aspects of association activities

II. FINANCIAL GOAL: TESOL Arabia is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide low-cost or free professional development to its members. STRATEGIES:

i. ii.

iii.

iv. v.

Enhance financial reports on all association activities Conduct regular reviews and audits to determine the market value of all association activities and make adjustments when necessary Increase the number and scope of paid professional development whose profit supports free year round SIGs’ (Special Interest Groups), Chapters’, committee and association activities Improve payment efficiency for TESOL Arabia events, activities and publications Expand online and print-based advertising to help defray publication and association expenses

III. SUPPORT MEMBERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT GOAL: Members receive up to date and high quality professional development through TESOL Arabia association and through leadership in the field. STRATEGIES:

ii.

iii.

iv.

Conduct a comprehensive needs analysis targeting stake holders in the region and utilize results to inform professional development initiatives Explore a variety of new professional development modes including online/virtual, social networking and distance Develop quality assurance criteria for professional development already on offer and future professional development initiatives to ensure high quality content Research current TESOL Arabia professional development activities with a view to answering empirically pertinent questions about the current and future professional development on offer (sufficiency of number of activities) Expand the scope of recognizing contributions to the TESOL association through digital badges

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A Targeted Role for L1 in L2 Vocabulary Acquisition with Mobile Learning Technology This paper aims to examine the role of the first or home language (L1) in second language (L2) vocabulary learning with mobile technology. According to a survey of the top performing students on a Computer Generated Exam (CGE) on their use of two mobile learning applications (Quizlet and Educreations), their perceptions and scores corroborate and support the targeted use of L1 in L2 vocabulary building.

Introduction

In the Arabian Gulf, using Arabic in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom can be a dangerous proposition. In not so many words, EFL professionals are made to understand that if they speak Arabic in the English classroom, they should keep their CVs up to date (Hunt, 2012). As could be expected, being summarily dismissed for something such as speaking a student’s mother tongue has generated considerable comment by those teaching in this corner of the Middle East (e.g., Mercer, 2005; Shaw, Badri, & Hukul, 1995; Forstenlechner, 2008; Wilkins, 2010; Hudson, 2012; Saudelli, 2012). While not explicitly stated, the same attitude and subsequent policy towards the use of the students’ first language of Arabic holds true at most institutions of higher learning in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman (Findlow, 2006). The theoretical assumption underlying this policy is that the students’ L1, Arabic, is a hindrance to the acquisition of the L2, English (Schmitt, 1997). According to this nativist stance, the role of the EFL Volume 23

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Daniel Baxter Jackson III United Arab Emirates University Al Ain, UAE

teacher is to create an input-rich environment in which L2 can be acquired in the same way L1 was: intuitively, contextually, and subconsciously through a flood of comprehensible input. Therefore, any use of L1 in an L2 classroom is considered a missed opportunity for students to be exposed to the target language (Roberts, 1999, p. 159). This assumption is based on the erroneous premise that acquiring L1 and learning L2 are the same processes. Any introductory course to Second Language Acquisition (SLA) will highlight the fundamental differences. Specifically, L1 acquisition occurs in the critical period of a child’s cognitive development (prepubescence); language develops unconsciously; there is no resistance in acquiring L1; and L1 is acquired by all in a culture even with minimal input and/or cognitive disabilities present. In contrast, L2 learning occurs mostly in the post critical period (post pubescence); L2 develops consciously; there is resistance (both conscious and unconscious) in learning L2; and L2 is rarely learned to a high degree of fluency, even with a high IQ (Brown, 2000, p. 279). Despite these fundamental differences, the two distinct processes are still mostly seen by educational policy makers and administration as essentially synonymous. Unlike children who are just learning their first language, learners who have already acquired their L1 are not conceptually mapping their world as they learn the words for the people, places, and things around them. This allows L2 learners to skip the conceptual step and simply map the new words in L2 onto their existing world view in L1. TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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One problem with skipping this step is that only part of the lexical entry is available in L2, namely the phonology, orthography, and an L1 translation (Levelt, 1989). This means that while learners may be able to use a new word (and perhaps be understood) with just this part of the lexical entry, they have not acquired the word’s lemma. The lemma is “the aspect of a word’s stored information relevant for the construction of the word’s syntactic environment” (Levelt, 1989, p. 6). As the conceptual framework of L1 is actively involved in the semantic and syntactic retrieval of lexical items in L2, albeit without the subsequent automaticity that comes from learning the concept and a new word simultaneously, some SLA researchers (e.g., Auerbach, 1993; Schweers, 1999; Tang, 2002; Mukattash, 2003; Al Nofaie, 2010) have recognized that a student’s L1 is not an obstacle to be avoided but rather a resource to be drawn upon when learning a second language. With this in mind, the following study was undertaken.

Methodology

Subjects The 54 female Emirati students for this study were selected because of their exceptional performance on a vocabulary CGE (Computer Generated Exam). It was the first of two such exams administered in the first quarter of 2014 as part of the foundation year preparation program at a university in Al Ain, UAE. What these students did to succeed and their perceptions of how they did it were the primary points of interest. Nevertheless, there were other reasons to study this particular group of learners. Aside from a couple of empirical studies, one on female Emirati students and linguistic dualism in the Gulf (Findlow, 2006) and another on censorship and vocabulary teaching (Hudson, 2011), only Solloway’s 2014 study directly asked this sizable student body (75% of all students in the UAE are female) about their attitudes and perceptions of learning and using English in tertiary education in a country where the official language is Arabic (Solloway, 2014, p. 1). Students’ preferences are rarely taken into consideration even though they are primary stakeholders. These facts, combined with the researcher’s reflective practice, were the impetus behind this study. Volume 23

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The impetus behind the Foundation Program (FP) is to prepare college freshmen for academic success in their majors where English is the sole medium of instruction. A high school diploma and a minimum score of 150 on the Common Educational Proficiency Assessment (CEPA) are required for admission. The CEPA, a two hour exam created by the Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research’s NAPO (National Admissions & Placement Office) consists of grammar, vocabulary, reading, and writing items. Placement in the three different levels in FP is based on students’ CEPA scores, Table 1. To bypass FP and go directly into their majors, students must score a 180 or higher on the CEPA or earn an overall IELTS band score of 5 or higher. (Other ways of exiting the foundation program include scoring a 500 or greater on Institutional TOEFL, a 61 or higher on iBT TOEFL or a 41 or higher on the Cambridge English Advanced.) Table 1 Placement in FP Levels according to CEPA Scores FP Level

CEPA Score

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

< 165 165-174 >175

What is noteworthy (and supports the acquisition versus leaning distinction) is that even after 12 years of studying English, the subjects in this study have still only reached an intermediate level of English proficiency. Instruments For the quantitative data, the instrument used to elicit and collect information was a Computer Generated Exam (CGE). This is a standardized exam given twice during each quarter to all three levels in the FP; it is designed to test vocabulary learning. The questions are randomized for each student. Each quarter, CGEs are vetted and updated as needed. The first CGE for Level 3 consisted of 79 discrete lexical items that were selected by the assessment coordinators from the General Service List (GSL) and the Academic Word List (AWL). Students were tested on these words with four different tasks: 1) matching; 2) vocabulary in context; 3) parts of speech; and 4) gap fill paragraphs. TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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For the qualitative data, an anonymous, online survey on study habits and students’ perceptions of the use of L1 in L2 vocabulary learning was emailed to the top three scoring students on the CGE in Level 3 in each of the 50 sections. A total of 54 students were invited to participate. To encourage a high response rate, the survey was only 10 questions long. All of the items (except the last one) were multiple choice questions designed to elicit study habit preferences. The last question was open ended and asked participants to reflect on their own success by giving any advice to assist lowerscoring students in Level 3. Daniel Baxter Jackson III is an English Instructor in the University Foundation Program at United Arab Emirates University. His SLA research has appeared in ESL Magazine, Essential Teacher, The CATESOL Journal, and the Arab World English Journal. When he’s not teaching or researching, he enjoys traveling and exploring the Middle and Far East.

Procedures While the content and pacing of the eightweek course were predetermined by the Level 3 coordinators, how the vocabulary was actually taught was left to the individual teachers’ discretion. The following is the procedure the researcher followed with his two sections and was made available to the others by the level coordinators. Parts of this procedure (e.g., the Educreations videos and Quizlet) were adopted by other instructors as they saw fit. The Quizlet app with Arabic and English translations was widely used among the Level 3 students. To teach the Vocabulary to Learn (VTL) that students were to be tested on in each CGE, short videos consisting of about 10 lexical items each were made with Educreations. This is a free mobile learning application that turns an iPad into a recordable, interactive whiteboard so that any lesson may be shared online and accessed at any time. Each of the 5to 7-minute long Educreations videos presented the phonology, orthography, semantics, pragmatics, and an L1 translation of each vocabulary word via a dialogue between the researcher and his partner, an Arabic/ English bilingual. The videos were posted on iTunesU, a learning management system for ease of access. (For more information on Educreations, see www. educreations.com; for iTunesU, see www.apple.com/ education/ipad/itunes-u/.) In the videos, the phonology or pronunciation of the word was first presented along with the orthography Volume 23

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so that students were presented with how to say and spell the word at the same time. Then came a definition in L2 (semantics) so they could know what they were saying. This was followed by a question using the word in L2 in a realistic context (pragmatics) so viewers could see how to use the word. Additionally, a picture accompanied each new item so the students could begin to map the meaning of a word visually before they received the L1 translation at the end of each lexical entry in the videos to confirm their understanding. As they watched, learners completed a gap fill exercise which consisted of the questions from the videos using the new vocabulary. After watching and completing their worksheets, they asked each other the questions from the videos. Particular stress was placed on having them use the words in both the question and the answer. Thus, students were seeing, writing, saying, and hearing the new vocabulary all in the same class. To further reinforce what was presented daily in class, 10 to 15 minutes of exercises on Quizlet were assigned each night. Quizlet is a mobile learning application designed especially for vocabulary acquisition in any field of study. Learners can use the app as a platform to build their vocabulary with words they choose, or they may use word lists already compiled by others in a variety of languages with both monolingual and bilingual alternatives available. (For more information about Quizlet, see quizlet.com.) Outside of class, students were expected to go through the bilingual note cards (in sets of 10) with the word in English on one side and the translation in Arabic on the other side. Seeing how the word is written and hearing how it is pronounced (a key feature of Quizlet) helps to reinforce the classroom introduction to its orthography and phonology while the L1 translation serves as a means of semantization and as a tool for validating and confirming learners’ understanding of the word. After the preliminary review of the lexical items using the note cards in Quizlet, students were then directed to the quiz section of the application in which they were given a set of 7 words in Arabic and prompted to write translations in English. If they misspelled the word or wrote the wrong translation, they would hear the word again and be shown the TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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correct answer but would still have to type it correctly before they could move on to the next word. At the end of the quiz round, they were shown how many words in the set (about 20 per chapter) were still unknown (not tested), how many had been learned (1 correct response) and how many had been mastered (2 correct responses) in the Quizlet app. After testing themselves on all the vocabulary, learners were given a cumulative percentage score of how many they answered correctly in total. Keeping score proved motivational for some who confessed to not stopping until they reached 100%. To encourage sight reading, learners were then directed to the matching component of Quizlet. They were given 6 words on a 3 x 4 grid. Six were in Arabic, and six were their English equivalents. A timer added a sense of urgency to the task as the aim was to match the Arabic words with their English translation as quickly as possible while bettering the previous time with each round.

Results and Discussion

The average score for the 560 students in Level 3 on the CGE was 76%, and the overall pass rate was 86%. On the four different sections of the CGE (matching, vocabulary in context, parts of speech, and gap fill paragraphs), students scored best on the matching section with an average of 81.86%. This was followed by vocabulary in context with 79.96% and parts of speech at 69.21%. The gap fill paragraph proved to be the most difficult task with an average of just 56.73% (Table 2). Table 2 CGE Scores CGE

Percentage (%)

Average score

Average score by sections: Matching Vocabulary in context Parts of speech Gap fill paragraphs

81.86 79.96 69.21 56.73

In the researcherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two sections, where the procedure was most closely followed as described above, students scored just above the average at 77.1% in one section and slightly below the average at 74.3% Volume 23

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in the other section. While the mean is valuable as a barometer for the overall performance of a group, what is often more telling are the outliers, in this case, those that performed exceptionally well. Of those Level 3 teachers who responded with a request from the researcher for a list of their top three performers on the CGE, the average among this group was significantly higher at 90.1%. To correlate what these top performers had in common as far as study habits were concerned, an online survey was created. Of the 27 responses (a 50% response rate), 51.85% said they studied between 1-2 hours for the CGE. The remainder, 48.15%, reported studying 3-4 hours in preparation. No one studied in the 5-6 hour range (Table 3). Given these figures and the 3 weeks of preparation time given for the exam, it is clear that all of the top performing students in each section studied as advised. This can be corroborated further by the 62.96% who said they studied Quizlet for the recommended time of 10-15 minutes each night. Table 3 Top Performersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Study Time Hours

Percentage (%)

1-2 3-4 5-6

51.85 48.15 0

While there were a variety of different methods of preparing for the CGE exam listed on the survey (Quizlet in Arabic/English, Quizlet in English only, worksheets, iBook study cards, and in-class speaking activities), 59.62% of all respondents cited Quizlet in Arabic/English as their preferred method of exam preparation (question 2). This is further supported by 51.85% who believed the best exercise to help them learn new vocabulary was with Quizlet in Arabic and English (question 3). The gap-fill worksheets that accompanied the Educreations videos came in second with 44.44% as the second most favored means of exam preparation. The top three motivational factors that made students prefer Quizlet over other vocabulary learning activities (Table 4) were getting a mark when they finished studying all the words (29.63%), seeing the Arabic translation (25.93%), and the games (25.93%). The more or less equilateral distribution of motivational TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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preferences shows why Quizlet was popular with students – there’s a lot to like of equal likability. The matching activity on Quizlet (in which Arabic words are matched to their English equivalent) was reported by only 14.81% as being motivational while just 3.7% said the audio component (i.e., hearing the new words in English) was the best part of this app.This shows that with this particular group, marks/grades are the most powerful motivational factors in learning. Table 4 Quizlet Motivational Factors Motivational Factor

Percentage (%)

Receiving a mark/grade Seeing Arabic translations for English vocabulary items Games Matching Arabic translations with English vocabulary items Audio component

29.63 25.93 25.93 14.81 3.7

While only 3.7% said the audio component was the best feature of Quizlet, 88.89% agreed that hearing, seeing, and saying new words in conversation helped them to remember them (question 7). This supports the pedagogical rationale for the gap-fill worksheet that accompanied the Educreations videos (and was described in the procedures section of this paper) as a productive part of vocabulary learning. A majority (59.26%) found the Educreations videos with the Arabic translations helpful in understanding the new words more quickly. A sizable minority (40.74%) thought that “maybe” the videos were helpful in their learning process. While 70.37% believed that Arabic, their L1, should play a role in learning English, only 3.7% believed that L1 had no role in L2 learning. When these exceptional students were asked what advice they would give to their classmates who wanted to learn vocabulary as well as they had, the responses ranged from what the researcher had suggested (e.g., study a little bit each day, use the vocabulary in conversation) to the philosophical and downright insightful. A somewhat starstuck respondent suggested that one must fall in love with English to learn it well. With love, the insurmountable seems surmountable, she seemed to be intimating. Another particularly astute learner Volume 23

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mentioned something that might allay some fears about bringing Arabic into the EFL classroom. She said, and this is a paraphrase, that Arabic should be but a stepping-stone into a deeper, more conceptual understanding of the English lexicon. With targeted and well-timed use, a student’s L1 can be an invaluable resource in both vocabulary acquisition and second language learning.

Conclusion

The two mobile learning applications used in this study, Quizlet and Educreations, proved to be extrinsically motivating factors in vocabulary leaning within this group of students in this particular university context. In this age of digital natives, paper notecards cannot compete with Quizlet’s digital ones that offer immediate feedback and audio reinforcement in L1 and L2. The Educreations videos introduce students to English vocabulary that facilitates the mapping of new lexical items onto their existing conceptual framework in Arabic. To connect with our students and make their learning relevant to their lives, we must meet them where they are – online. The targeted use of L2 within these two apps encourages the semantization of new vocabulary and, in subsequent follow up activities, its pragmatic application. Students viewed this selected use of Arabic in the EFL classroom positively and reported that it contributed to their academic success.

References

Al Nofaie, H. (2010). The attitudes of teachers and students towards using Arabic in EFL classrooms in Saudi public schools: A case study. Novitas-ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language), 4(1), 64-95. Auerbach, E. (1993). Re-examining English only in the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly (27)1, 9-32. Brown, H. D. ( 2000). Principles of language learning and teaching (4th ed.). White Plains, NY: Addison Wesley, Longman. Findlow, S. (2006) Higher education and linguistic dualism in the Arab Gulf. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 27, 19-36. Forstenlechner, I. (2008). Workforce nationalization in the UAE: Image versus integration. Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues, 1, 82-91. Roberts, J. (1999). Grammar teaching in the foreign language context. In H. Johnson & K. Johnson (Eds.), Encyclopedic dictionary of applied linguistics (pp. 146-152). Oxford: Blackwell. TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Hudson, P. (2011). Beef and lamb, chicken and h**: Censorship and vocabulary teaching in Arabia. In A. Anderson & R. Sheehan (Eds.), Foundations for the future: Focus on Vocabulary (pp. 125-135). Abu Dhabi, UAE: HCT Press. Hudson, P. (2012). ‘Shababbery’ and ‘banattitude’: Western ELT professionals’ perceptions of the role of gender in English-medium higher educational institutions in the Gulf. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, 9, 1-18. Hunt, N. D. (2012). Managing method: A critical inquiry into language policy in a tertiary institution in the United Arab Emirates. RELC Journal, 43, 295-311. Levelt, W. J. M. (1989). Speaking: From intention to articulation. Cambridge, MA: Bradford. Mercer, J. (2005). Challenging appraisal orthodoxies: Teacher evaluation and professional development in the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education, 18, 273-287. Mukattash, L. (2003).Towards a new methodology for teaching English to Arab learners. IJAES, 4, 211-234. Saudelli, M. G. (2012). Unveiling third space: A case study of international educators in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Canadian Journal of Education, 35, 101-116. Schmitt, N. (1997).Vocabulary learning strategies. In N. Schmitt & M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy (pp. 199-227). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Schweers, C. (1999). Using L1 in the L2 classroom. English Teaching Forum, 37(2), 6-9. Shaw, K. E., Badri, A. A. M. A., & Hukul, A. (1995). Management concerns in United Arab Emirates state schools. International Journal of Educational Management, 9, 8-13. Solloway, A. J. (2014). English in the United Arab Emirates: Innocuous lingua franca or insidious cultural Trojan horse? Multilingual Matters, 4, 1-18. Tang, J. (2002). Using L1 in the English classroom. English Teaching Forum, 40(1), 36-43. Wilkins, S. (2010) Higher education in the United Arab Emirates: An analysis of the outcomes of significant increases in supply and competition. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 32, 389-400.

Appendix: Student Survey

1. How many hours did you study for the CGE? A. 1-2 Hours B. 3-4 Hours C. 5-6 Hours 2. How did you study for the exam? Volume 23

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A. Quizlet: Arabic/English B. Quizlet: English only C. Worksheets D. Study cards from the iBook E. In class speaking exercises with the VTL F. Other (please specify) 3.What exercise was best to help you learn the vocabulary? A. Study cards in the iBook B. Quizlet: Arabic/English C. In class speaking exercises with the VTL D. Quizlet: English only E. Other (please specify) 4. Did you study the vocabulary 10-15 minutes each night on Quizlet as some teachers recommend? A.Yes B. No 5. If you used, Quizlet, what part of it did you like best? A. The matching game B. Seeing the Arabic translation C. Hearing how to say the new word in English D. Getting a mark when I finished studying all the words on Quizlet E. The games on Quizlet F. Other (please specify) 6. Do you think the VTL videos with the Arabic translations helped you to understand the new words more quickly? A. No B. Maybe C.Yes 7. Do you think hearing, saying and seeing new words in conversation helps you to remember them? A.Yes B. Maybe C. No 8. Do you think it is better to study a little each day or a long time the day before an exam? A. A long time the day before an exam B. A little each day 9. Do you think Arabic should play a role in learning English? A. Maybe B.Yes C. No 10.What advice can you give to other students who want to learn vocabulary as well as you have? i TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Tracing Modals in the Writing of Native and Non-Native English Speakers This study investigated the distribution of modals in a corpus of research articles written by native speakers of English (NSE) and L1-Persian speakers of English as a foreign language (EFL). In addition, it sought to find a difference between the two groups’ use of modals. To determine if NSE and non-native speakers of English (NNSE) use modals differently, 100 research articles written by NSE were compared to another 100 written by L1-Persian speakers of EFL. The research design comprised a qualitative technique through content analysis to obtain the frequency of occurrences of modals in the data. Results study showed the use of 12 modals (can, could, may, must, might, will, would, shall, should, need to, ought to, used to). Of these, can appears first in the data of the NNSE, and may is first in the corpus of NSE writers. Statistical analysis showed a significant difference between the NSE and NNSE in the use of modals in research articles. These findings may have implications for teaching and learning modals in EFL contexts.

Introduction

Modals have always been challenging grammatical items to learn. Celce-Murcia and Larsen Freeman (1999) declare modal auxiliaries “among the more difficult structures ESL/EFL teachers have to deal with” (p. 137). Non-native teachers of English as a second or foreign language experience more difficulty in teaching appropriate usage of modals. However they are viewed, whether from a syntactic (Haegeman, 1988; Leech, 1971; Lyons, 1977; Quirk, 1985; Swan, 1998), semantic (Coates, 1983; Palmer, 1990), discourse (Halliday, 1970), or cultural Volume 23

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Masoumeh Ahmadi Shirazi University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Amir Ahmadzadeh Koukia University of Tehran, Jolfa, Iran

(Hinkel, 1995) perspective, learners’ difficulty in handling such a complex category is not mitigated. Investigating the occurrence of modals in NSE and NNSE written texts can pave the ground for knowing what form and function each group attends to and in what ways modals could be taught to NNSEs. There have been a number of recent studies on the frequency of modals in the writing of NSEs and NNSEs (e.g., Abdul Kader, Begi, & Vaseghi, 2013; Orlando, 2009; Qun, 2010; Tenuta, Oliveira, & Orfanó, 2012;Vethamani, Umi Kalthom, & Akbari, 2008a;Viana, 2006) with rather controversial results; however, a commonality among all this research is that NNSEs face more challenges in the use of modals than those of NSEs. The aim of the present study was first to find modals used by NSE and L1-Persian NNSE in research articles written in English by means of content analysis, and then to detect differences between the two groups in their use of modals.

Background

Modality has been viewed differently by many scholars. From Halliday’s (1970, 2000, 2004) point of view, modality refers to the judgment of speakers on the probabilities or the obligations involved in what they are saying. Marino (1973) contends that modality can be associated with speakers’ views on potentials involved in prediction. To Lyons (1977), modality reflects the speaker’s attitude towards the proposition that the sentence expresses. Palmer’s (1986) viewpoint on modality is that it is the grammaticalization of speakers’ attitudes. TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Within the framework of modality, modals can be named and classified although controversies abound on how to do this. There are two typical approaches: modals can be listed and given names (Leech, 1971; Quirk, 1985), or treated as semantic concepts each requiring a list of meanings (Coates, 1983; Palmer, 1990). Huddleston (1984) differentiates three types of modality: epistemic, deontic, and dynamic. Kreidler (1999) defines epistemic modality as the possibility, probability, or impossibility of a particular proposition, while deontic modality is depicted as the necessity of an individual to act or not act in a particular way. Depraetere and Reed (2006) consider the modal system as consisting of modality and speaker stance or mood. Palmer (1986, 2001, 2007) attempts to classify modality as precisely as possible with categories that changed over time including epistemic modality, which is concerned with the speakersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; judgment about the factual status of a proposition, and evidential modality, which shows the evidence speakers have for its factual status. Masoumeh A. Shirazi, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at University of Tehran, Iran. Her research interests include language testing, writing assessment, lexical processing, research methodology, and statistics.

We are concerned with modals, or modals (also known as modal auxiliaries or modal auxiliary verbs) in this study. Thomson and Martinet (1986) separate modal auxiliaries (can, could, may, might, must, ought, will, would, shall, and should) from semimodals (need, dare, and used to). Freeborn (1987) divides modals (can, could, may, might, must, ought, will, would, shall, should, used to, and had better) from semi-auxiliaries (have to, be to, be about to, be bound to, be going to, etc.). According to Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik (1985), modals are divided into four categories: (1) central modals like can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, and must; (2) marginal modals such as dare, need, ought to, and need to; (3) modal idioms like had better, would rather, would sooner, be to, and have got to; and (4) semi auxiliaries such as have to, be about to, be able to, be bound to, be going to, be obliged to, be supposed to, and be willing to. Table 1 illustrates these various classifications. Volume 23

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Table 1. Different modal classifications Authors Thomson & Martinet (1986)

Freeborn (1987)

Classification of Modals 1. Modal Auxiliary: can, could, may, might, must, ought, will, would, shall and should 2. Semi-modals: need, dare, used 1. Modals: can, could, may, might, must, ought, will, would, shall, should, used to, and had better 2. Semi-auxiliary: have to, be to, be about to, be bound to, be going to, etc.

Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, 1. Central modals: can, could, & Starvik (1985) may, might, shall, should, will, would, and must 2. Marginal modals: dare, need, ought to, and need to 3. Modal idioms: had better, would rather, would sooner, be to, and have got to 4. Semi auxiliaries: have to, be about to, be able to, be bound to, be going to, be obliged to, be supposed to, and be willing to

Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad, and Finegan (1999) proposed a new classification that divides modal verbs into three categories: modals, marginal auxiliary verbs, and semi-modals. Of these modal auxiliary verbs demarcated so far, the present study focuses on Biber et al.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (1999) classification, considering can, could, may, must, might, will, would, shall, should, need to, dare to, ought to, used to. We trace these modals in research articles written in English by NSEs and L1-Persian NNSEs. Some Iranian teachers think that L1-Persian speakers of EFL have difficulty using the above-mentioned modals since either they are not taught English grammar or their NNSE EFL teachers cannot cover modals explicitly in the classroom. The present study addresses which modals NSEs and L1-Persian NNSEs use in research articles written in English and how modal usage varies between these two groups.

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Methodology

The data pool for this study came from 200 research articles published over the last ten years, half of which were written by NSEs, and half by L1-Persian speakers of EFL. TESOL Quarterly (TQ) and the Iranian Journal of Applied Linguistics (IJAL) were chosen to be content analyzed in search of modals. The reason for using these two journals lies in the fact that most authors published in the former are NSEs, and in the latter, L1-Persian speakers of EFL. These research articles were either experimental or quasi-experimental with a set of questions to be rejected or confirmed by research. Thirteen modals were searched for in the two corpora: can, could, may, must, might, will, would, shall, should, need to, dare, ought to, and used to. First, their frequency of occurrence was determined using Wordsmith software; after determining frequency, we compared the two corpora to see whether NSEs and NNSEs differ in this regard. Some points were taken into account while searching for modals. First of all, only modals appearing in the main part of the paper were counted; those in appendices were not included in the study. Moreover, in cases where a word could have a modal function or another function, the non-modal usages were deleted from the analysis. For example, may was only considered if it served a modal function; if it was used as a noun (i.e., as a month of the year), it was deleted from the analysis.We were almost certain that no mistakes appear in these research articles since they are edited, possibly several times, before publication.The mean length of research articles was 8,122 words with a minimum of 2,913 and a maximum of 16,279 words.The frequency of modal occurrences was converted into a normalized number, which is the occurrence of modals in one million words. One reason to scale to one million words is that total number of words used by NSEs and NNSE were compared. NSEs used 917,675 words in 100 articles, and NNSEs used 706,915 words; therefore, converting frequencies to one million seemed logical.

Table 2. Total number of modals in the corpora (per million words) L1-Persian EFL writers

NSE writers

6072

7229

To address the first question, we looked for the most frequent modals in the corpus. Figure 1 illustrates the frequency of modals per million words. Looking at the distribution of the data in Figure 1, we can draw some preliminary conclusions. First of all, NSEs used may more frequently than the other modals while NNSE writers used can most frequently. Figure 2 portrays the occurrence ranking of modals in order of frequency in research articles written by NSE and NNSE L1-Persian writers.

Figure 1. Distribution of modal verbs in two corpora

The study focused on the following research questions: 1. Which modals do NSEs and NNSEs use in research articles? 2. Does the use of modals in research articles vary between NSEs and NNSEs?

Results and discussion

Preliminary Findings As previously stated, the number of modal verbs was obtained using Wordsmith in the two corpora. Table 2 shows the total number of modals in the two corpora (converted to occurrences per million words). Volume 23

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Figure 2. Ranking of modals used by non-native (NNSE L1-Persian) and native (NSE) writers.

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Table 3 shows modal rankings in the research articles written by NSEs and NNSEs. The 13 modals were ordered from 1 to 12 according to their frequency of occurrence. Shall and ought to were both ranked eleventh in the data; therefore, we ranked from 1 to 12 rather than 13.

Table 4 Normality of Distribution Test for modal use in the two groups of native and non-native Modals Kolmogorov-Smirnova

Table 3 Modals standings in research articles written by NSE and NNSE

NSE

NNSE

Can

Could

May

Must

*Might

*Will

Would

*Shall

Should

Need to

*Dare to

*Ought to

*Used to

Sig.

0.093

200

0.000

Lilliefors Significance Correction

Amir Ahmadzadeh Koukia received his B.A. in English Language and Literature from University of Urmia in 2009 followed by an M.A. in English Language Teaching from University of Tehran in 2014. He is currently teaching academic English language courses in several colleges and universities.

Table 5. Modal verbs in English native and L1-Persian writers of research articles (Median %)

Based on the data presented above, we can conclude that on the whole, the NSE writers produced a higher number of modals in research articles than did L1-Persian NNSE writers. With this data, the second question of the study concerning how the use of modals in research articles varies among native and non-native speakers of English can be addressed. To decide on using parametric or non-parametric statistical analysis, we checked the normality of the distribution of modals in the two corpora. We used SPSS 21 to check normality with a KolmogrovSmirnov test, which shows strong evidence for normality of the distribution. Table 4 presents the results of this test.

No. 1

A non-significant result (i.e., a Sig value of more than 0.05) shows normality. However, as can be seen, the frequency rates were not normally distributed; therefore, the assumption of normality to run parametric statistics was not verified. The measure used to establish differences between NSE and L1Persian NNSE writers’ modal use was the MannWhitney U Test. Tables 5 and 6 illustrate the result of Mann-Whitney U Test for the total number of modals used by NSE and NNSE writers.

*indicates equal ranking between NSE and NNSE

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Test

Total number of modals

Mann-Whitney U

2322.500

Wilcoxon W

7372.500

-6.543

Asymp Sig. (2-tailed)

.000

Table 5 indicates that the Z value is -6.543 with a significance level of p=0.0005.The probability value is less than 0.05; therefore, there is a difference in the use of modals by the two groups of the study.This disproves our null hypothesis stating that the use of modals does not vary between NSE and NNSE writers.With the understanding that the two groups differ regarding the use of modals, we checked which modals induce a difference between two groups.Table 6 shows the result of Mann-Whitney U Test for each modal. TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Table 6. Mann-Whitney U Test for each modal used by English native and L1-Persian writers

Modals

MannWhitney U

Wilcoxon W

Asymp Sig. (2-tailed)

Can

4335.500

9385.500

-1.625 .104

Could*

3731.000

8781.000

-3.111 .002

May*

2344.000

7394.000

-6.500 .000

Must*

4226.500

9276.500

-1.972 .049

Might*

3741.000

8791.000

-3.099 .002

Will*

3858.000

8908.000

-2.812 .005

Would*

1653.500

6703.500

-8.199 .000

Shall

4949.000

9999.000

-.461

.645

Should

4625.000

9675.000

-.920

.358

Need to*

2384.000

7434.000

-6.641 .000

Dare to

5000.000

10050.000

.000

1.000

Ought to

4900.000

9950.000

-.827

.408

Used to

4951.000

10001.000

-.303

.762

As can be seen, those modals with asterisks asterisks are different between the two groups since their significance level is less than 0.05. Such modals as can, shall, should, dare to, ought to, used to do not introduce differences in the use of modals by the two groups of native and Iranian writers of English. It seems that L1-Persian speakers of EFL are not familiar with the context in which these modals can be used; therefore, they resort to compensation strategies by avoiding their use. Parallel with a number of studies, our findings showed that NSEs use a higher number of modals in the research articles in comparison with L1-Persian NNSEs. The difference proved to be statistically Volume 23

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significant to enable us to make the groups distinct as far as the use of modals was concerned. The study revealed some important facts about modals, and the results were more or less in parallel with previous findings on modal use (Table 7). These findings all agree in that the form, meaning, and function of modals cannot be easily accounted for, especially in EFL contexts where learnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; input on modal usage is limited. Table 7 Previous studies in line with the results of this article Usage in NonCurrent Approved Not native English Study approved Speakers Approved Abdul Kader Vethamani deontic modality is used et al.(2013) et al. more easily than Qun (2010) (2008b) the epistemic Viana (2006) Biber et al. one, for example can is used more (1999) than may in L1 writing Approved Biber et al. No marginal references auxiliary verbs (1999) Abdul Kader to authorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; corresponding to need to, ought et al. (2013) knowledge Qun (2010) to, dare to, and used to are rare Viana (2006) in L1 writing Hinkle (1995) Quirk et al. (1985)

Conclusion

The results of this study indicate first that the most frequently used modals in our corpora include can, may, could, would, should, might, must, need to, used to, shall and ought to. Second, NSEs and L1-Persian NNSEs show differences in the use of modals. Those modals which were differently used by these two groups were could, may, must, might, will, would, and need to. Perhaps the writing of NNSE is affected by some cultural and social presuppositions which cannot be changed; thus, any use of modals is influenced not only by syntactic and semantic complexity but by the context imposing cultural and social ideologies on EFL writers. As Hinkel (1995) states, contrasting NSE and NNSE use of modals is helpful since we can get to know that modal usage is highly culture-specific and culture-bound. This, TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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in the long run, can help teachers and material developers approach teaching or writing materials in such a way that issues influencing modal use can be dealt with in EFL contexts. Moreover, learners can become aware of the importance attributed to the use of modals resulting in more appropriate consideration of their functions. The results of this study can help educators to view modals as an important grammatical category requiring due and special attention, especially for NNSEs who are exposed to meager use of modals in EFL contexts. This study focused on NSE and L1-Persian speakers of English as foreign language; other prospective studies investigating other L1 languages besides Persian would be of benefit. Moreover, different genres could be among other sources of discrepancies in modal use, which would require further research.

References

Abdul Kader, M. I., Begi, N., & Vaseghi, R. (2013). A corpus-based study of Malaysian ESL learners’ use of modals in argumentative compositions. English Language Teaching, 6(9), 146-157. Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow, UK: Longman. Celce-Murcia, M., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (1999). The grammar book: An ESL/EFL teacher’s course (2nd ed.). Boston: Heinle & Heinle. Coates, J. (1983). The Semantics of the modal auxiliaries. London: Croom Helm. Depraetere, I., & Reed, S. (2006). Mood and modality in English. In B. Aarts & A. McMahon (Eds.), The handbook of English linguistics (pp. 267290). Malden, MA: Blackwell. Freeborn, D. (1987). A course book in English grammar. London: MacMillan. Haegeman, L. (1988).Verb projection raising and the multi-dimensional analysis: Some empirical problems. Linguistic Inquiry, 19(4), 671-683. Halliday, M. (1970). Functional diversity in language as seen from a consideration of modality and mood in English. Foundations of Language, 6, 322-361. Halliday, M. A. K. (2000). An introduction to functional grammar. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. Halliday, M. A. K. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar (3rd ed.) (revised by C. Matthiessen). London: Hodder Arnold. Hinkel, E. (1995). The use of modal verbs as a reflection of culture values. TESOL Quarterly, 29(2), 325-343. Volume 23

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Huddleston, R. (1984). Introduction to the grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kreidler, C. (1999). Introducing English semantics. London: Routledge. Leech, G. (1971). Meaning and the English verb. London: Longman. Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Marino, M. (1973). A feature analysis of the modal system in English. Lingua, 32, 309-323. Orlando, M. E. (2009). The frequency and collocation of modal verbs in English as a second language textbooks as compared to standard English corpora. (Unpublished master’s thesis). University of Québec: Montréal. Palmer, F. R. (1986). Mood and modality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Palmer, F. R. (1990). Modality and the English modals (2nd ed.). London: Longman. Palmer, F. R. (2001). Mood and modality (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Palmer, F. R. (2007). Mood and modality. Beijing: World Book Publishing Company. Quirk, R. (1985). A comprehensive grammar of English language. London: Longman. Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J. (1985). A comprehensive grammar of the English language. Essex, UK: Pearson Education. Qun, Z. (2010). Modality and generic features in Chinese EFL writings. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 33(5), 40-51. Swan, M. (1998). Practical English usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Tenuta, A. M., Oliveira, A. L., & Orfanó, B. M. (2012). How Brazilian learners express modality in their writing: A corpus-based study on lexical bundles. Revista Intercâmbio, XXVI, 1- 15. Thompson, A. J., & Martinet, A.V. (1986). A practical English grammar (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Vethamani, E. M., Umi Kalthom, A, M., & Akbari, O. (2008a). ESL learners use of English modals in narrative compositions: Syntactic and semantic accuracy. TEFLIN Journal, 19(2), 141-159. Vethamani, E. M., Umi Kalthom, A. M., & Akbari, O. (2008b). Students’ use of modals in narrative compositions: Forms and functions. English Language Teaching, 1(1), 61-74. Viana,V. (2006). Modals in Brazilian advanced EFL learners’ compositions: A corpus-based investigation. Profile, 7, 77-86. i TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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The Nexus of Language and Culture in Foreign Language Education This paper addresses some basic perspectives on the nexus of language and culture and their roles within EFL university contexts. It introduces and explores the viability of their relationship, beginning with concepts based on Wardhaugh’s three proposed claims (2010). To achieve the intended aims, the paper presents an overview of language and culture, culture-based language instruction in foreign language education, and the benefits of teaching culture in the EFL university classroom. In Saudi Arabia where the researcher works, EFL teaching and instructional strategies largely influence the learning process and its outcomes. The current paper, as such, seeks to investigate language and culture as correlated and indivisible whilst highlighting their significant roles in terms of quality education, as well as addressing some concerns pertaining to the nexus of language and culture in the context of Saudi Arabia.

Introduction

Language is a medium that embodies the fabric of social life, expressing and reflecting an individual’s group membership and relationship with other cultures. Language engages a shared perspective among people who understand and identify with one another. It not only involves expressions, beliefs, views, attitudes, traditions, concepts, signs, and symbols for social interaction among groups, but also affects our thinking and culture. The relationship between language and culture, the roles they serve, and the diversity of views held toward the use of language constitute important elements in language education. Anthropologists, linguists, psychologists, and philosophers have critically addressed and provided insights into their intermingled relationship.

Language and Culture

The interface between language and culture has been a subject of social scientists’ research for several Volume 23

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Ashma Shamail, University of Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

decades. Until the 1970s, the concept of culture and studies on culture were typically associated with studies of ideology, but since the 1980s, the concept of culture has become more or less influenced by post-modern thought (Hall, 1992, 1996). Both language development and cultural models mutually contribute to the improvement of linguistic practices and developmental dynamics of a modern multicultural society. This togetherness has been widely addressed in social, cultural, and linguistic studies (e.g., Alptekin, 2002; Risager, 2006; Kramsch, 1989, 1993, 1998; Mackenzie, 2012; Byram, 2012). Language as a tool of communication also has the potential to inform and reflect people’s environment and how it is interpreted, spoken, transmitted, and preserved under the impact of culture. In the words of Kramsch (1998), “Language is a system of signs that is seen as having itself a cultural value. Speakers identify themselves and others through their use of language” (p. 3). Language facilitates expression of emotions and establishes an inherent and mutual interaction with culture. As culture evolves through relation with others, it is a social product and thereby transmitted largely through language. Tylor (1920), an anthropologist, believed that “culture, or civilization, taken in its broad, ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (p. 1). Each society has a culture of its own, and culture acts as the mirror of society in the simplest sense. Goodenough (1964) defines a society’s culture as that which consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and to do so in any role that they accept for any one of themselves. TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Culture, being what people have to learn as distinct from their biological heritage, must consist of the end product of learning: knowledge, in a most general, if relative, sense of the term. (p. 36). Culture is learned, shared, and transmitted; it is learned through relationships with other people and connects people together as well. The elements of culture “are the entirety of socially transmitted and common behavior patterns, prototypes, samples, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought” (Mahadi & Jafari, 2012, p. 232). Today, the concept of culture has extended to issues of cultural identities, clashes, competence, dominance, intricacies, multiculturalism, and more. Recent advances in cultural studies have expanded the evolutionary views on culture, and approaches to new cultural varieties have become significant. As a holistic concept of culture addresses and involves multiple meanings, only its decisive link with the concept of language is dealt with here. This paper attempts to provide a viable platform for understanding the intertwined relationship of language and culture and its role in foreign language education by conceptualizing and positioning English as the lingua franca. As the area of language education is vast and has diverse interpretations, only a few aspects of foreign language learning and teaching have been taken up in this paper.

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

The increasing readership on language and culture has forced a re-examination of the notion of language structure, its influence, momentum, vitality, development, and how human beings perceive their world and their culture. This particular vision has arguably generated considerable scholarly research. The close relationship between language and culture was put forth by the American anthropological linguists Edward Sapir and his student Benjamin Whorf who believed that humans’ view of the world is determined by the structure of their native language (Wardbaugh, 2010). This pioneering and controversial theory in the field of linguistics opened discussions for exploring close relationship between language and culture. However, it has also influenced language education. Wardhaugh (2010) discusses three ideas about the concept: Volume 23

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· The structure of a language determines the way in which speakers of that language view the world. A somewhat weaker version is that the structure does not determine the world-view but is still extremely inﬂuential in predisposing speakers of a language toward adopting a particular world-view. · The culture of a people finds reflection in the language they employ: because they value certain things and do them in a certain way, they come to use their language in ways that reflect what they value and what they do. · A ‘neutral claim’ which claims that there is little or no relationship between language and culture. (p. 230) Though the first claim is refuted by sociolinguists and anthropologists, it forms the basis for the Whorfian hypothesis which is alternatively referred to as linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity. Linguistic determinism refers to the idea that the language we use, to some extent, determines the way we view and think about the world around us. Strong determinism states that language actually determines thought, and weak determinism holds that thought is merely affected or influenced by our language (Wardhaugh, 2010). On the other hand, linguistic relativity addresses that structural differentiation in language results in difference in thought. Ashma Shamail is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English Language & Literature at the University of Dammam, KSA. Her academic interests in and published research on African-Caribbean, African-American, Indo-Caribbean and Pakistani women writers display an overarching focus in the fields of postcolonial theory and critical race studies.

Language determines and resolves the thought and perception of its speakers and to a large extent the hypothesis claims that “we see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation” (Sapir, 1929, as cited in Wardhaugh, 2010, p. 230). If structurally the languages people speak differ, then their perceptions and experiences of the world also differ. For example, Wardhaugh (2010) states that if one’s language classifies particular objects as “long and thin and others as roundish,” then one would sort those objects “quite naturally into those classes” (p. 232). People from different cultures establish, organize, and TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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segment their world and reality in different ways. This established cultural pattern conditioned in a particular individual’s or group’s thinking influences their communicative process. Likewise, a group which is not familiar with the cultural norms of another may fail to comprehend and interpret the other group’s actions. The second claim makes it clear that people of a particular culture use language that reflects their culture’s norms, which opposes Sapir and Whorf ’s view. Users find that “thoughts” of a culture are reflected in their language, and not that language determines the “thoughts,” since thoughts are limitless. As cultures differ, the languages employed by the cultures likewise differ. Wardhaugh (2010) further provides examples of people from different cultures possessing similar structures in language (as in the case of Hungarians and Finns), while people who speak languages with different structures share similar cultures (as in the case of Germans and Hungarians). In fact, he states that “we must assume that all languages possess the resources that any speaker might require to say anything…. provided that speaker is willing to use some degree of circumlocution” (Wardhaugh, 2010, p. 237). Hence, languages like English, Chinese, French, and Russian have “had these resources developed in a tremendous variety of ways” (p. 237).Such examples provide a viable link between language and culture. The neutral claim that no relationship exists between language and culture calls for debate. Language is used for communicative purposes, and the role of culture in such an act conveys an intrinsic purpose. It would seem difficult to analyze and conclude that culture’s impact on language is null. Certain scholars (e.g., Brown, 1958; Kay & Kempton, 1984; etc.) disagreed with the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, stimulating considerable discussion. They asserted that as people are divided into classes based on their economic position, they form different world views. However, if language really determined our world view, then the class system would automatically vanish. Furthermore, people speaking the same language may have different world views, while those speaking different languages may have similar world views. In summary, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis has generated interesting links between language and culture and likewise met with criticisms. Volume 23

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The Nexus of Language and Culture

The relationship between language and culture here is conveyed through the communicative component as most of the elements are connected and concentrated in this aspect. The language-culture nexus, best explained by Risager (2006), illuminates a number of features of the communicative event as it serves “as a linkage of various flows coming from various places…characterised by a discursive content of a more or less cohesive nature, possibly including cultural references and representations, internal or external” (p. 186). The communicative event as a dimension creates, constructs, and negotiates powerful identities and meanings. Whether the language in question is a first, second, or foreign language, modern studies have largely placed language teaching in a transnational and global context. As a combined object for teaching, both language and culture work for teaching the target language and teaching in the target language culture. Incorporating the culture of the target language along with linguistic skills has brought rapid change in language teaching. This has come in vogue because of the intertwined relation between language and culture. McKay (2003) believes that culture affects language teaching in two ways: linguistically and pedagogically. While the former influences pragmatics, semantics, and the discourse level of the language, the latter affects the cultural content of language materials and the cultural basis of teaching methodology.

Foreign Language Education: The Case of English

English as the most popular international language forms the subject of discussion in this study. The spread of the English language is explained in Kachru’s (1992) theory as moving from the centre to a periphery, designated by three concentric circles. The inner circle occupies the centre, serving as the base where English is used as the native, first, or dominant language in countries like the UK, the USA, and Australia. The outer circle encompasses countries such as Singapore and Nigeria that have English an official language. The expanding circle covers countries such as Russia, China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia where English is taught and learned in most cases as a foreign language.

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The aim of learning a foreign language like English necessitates cultural learning as well in order to acquire communicative competence. Critical and extensive research studies on language and culture gained major impetus during the 1980s and 1990s due to scholars such as Kramsch (1989, 1993, 1998) and Byram (1989, 1997) who stressed the necessity of teaching culture in the language classrooms. Therefore, the cultural dimension in foreign language education at present has become a significant issue for many language teachers around the world. In foreign language (FL) learning, the native language usually has an effect on the process of learning the target language. Cultural words, values, norms, beliefs, and references get unconsciously transferred to the target language during intercultural communication. Cultural transfer in FL learning has to be dealt with carefully. References should be made to an element in the source culture with an apparently generalized meaning without altering the materials in the target language culture. As language teaching is inevitably accompanied by teaching cultural phenomena, the language teacher focuses more on the cultural differences and not on the linguistic forms or structures. The teacher’s ability to achieve certain communicative aims in enabling the FL learners to interpret, negotiate, express, and accomplish some functions in a social context involves proper communicative approach. The communicative event is a concept that is central in linguistic anthropology. Saville-Troike (1989) defines a communicative event “as the basic unit for descriptive purposes” (p. 27). The communicative approach proves more specific toward the practical use of the FL rather than the structure. On one hand, the acquisition of communicative competence for native speakers of a language involves different degrees of expressions, while on the other hand, a FL learner depends on the teaching process and approach to acquire that competence. And while communicative competence focuses on acquiring knowledge of the language and its techniques, the background of the target culture and communicative skills is overlooked in some countries where English is taught as a second or FL. Students may have good command over vocabulary and grammar of the target language, but might turn out to be less than competent when it comes to real communication. Implementation of the background of the target culture is an essential component in the learning process for better intercultural communication. Volume 23

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In the case of teaching an international language like English, Cortazzi and Jin (1999) believe that the stress on local culture is intended “to help students become aware of their own cultural identity” (p. 205). The focus on local culture and minimizing or excluding the target cultures might result in detachment from the target language culture as well. Hence, communicative competence may be affected, and likewise learners may experience difficulties in the globalized world of English. Gray (2002) recommends the development of a “glocal coursebook” that “bridges the world of English with that of the students, allowing the possibility of twoway traffic, of cultural exchange, of the place for the local in the global” (p. 164). Significantly, the cultural information embedded in English language textbooks has had a tremendous effect on the English language learning process. An environment of curiosity and cultural awareness about the target language helps in improving the knowledge of that language. Certain social norms, words, gestures, body language, etc., that exist in both cultures may have different connotations and should be expressed precisely, or misunderstanding and misinterpretation may ensue. Proficiency and fluency in English language do not convey a holistic understanding of the language if culture is not integrated and incorporated. The obvious reason is that intercultural communication takes place among people from diverse behavioural and social norms. What is appropriate in one culture may not be in another culture. Teaching and imparting cultural knowledge proves to be of great significance to the learners’ linguistic expression as culture plays a vital role in fostering intercultural communicative competence. EFL instructors bear the responsibility to strike a balance between linguistic and culture teaching; they must not focus only on pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and idioms, but also look at things that reflect habits, behaviours, and customs. Instructors often stress the development of language skills, but tend to ignore differences between foreign and native cultures. Exposure to real life situations and the teachers’ role as a facilitator rather than just information provider can help tackle this issue, thereby yielding good outcomes. According to Dulay et al., cited in Bhela (1999), language exposure …encompasses everything that language learner hears and sees in the new language. It may TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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include a wide variety of situations – exchanges in restaurants and stores, conversations with friends, watching television, reading street signs and newspapers, as well as classroom activities – or it may be very sparse, including only language classrooms activities and a few books and records. (p. 22)

EFL in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The current situation in Saudi Arabia is not ideal as students rarely get an opportunity to practice English as stated above, except in their classrooms. Teachers here tend to focus heavily on grammar and structures, making the students memorize concepts, terms, and vocabulary. Apart from this, many students put minimal effort into learning English; they are often passive and rely more on teacher-centeredness, rather than active participation and creative and critical thinking. They end up memorizing grammar rules, passages, and compositions. The students’ goal is to acquire either British or American English, prioritizing the environments in which they will operate. Inherently real motivation is the vital component missing among Saudi students who are basically influenced by external educational systems. Teachers in Saudi Arabia, apart from being well trained and qualified, should be highly motivated, employ a variety of techniques, and have precise vision for better learning outcomes. Pre-service training for teachers is necessary for pedagogical and professional development. By practicing orally through topics of conversation, recitation, role-play activities, social and cultural practices, and gestures, English language learners can cultivate the ability to think and express ideas, expressions, and feelings in native-like English. Practical application in learning a language and interaction with native English speakers can help in overcoming cultural differences in daily communication. The Saudi government has taken steps to identify the problems persisting in the English educational system. Active and effective participation on the part of educational policy makers, syllabus designers, authors, textbook evaluators, teachers, and students is necessary. Saudi Arabia’s political agenda supports and propagates the spread of English to secure social, cultural, economic, and health development in the international arena, and to strengthen ties with western countries. Volume 23

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In addition to teacher training, good teaching materials are a necessity. Books which reflect the cultural background of a nation and supply cultural knowledge are part of the literature component. Such books form the basis for effective and enriching English language teaching and learning. In addition, films, documentaries, and other visual aids provide a better understanding of the target culture. The close and vibrant interaction of language and culture has altered the traditional teaching approach which focused on imparting only linguistic knowledge. Instructors need to harmonize both and not overdo either the cultural or linguistic aspect of FL learning.

Conclusion

With shifts taking place everywhere, the nexus of language and culture and its role in foreign language education has also achieved new forms. Bucholtz (2000) calls language “a set of resources” and states that “the rapid transmission of culture, and hence language, is perhaps the most obvious effect of the new media” (p. 280-281). The growing demand of mass media has enriched and enhanced the contact between language and culture. Both language and culture are integral, interdependent, and productive in the global arena. They have forced a re-examination of critical cultural issues in language departments and colleges, thereby illuminating their presence in today’s world. Most EFL programs have undergone modification due to the increased awareness of the role of culture in post-colonial settings. Countries where English is taught as a FL have altered English language education by incorporating intellectual instructional materials, drawing parallels with the works of writers of native and target cultures, emphasizing local histories of the target cultures, and integrating innovative teaching methods. This ongoing activity recollects what Said (1989) calls the “instigatory force,” which is “of startling relevance to all the humanities and social sciences as they continue to struggle with the formidable difficulties of empire” (p. 225). Foreign language educators engaged in global debates and discussions regarding historical, political, and intercultural consciousness have opened perspectives on critical examinations in language education. Today, English is being used for international communication in many parts of the world, TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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emphasizing its pivotal, global role. As such, the nexus of language and culture, including language contact and language spread, certainly deserves great attention.

References

Alptekin, C. (2002). Towards intercultural communicative competence in ELT. ELT Journal 56 (1), 57-64. Bhela, B. (1999). Native language interference in learning a second language: Exploratory case studies of native language interference with target language usage. International Education Journal 1(1), 22-31. Brown, R. (1958). Words and things. New York: The Free Press. Bucholtz, M. (2000). Language and youth culture. American Speech, 75(3), 280-283. Byram, M. (1989). Cultural studies in foreign language education. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Byram, M. (2012). Language awareness and (critical) cultural awareness – relationships, comparisons and contrasts. Language Awareness, 21(1–2), 5–13. Cortazzi, M. & Jin, L. (1999). Cultural mirrors: Materials and methods in the EFL classroom. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Culture in second language teaching (pp. 196-219). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Goodenough, W. (1964). Cultural anthropology and linguistics. In D. Hymes (Ed.), Language in culture and society (pp. 36-39). New York, NY: Harper & Row Publishers. Gray, J. (2002). The global coursebook in English language teaching. In D. Block & D. Cameron (Eds.), Globalization and language teaching (pp. 151167). London & New York: Routledge. Hall, S. (1992). The question of cultural identity. In S. Hall, D. Held, & T. McGregor (Eds.), Modernity and its futures (pp. 273-316). Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. Hall, S. (1996). Cultural studies: Two paradigms. In J. Storey (Ed.), What is cultural studies? (pp. 31-48). London & New York: Arnold. Kachru, B. (1992). Teaching world Englishes. In B. Kachru (Ed.), The other tongue: English across cultures (pp. 355-366). Urbana: University of Illinois. Volume 23

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Kay, P., & Kempton, W. (1984). What is the SapirWhorf hypothesis? American Anthropologist, 86, 65-79. Kramsch, C. (1989). New directions in the teaching of language and culture. Occasional Papers 3 (pp. 1-13). Washington, DC: National Foreign Language Center. Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and culture. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. MacKenzie, I. (2012). English as a lingua franca in Europe: Bilingualism and multicompetence. International Journal of Multilingualism, 9(1), 83100. Mahadi, T., & Jafari, S. (2012). Language and culture. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(17), 230-235. McKay, S. L. (2003). The cultural basis of teaching English as an international language. TESOL Matters 13(4), 1-4. Risager, K. (2006). Language and culture: Global flows and local complexity. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Said, E. (1989). Representing the colonized: Anthropology’s interlocutors. Critical Inquiry, 15(2), 205-225. Saville-Troike, M. (1989). The ethnography of communication: An introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Blackwell. Tylor, E. (1920 [1871]). Primitive culture,Vol. 1. New York, NY: J. P. Putnam’s Sons. Wardhaugh, R. (2010). An introduction to sociolinguistics (6th ed.). Oxford, UK: Blackwell. i

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Harnessing Mobile Technology for Vocabulary Review: A Lesson Idea In an intensive foundational course for students of English as a second language (ESL), frequent revisions of vocabulary are of primary importance for building and consolidating lexical knowledge and keeping lexical items active in students’ repertoire. As a result, many ESL courses have regular vocabulary quizzes built in the syllabus in order to help students revise regularly the lists of vocabulary items they are exposed to during class. The English program I teach in is no exception, with students taking six vocabulary quizzes during a 16-week semester. By and large, students are left on their own to prepare for these quizzes; they decide what strategies to use to review vocabulary for each quiz. For most of my students, preparation for a vocabulary quiz usually means rote memorization of bilingual lists of words. While such a strategy is efficient and effective for vocabulary memorization (see Elgort, 2011), it limits vocabulary knowledge to only one aspect of a word (i.e., meaning). However, knowing a word means more than knowing its meaning (see Nation, 2001). Building vocabulary knowledge at a deeper level involves a multidimensional approach where students engage with specific vocabulary at multiple levels (i.e., meaning, spelling, pronunciation, frequent collocations, antonyms, synonyms, etc.) (see Henriksen, 1999). The aim of the lesson described here is to help students use a number of different strategies to prepare for their vocabulary quiz. I designed this lesson for a group of male Emirati students who are in their third semester in their college foundational year (equivalent to the early stage of a CEFR B1 level). Students in my class have access to iPads, so I will describe each activity based on the assumption that students have access to technology in class. If, however, your students do not have access to tablets, Volume 23

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Richard Taylor Higher Colleges of Technology Sharjah, UAE

mobile phones or laptops, you could easily adapt the activities for pen and paper. The following sections describe the series of activities in this vocabulary review lesson.

Activity 1. PuzzleMaker “Do Now”

As students enter the class for their lesson, they are given to do a “do now” activity: a vocabulary revision crossword based on words on the list they have to revise for the vocabulary quiz (Figure 1). The crossword is an engaging activity that helps students review definitions and spelling of words. Students have to do this activity on their own using their iPads while the teacher waits for the rest of the students to come and join the class. The “do now” is an excellent classroom management activity that is done in the first 10 minutes of the class while waiting for students to arrive; it helps students not only engage in a language task (e.g., review vocabulary), but also get into work mode as soon as they enter the class (Lemov, 2010). It also helps minimize distraction and ensures students are ready to pay attention as soon as they enter the class and sit at their desk. To create the crossword for the “do now” activity, I used the free Puzzlemaker tool at http://www. discoveryeducation.com/free-puzzlemaker/. I saved the crossword as a PDF, and students annotated the PDF on their iPads. (Alternatively, you could print the PDF crossword and let your students do the activity on paper.) Once students have settled down and finished the crosswords, you can check their answers as a class. If you have a projector, you can project the crossword onto the whiteboard and use markers to fill in the crossword, inviting students to orally give you the answers and spell out the words for you, or to come to the board to write their TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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25 Activity 3. Running Dictation with Notes

answers.

Figure 1. Crossword Puzzle

Activity 2. Socrative

The next part of the lesson is a Socrative activity that aims to help students review the definitions of specific vocabulary items using a multiple-choice activity (Figure 2). Socrative can be accessed for free at www.socrative.com. The program allows you to engage your students in educational activities and at the same time assess their understanding in an instant. Socrative uses real time questioning with instant result aggregation and visualization so teachers and students can see the current level of understanding of each student in the class. The teacher has to create the activity beforehand. Then, in class, students are given a password to join the virtual classroom, and they complete individually the multiple-choice questions. The results of their efforts are visible to the whole class (i.e., each student can see what the others are doing). This activity takes about 10 minutes, and it introduces an element of competition to the class as students race against each other to answer the multiple choice questions correctly as fast as possible. Introducing a competitive element in the lesson helps to motivate and engage students and also keep them focused.

Figure 2. Socrative Multiple Choice Activity Volume 23

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After the Socrative activity, students continue with the revision of their vocabulary list by participating in a running dictation activity. This is a pair-work spelling activity that introduces a kinesthetic element to the lesson, which has been proven by research to increase effectiveness in an educational context (see Coffield, Moseley, Hall, & Ecclestone, 2004). Each pair of students is assigned a list of 5-10 words; each list is taped on the classroom wall. One member of the pair is the writer, and the other one is the runner. The runner has to go to the wall to read the words on the assigned list and then come to the desk and spell the words for the writer, who types them down on the iPad using Notes. Halfway through the list of words, students change roles (i.e., the writer becomes the runner and the runner becomes the writer). As soon as the full list of words is on Notes, the pair emails their list to the teacher so there is a record of their spelling of the words and the time it took them to get through their list. Once all pairs are done, the emailed lists are projected in class and reviewed for accuracy of spelling. The pair with the fewest spelling mistakes and the best time (as recorded by the time the email was sent to the teacher) are the winners. This activity might take between 15 and 20 minutes depending on the number of students in the class. For this activity to work, the automatic spell checker on the iPad or the laptop must be switched off. The activity can easily be transferred to a pen and paper format. Richard P. Taylor works as English faculty in the English Foundations Program at the Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE.

Activity 4. iMovie

After the running dictation, students are involved in a mini Learning-By-Doing (LBD) project framed within the notion of learner-generated content (see Luckin, 2008). Each student is given 3-4 words from the vocabulary list and asked to use iMovie to create mnemonics for each of the words. According to Thompson (1987), mnemonics help students to learn vocabulary faster and recall words better because they aid integration of new material into existing cognitive units and provide visual retrieval cues. For example, a student might upload a picture from the web that explains the keyword or is connected to the keyword in a way that aids memorization and and type an example of the keyword used in a way that matches the picture. They can also record their own voice reading the example. All iMovies are then stored in Dropbox, and they serve as revision tools to help students prepare for their vocabulary quizzes, progress tests, and final exams. This LBD mini-project is a great way to engage students in a highly cognitive TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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References

task where they have to think of the meaning of the keywords assigned to them, how they can depict them visually, and create an example sentence with the keyword that also explains the picture. Such a deep level of engagement at the cognitive and metacognitive level promotes memorization and commitment of vocabulary items in long-term memory (see Mizumoto & Takeuchi, 2009). Also, collecting and making available all the student artifacts encourages engagement and motivation as students can see that their work is contributing positively to the classroom and helps them learn from each other in a non-threatening environment (see Wong, 2013).

Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E., & Ecclestone, K. (2004). Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning: A systematic and critical review. London, UK: Learning and Skills Research Centre. Elgort, I. (2011). Deliberate learning and vocabulary acquisition in a second language. Language Learning, 61(2), 367–413. Henriksen, B. (1999). Three dimensions of vocabulary development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21(2), 303-317. Lemov, D. (2010). Teach like a champion. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley and Sons. Luckin, R. (2008).The learner centric ecology of resources: A framework for using technology to scaffold learning. Computers & Education, 50, 449-462. Mizumoto, A., & Takeuchi, O. (2009). Examining the effectiveness of explicit instruction of vocabulary learning strategies with Japanese EFL university students. Language Teaching Research, 13(4), 425-449. Nation, P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Thompson, I. (1987). Memory in language learning. In A. Wenden & J. Rubin (Eds.), Learner strategies in language learning (pp. 43-56). New York, NY: Prentice Hall. Wong, L.-H. (2013). Analysis of students’ afterschool mobile-assisted artifact creation processes in a seamless language learning environment. Educational Technology & Society, 16(2), 198–211.

The first time you use this activity, you may want to provide students with examples so they can understand the task requirements. Students may also struggle to express word meanings using visuals and examples of use in sentences. Circulating around the class and offering help when needed is a great way for teachers to put students’ minds at ease and encourage them to try their best. As this can be a time-consuming activity, it is possible that students may need to finish it at home. Knowing that their iMovies are needed for the vocabulary revision before the quiz is a huge motivator for students to complete this activity as homework. Before students leave the classroom, it is best to remind them of the importance of on-going vocabulary practice at home using resources such as Quizlet (quizlet.com) and SpellingCity (www. spellingcity.com). Creating a variety of online vocabulary games using these websites is easy to do, and students can use their tablets, laptops, or other devices to access them any time, any place, making vocabulary practice ubiquitous and fun.

Call for TESOL Arabia Conference Proceedings The editors of the Proceedings of the 2015 TESOL Arabia Conference would like to invite you to submit a paper based on your presentation at the TESOL Arabia 2015 Conference to be considered for publication in the next volume of the Proceedings. Only those who present at the Conference may submit articles for the Proceedings. Please send your article to Publications Coordinator, Peter McLaren at: pmclaren@uaeu.ac.ae The deadline for submissions is October 1, 2015. Please follow the specifications outlined below: · · · · · · · · ·

Articles should be 3000-4000 words. Articles should be typed using Times New Roman, font size 12, with 1½ line spacing. If you include tables and/or figures, make sure they are no wider than 12 cm. Do not use color in tables or figures. Do not use footnotes. Only use portrait orientation (i.e., do not insert any pages in landscape orientation). Remove all hyperlinks in the text. Include a complete list of references using APA style (6th ed.). Send articles electronically as a Word attachment.

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Zofia Reid American University of Sharjah Sharjah, UAE

Introducing Basic Information Literacy into a Freshman Writing Course

Orientation week at any university is an action packed period, aimed at introducing students to their new environment and helping them feel more at ease in it. Library orientation tours are typically facilitated during this time, and librarians do their best to encourage the “newbies” to visit the libraries frequently and to seek librarians’ assistance in all matters related to writing and research that they soon will be required to conduct in most of their courses. Despite the fact that most courses require students to engage in some degree of research for their assignments, many students overlook the library as a source of information, considering it to be outdated and irrelevant when compared with the more immediate way of locating information using Internet tools such as Google or Wikipedia. After all, who goes inside a building to find information, right? Instead of being the foundation of research for students, the library is more often viewed as a place to socialize or study rather than a valid and critically important resource. A study by Shenton (2014) reveals that only a few students consider the library to be beneficial to their lives, and even those who do are not certain as to its exact role beyond it being “‘somewhere to spend time wisely,’ [and a place for] ‘people to relax and do something’” (p. 149). This perception, however, needs to be changed, and students’ reluctance, which may stem from fears of using the library, overcome. This is easier said than done. Even though constructive efforts are made on the part of librarians to cater some Information Literacy (IL) instruction, such instruction is often isolated and limited to only one session per semester, due to often chronic shortage of library staff as well as limited instructional facilities in the library. Furthermore, Volume 23

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“library users have access to a seemingly endless supply of digital information via the internet, which is great for academic research,” (Walker & Pearce, 2014, p. 281). Which often devalues the perception of libraries as sources of information in the eyes of these users. Shenton and Fitzgibbons (2010) recognize that “engaging learners with the principles of information literacy (IL) and then ensuring that they apply the associated knowledge, skills and understanding effectively in appropriate situations [is] among the greatest challenges faced by information professionals working in educational settings” (p. 165). In view of this, it is often the instructor who needs to step in and pave the way for his or her students to meet the challenges of acquiring basic but appropriate academic research skills and to motivate often reluctant students to integrate this kind of research into their assignments. The skills need to be taught in an integrated fashion so that students can immediately apply the theory acquired. This is necessary so that the problem exposed by Shenton and Fitzgibbons (2010) of skills being taught in isolation, as tasks only, is overcome and students can relate these skills to “‘real’ assignments and situations” (p. 166). Each of the three levels of writing courses that freshman students take at the American University of Sharjah integrates a component of IL as it is believed that “exposing students to information literacy concepts over multiple semesters reinforces skills and the interconnectedness of information” (Pan, Ferrer-Vinent, & Bruehl, 2014, p. 335). As a first step towards creating IL awareness and helping students acquire basic research skills that are appropriate for a university classroom, I have created TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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an activity which, through a fun assignment, engages entry-level writing students in using an electronic platform other than the world wide web, takes them on a small “field trip” on campus, lets them use an electronic gadget, integrates the experience into a written assignment, and most importantly (to them), yields a grade at the end of the endeavor.

Step 1: Learning to do an electronic library catalogue search

In order to complete this assignment, students are told that they will need to visit the library. They will first have to search for a book electronically (the search is done via the library’s electronic catalogue tool, which they all have access to); once this is done, they must physically locate the book within the library. It can be any book on any subject. Since this is most likely the first time that students have conducted this kind of search, to assist them I have created a very detailed PowerPoint presentation (one that includes step-by-step descriptions of the search process with screen shots of the various web pages they will encounter in their search), which guides them through the first part of the task: selecting and locating the book on a library shelf. In this PowerPoint they learn how the electronic library catalogue functions, what a keyword search is, how to interpret search results, what the call number is, and where the book will physically be located in the library (see Figure 1 for an example slide). They are asked to make a note of the book’s title, call number, and its location in the library.

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The next step of the project is to physically go to the library and find this book on the shelf. This can be a bit of a challenge, but taking this step makes students aware not only of how books are organized in the library, but also shows them that there are many other books on the same subject located on the shelves in the proximity of the book they are looking for. Once the book they are looking for is located, students are asked to capture the title page of the book using their electronic device’s camera or a scan app as proof that they have actually located it. They don’t have to check out the book unless they want to.

Step 3: The essay/paragraph

The last component of the assignment is the written part where students are asked to describe their physical process of going to the library to locate the book on the library shelves. For this task they will employ rhetorical strategies such as description, narration, and process writing, which they will have learned about earlier in the semester. Zofia Reid has been teaching freshman composition since 2003, and the last eight years have been at the American University of Sharjah. She holds a BA in Languages, BA (Hons) English, and MA in Medieval Studies, all from the University of South Africa. She writes on a variety of subjects such as education, sociolinguistics, and gender issues in the Middle East.

The short essay/paragraph can start at any point of the process: students can begin by describing the electronic search or start from the moment they enter the library. I ask them to imagine that they are describing their experience to someone who has never been to the university library and would have to find the same book using only their description, without asking anyone for directions. In their assignment, aside from the writing component of the task, students are also required to provide details of the book they have found such as the title, author’s name, publication date, publisher, and the call number. I have created a template to help students with the layout of the project. The template is formatted to APA standard and students are asked to save this template to their computers and create the project using it. The template includes space to insert the scanned image of the title page of the book into the document they submit.

Figure 1. Example PowerPoint slide Volume 23

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This project works well if assigned over two or three class periods and can be worked on under supervision of the instructor or be completed independently. It constitutes the first stage of the IL journey that students will pick up on again in subsequent writing courses, where they will learn in more detail how to use the Internet effectively to locate credible information as well as conduct database searches. Benefits of engaging students in this base level project are manifold. First of all, they are given the autonomy to learn the steps required in searching the library catalogue, which is very different from Google searches. They can do the library search using any device that connects to the Internet; many use their tablets or smartphones to do this. Secondly, the project takes them out of the classroom and engages them in a note-taking activity. This is something they need to practice yet often see as irrelevant. For many students, being required to locate the book in the library is a first time experience. Having to use their hand held device to scan information from the book teaches students one way in which their gadgets can assist them in their learning, and gives the activity an added dimension. The APA specific template of the assignment familiarizes students with this formatting style. And last, the activity gives students an opportunity to practice writing about a real experience using multiple rhetorical strategies. The outcomes of the assignment are generally very encouraging in terms of quality of writing that is submitted as well as the positive feedback from students, who report having enjoyed the activity more than previous assignments because it was different and they learned something new in a slightly unconventional way. Figure 2 shows an example of a completed assignment. This is consistent with Prensky’s (2008) findings, which report that “students are eager to use class time to teach themselves, just as they do after school when they go out and use their technology to learn, on their own, about whatever interests them” (p. 3). Many report having overcome their fear of going to the library by participating in this task. The positive grades are also a reflection of the success of the assignment as a didactic tool. When in the next level course students find themselves facing their first research assignment, this component of constructing their essay is approached with less apprehension. Volume 23

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29 Your name: XXX Title of the book: Holy War, Holy Peace Author: Marc Gobin Publication Date: 2002 Publisher: Auckland, New York, NY: Oxford University press Call number: DS119.76.667

Locating a Book in AUS Library There are many skills I had to acquire when I joined university, and one of them was looking up for a book in the library. Though it is an easy process, it was confusing for me to learn. I was looking for "Holy War, Holy Peace", a book that I have been searching for a long time. The location process began with just going to the library website of the university "library.aus.edu". Then, typing the title of the book in the search box. By clicking on the search button, I was taken to a page which showed me a list of copies that matched my search. When I found my target was available, I clicked on it to reveal some information such as the call number which helped me locate it. It was "DS119.76.667 2002". After we found out whether the book was available or not and its number, I was finally able start the location process. I went to the second floor of the library building. By just following the signs that corresponded to my call, I found my destined shelf where I am supposed to pick the book from. Here we go, I found it. Well, that was it. It seems like lots of work, but all of did not take more than ten minutes of my time, and the book was worth it. One more bonus step, do not forget to scan the book on your way out if you hate surprises.

Figure 2. Completed assignment Assuming that students already know how to conduct research because they know how to find things on the web using Google is erroneous. The truth is that our students need to be taught how to find appropriate sources that yield credible and level appropriate information as this ability is not inherent and not synonymous with being tech savvy. By incrementally engaging students in research-related activities which demonstrate optimal ways of finding credible information, students learn the importance of IL over the course of several semesters.

References

Pan, D., Ferrer-Vinent, I. J., & Bruehl, M. (2014). Library value in the classroom: Assessing student learning outcomes from instruction and collections. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 40(3–4), 332–338. doi:10.1016/j. acalib.2014.04.011 Prensky, M. (2008, Nov-Dec). The role of technology in teaching and the classroom. Educational Technology. Retrieved from http:// district.nashua.edu/myclass/dwyers/inservice/ AtRisk%20Resources/Prensky-The_Role_of_ Technology-ET-11-12-08.pdf Shenton, A.K. (2014). Just why do we need school libraries? Some ideas from students. New Library World, 115(3/4), 140–159. doi:10.1108/NLW-012014-0005 Shenton, A.K., & Fitzgibbons, M. (2010). Making information literacy relevant. Library Review, 59(3), 165-174. doi:10.1108/00242531011031151 Walker, K. W. & Pearce, M. (2014). Student engagement in one-shot library instruction. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 40(3–4), 281–290. TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Travelling Around the World This activity is about travelling around the world, metaphorically speaking. The number of countries involved in this activity depends on the number of groups, but in this example, there are four. Students must get information related to the countries, such as traditional foods, places of interest, culture, and something special about each country. This is a communicative activity in which students fill in their forms by role-playing as “travellers” to other countries and getting information from students acting as “tour guides” in the target country (i.e., an information gap activity). By the end of the activity, each student should have a completed form with information about the target countries; they should also be ready to nominate a leader to read the information aloud in front of the other students. After that, students will write a short description of the target countries. Communicative activities such as this can help motivate students to share and participate, and thus to learn better.

Time

This activity should take approximately 60 minutes from start to finish.

Materials

· flags of target countries (can be copied from books or the Internet) · name tags: traveller and tour guide (Figure 1) · tour guide forms (Figure 2) · pictures and/or explanations of each country’s traditional food, clothing, weddings, places of interest, etc. (Figure 3)

Tour Guide

Traveller

Figure 1: Name tags Volume 23

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Mansour Habbash University of Tabuk, KSA

Skills

Integrated listening, speaking, reading, and writing

Level

Pre-intermediate to upper-intermediate

Teacher’s role

Facilitator, monitor (Note: This activity is best done with a teacher and an assistant.)

Procedure

1. Divide students into four groups, each consisting of four members. Each group represents a country. The country’s flag should be placed on the table for everyone to see. 2. Explain the activity in detail. Students must complete their forms by visiting each country (group) and getting information from them. 3. Have a student re-state the explanation in detail. 4. Distribute handouts to each group. Show students how to complete the forms. 5. Have students in each group nominate a “traveller” (who will go to other countries and get the information related to the task) and a “tour guide” (who will give the information to travellers sent from other countries). They can nominate two travellers and two tour guides. Each student should have a name tag representing his/her mission (i.e., traveller or tour guide). 6. Tour guides should familiarize themselves with the information about their country. The teacher and/or assistant may help with this. 7. Once students have all materials and understand the task, they can start travelling to other countries in the classroom to fill in their forms. They must speak, listen, and write some information about the target countries. TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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8. Offer help if necessary. The teacher should monitor students and observe the activity; it is useful to take notes in order to provide feedback later on.

Dr Manssour Habbash is an assistant professor of TESOL and English language education policy. He has a number of publications and is a member of international applied linguistics and TESOL organisations. He has presented at several conferences in the GCC and further afield.

9. Students should spend about 25-30 minutes travelling around the world and filling in their forms. Give students a 5-minute warning when time is almost over in order for them to wrap up quickly. 10. Ask each group to nominate a spokesperson to read aloud what each group has learned about the target countries. 11. At the end, have students write about their favorite country and why they like it. This is a fun, communicative activity that students will enjoy. It is also an opportunity to increase studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; world knowledge if they are not well-travelled or familiar with certain cultures or countries. Travellers have to seek answers from the tour guides about each country they visit.You are asked to get information about 1) different cultural traditions, like marriage, food, clothes; 2) other tourist information about places of interest such as historical places, monuments, etc.; and 3) asking about what is special in each country. Answers are to be filled in this table for a later writing activity. Spain Cultural Information

Italy

Tunisia

Saudi Arabia

Figure 3. Photos i

Traditional Food Traditional Clothes Marriage Traditions

Tourist Information

Special

Save the date!

The Most Famous Place(s) to Visit

for the 22nd Annual TESOL Arabia International Conference & Exhibition

What is Special in this Country

Language, Culture, Communication: Transformations in Intercultural Contexts

March 10-12, 2016

Figure 2: Handout Volume 23

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32I feel the breadth of the modules,

the enthusiasm of the tutors in their subject areas and the discussion between participants makes this programme top-notch. EdD TESOL student, Dubai

TESOL Programmes The Graduate School of Education is recognised as a leading School of Education with a diverse and highly successful track record, including: • Ranked 6th in the UK for world leading and internationally excellent research (REF 2014) and influencer of national Education policy • PhD studentships available through the ESRC South West Doctoral Training Centre – a hub of world-class social sciences research • International community with postgraduates from over 70 countries studying in the School over the last five years

Doctor of Education (EdD) in TESOL – available in Dubai Programme Coordinator: Dr Salah Troudi, email: S.Troudi@exeter.ac.uk This is a professionally-oriented taught doctorate degree suitable for EFL/ESL professionals, including primary and secondary teachers, college lecturers, and programme coordinators. The degree is taught part-time and in face-to-face mode over four years and local tutors are available for your support. The programme consists of three compulsory research methodology modules, plus the following three content modules: • Critical Issues in Teaching English • TESOL Classrooms and Pedagogy: Theory and Practice • Perspectives on Professionalism You will then complete a research-based thesis of up to 50,000 words.

MPhil and PhD The School has an outstanding reputation for research training and offers MPhil and PhD degrees involving independent study under two supervisors, culminating in the presentation of a written thesis. Full- and part-time study is available. This programme can also be studied via distance learning.

Masters programme (MEd) – intensive summer study option

Programme Coordinator: Dr Susan Riley, email Riley: S.M.Riley@exeter.ac.uk

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For more information please visit www.exeter.ac.uk/education Telephone +44 (0)1392 724739 or email ssis–admissions@exeter.ac.uk February 2015 TESOL Arabia Perspectives www.tesolarabia.org

2015AS005

The Masters in TESOL is aimed at professionals working at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. The programme is flexible, allowing you to choose from the wide range of modules available. Prior to starting, a member of our academic staff will help you plan out the best programme to meet your needs. The MEd is available full-time (1 year) and through an intensive summer programme that takes place in July over two consecutive summers. This programme is available in Exeter.

Feature Article Educational Technology

Sebah Al-Ali Higher Colleges of Technology Sharjah, UAE

How Can Language Skills Be Tested Using an iPad?

Although only introduced in 2010, iPads have already made big strides in academia. Many studies have discussed the possibilities of or attempts at integrating iPads for learning and teaching purposes in language classrooms (e.g., Chik, 2014; GodwinJones, 2011; Johnston & Marsh, 2014; Meurant, 2010; Nisbet & Austin, 2013; Wang, Teng, & Chen, 2015). However, while a few studies discuss the use of iPads as assessment tools in education (Isabwe, 2012; Williamson-Leadley & Ingram, 2013; Isabwe, Reichert, & Carlsen, 2013), few if any discuss their use as assessment tools. In an attempt to explore possible ways to use iPads for testing purposes, this article explores the use of four free iOS apps as assessment tools in language classrooms. Some limitations of using iPads as testing tools are also discussed.

Testing Features on iPads

While utilizing the iPad’s ability to provide students with open access to resources could be seen as an advantage, an iPad can be also utilized in a controlled testing environment. Since the release of iOS 6, iPads (and iPhones) have come equipped with a built-in feature called Guided Access; no special set up or additional software is needed. This feature enables utilizing iPads as testing tools that limit students’ access to uncontrolled information or unwanted distractions. It locks an iPad’s screen to an app of a user’s choice. With Guided Access, access to other basic features like touch, spell check, motion, and screen sleep can be restricted (see Figure 1). A part of the screen can also be disabled (i.e., it will be shaded, and nothing happens if it is tapped) if needed.

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Figure 1. Guided Access allows users to restrict access to many features Enabling Guided Access is easy and straightforward (see Bates, 2014). Once enabled with a passcode of your choice from Settings, Guided Access can be activated by pressing the home button three times. The same passcode is used to disable the feature. In addition to unlocking the screen, the feature needs to be turned off from the settings page; otherwise, an iPad can go into Guided Access (locked) mode again if the home button is accidentally triple pressed. With iOS 8 (released September 2014), a time limit to Guided Access can be set, thus automating disabling.

Free iOS Apps for Language Testing

With Guided Access enabled, iPads can be used to take online tests such as those available through an institution’s learning management system or website. These tests can be accessed using any iOS web browser (e.g., Safari or Chrome). However, many of these tests replicate traditional tests with limited electronic features like randomizing answers/ questions. Language teachers can use other iOS apps to go beyond these traditional assessments. TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Educational Feature Technology Article

This paper will discuss four free iOS apps that can help teachers assess language skills using an iPad. These apps were selected based on two criteria: price (free) and popularity among colleagues who use iPads for teaching/learning purposes. However, after discussing each app’s possibilities and limitations, a few alternatives are suggested to avoid limiting readers to these apps. Alternatives are not necessarily better, free, or commonly used.

Notes

Features. This is one of iPad’s basic note-taking apps. No installation or iTunes account is required to get this app. A user can type words, sentences, and more with no character limit. If a word is highlighted, it can be defined and spoken. With iOS 8, a user can apply basic formatting to text (bold, underline, and italics) and add static or moving pictures. Any note can be easily shared via iMessages or email and printed via AirPrint. Notes is one of the apps that can be linked to one’s iCloud account, which makes it easy for users to sync their notes between different devices wirelessly. Testing possibilities. With these limited features, Notes can be used to test writing skills in a basic format. Students can respond to prompts and write sentences, paragraphs, or essays. They can add pictures and apply basic formatting to their writing. Teacher can disable iPad’s spellcheck feature and enable Guided Access to limit a student’s access to other resources if needed. Notes can also make a teacher’s archiving job easier as students’ written work is automatically available for saving and archiving purposes. While teachers might still struggle with understanding students’ handwritten text, with Notes, an inability to decipher a student’s writing will no longer be a problem. Testing limitations. Learners cannot view or access documents using this app. Writing prompts need to be handed out or shared via another medium. Students can only produce text files (notes). Another limitation is that Notes only works via a keyboard; students who prefer to use the touch feature and write with their pens/fingers won’t be able to do so with Notes. Finally, with the iOS 8 update, a user can view and attach photos to a note. A teacher cannot limit access to the camera roll (photos saved on the device). This could be problematic as students can use the import photo Volume 23

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feature to access saved screenshots or pictures which they shouldn’t have access to while completing a task. Possible alternatives. Pages, Evernote, and Penultimate.

Adobe Reader

Features. The free version of this PDF reader allows a user to view, store, annotate, and add text and comments to PDF files (see Figure 2). Users can only view Microsoft documents (docx, pptx, xlsx); no annotations or text can be added to these files. An upgrade, however, offers an option to convert them to PDF to allow annotations. Users can also email, print, and open annotated PDF documents in other apps. Testing possibilities. With Adobe Reader, a teacher can send or share PDF documents testing grammar, reading, and vocabulary skills. Questions don’t have to be limited to ones that are usually administered in traditional tests like multiple choice questions (MCQs), fill in the blank, or short answers. Students might be asked to show where they found their answers to reading questions by highlighting relevant parts in a reading passage. This can eliminate guessing answers and allow teachers to see why or how students are not getting the right answers. Writing skills can also be tested using the app; however, teachers need to make sure that the PDF document offers enough space to accommodate all of a student’s writing as they cannot create new pages or new documents.

Figure 2. Editing options on Adobe Reader TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Testing limitations. Although students can easily share PDFs after annotating and adding text to them, these documents will be automatically stored on their devices unless they are manually deleted. This could be problematic if a teacher plans to reuse tests. Also, because of the static nature of PDF documents, questions and/or answers cannot be randomized or modified unless the teacher actually creates multiple versions of the same test. Finally, a student can only add to an existing document; she or he cannot create a new document. Possible alternatives. Notability, Annotate+, and PDF Reader.

Socrative

Features. Socrative is one of very few apps that are designed for formative testing purposes. The app comes in two versions: a teacher version and a student version. Through a teacher’s app, a user can create classes which students join via a code. Teachers can then add questions and create quizzes. Results are viewed live, as soon as they are entered by students. Teachers and students also have the choice to login using a desktop as well using Socrative’s website (http://b.socrative.com/login/teacher/ and http://b. socrative.com/login/student/). While teachers need to create accounts, students do not need to register for accounts. All they need to do is enter a classroom code to join the class and add names. Sebah Al-Ali is a member of the English faculty at Sharjah Higher Colleges of Technology. With experience in programming and web development, she has published articles and presented at numerous conferences sharing her instructional technology adventures.

Testing possibilities. A teacher can send students one question at a time, or what is called a “quick question” on Socrative. A teacher can ask an MCQ, true/false, or short answer question; the question immediately appears on students’ screens. Teachers can view results right away. This kind of assessment can be very helpful to check students’ understanding, whether it is a grammar question, vocabulary item, or reading passage. Unlike what often happens in class where a few strong students shout out answers, with this app, everyone gets a chance to answer, and a teacher will be able to truly measure students’ understanding of what is taught, when it’s taught. Teachers can also send or save reports of answers entered by students when a session ends (see Figure 3, by tapping the finish button on the top right corner. Volume 23

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Figure 3. Socrative results can be saved and exported to spreadsheets Teachers can also create assessments with the ability to randomize questions and/or answers, and still be able to track results live. Although a teacher is limited to the same kinds of questions (MCQ, true/false, or short answer) with images, the ability to track results as they are entered can provide a language teacher with a powerful, efficient tool for in-class assessment. Testing limitations. Despite the app’s powerful ability to track results and display them right away, the available question types are fairly limited. Also, although images can be added to questions, audio files cannot be added. Possible alternatives. Nearpod

Voice Record Pro

Features. This app allows a user to record his/her voice and outputs an MP4 file. After recording an audio file, users can edit the audio, send it by email, save it to a cloud (like Google Drive), post it to YouTube, and convert it to MP3 (see Figure 4).

Figure 4. Voice Record Pro offers several options to view, edit, and share audio files TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Testing possibilities. This app is ideal for testing speaking skills. Students can record themselves and send the audio to their teachers. It can also be used to keep track of students’ speaking progress throughout the semester by recording audios at regular intervals (e.g., weekly, monthly, etc.). Teachers can also integrate the app in face-to-face speaking tests to provide feedback and to point out problems. The app can also be used to record group speaking tasks if students ensure that each speaker is close enough to the iPad when talking. Testing limitations. Running the same test with many students in class recording their voices at the same time could result in a poor or inaudible recording due to noise. Students need to record in an area with minimal background noise to produce proper audio recordings for testing purposes. Students can edit an audio after recording it; for example, they can remove pauses. Possible alternatives. SoundNote, ExplainEverything, and AudioNote.

Limitations

While this article discusses only these four apps, iOS apps are unlimited, and new apps are always being introduced. However, the apps in this article were chosen based on informal discussions with colleagues about their most-used iOS apps in their iPad-friendly classes. Students’ preferences were not taken into account in the process due to lack of data in that area. This could be an area for future research. Also, although the analysis was meant to be as comprehensive as possible, there may be additional features that were not covered. In terms of practicality, using an iPad in general can be difficult for students who are not used to typing using an iOS on-screen keyboard. Some time is needed to adapt to the keyboard. However, with current students’ general dependence on smartphones, one can expect them to adapt fairly quickly. In addition, students may choose to buy an iPad case with a physical keyboard attached. Finally, a continuous, strong Wi-Fi connection is necessary for most of these apps to function properly, or at least to share products between teachers and learners. This could be problematic in institutions that do not have adequate Wi-Fi connections on campus.

Conclusion

This article has explored the use of iPads as testing tools in language classrooms. While teachers can utilize an iOS web browser to administer online tests, they can also use other iOS apps to facilitate Volume 23

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additional testing options. Using Notes, Adobe Reader, Socrative, and Voice Record Pro, a teacher can test writing, reading, grammar, vocabulary, and speaking skills in various ways. Finally, although these apps were found to be useful and effective, teachers should not limit themselves to these options; new (and possibly better) apps are always appearing and are usually worth exploring.

References

Bates, N. (2014, September 30). Keyboard settings and guided access in iOS 8. Retrieved from http://blogs.hct.ac.ae/foundations/2014/09/30/ keyboard-settings-guided-access-ios-8/ Chik, A. (2014). English language teaching apps: Positioning parents and young learners. Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education, 21(3), 252-260. Godwin-Jones, R. (2011). Emerging technologies: Mobile apps for language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 15(2), 2-11. iOS: About Guided Access (n.d.). Retrieved from http://support. apple.com/en-us/ht5509 Isabwe, G. (2012). Investigating the usability of iPad mobile tablet in formative assessment of a mathematics course. 2012 International Conference on Information Society (pp. 39-44). New York, NY: IEEE. Retrieved from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=6285043 Isabwe, G. M. N., Reichert, F., & Carlsen, M. (2013). Rethinking practices of assessment for learning: Tablet technology supported assessment for learning mathematics. Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering (TALE), 2013, 155-159. Johnston, N., & Marsh, S. (2014). Using iBooks and iPad apps to embed information literacy into an EFL foundations course. New Library World, 115(1/2), 51-60. Meurant, R. C. (2010). iPad tablet computing to foster Korean EFL digital literacy. International Journal of u- and e- Service, Science and Technology, 3(4), 49-62. Nisbet, D., & Austin, D. (2013). Enhancing ESL vocabulary development through the use of mobile technology. Journal of Adult Education, 42(1), 1-7. Wang, B.T., Teng, C.W., & Chen, H.T. (2015). Using iPad to facilitate English vocabulary learning. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 5(2), 100-104. Williamson-Leadley, S., & Ingram, N. (2013). Show and tell: Using iPads for assessment in mathematics. Computers in New Zealand Schools: Learning,Teaching,Technology, 25(1-3), 117-137. TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Teacher Research in Language Teaching: A Critical Analysis Simon Borg Cambridge University Press, 2013 ISBN 978-0-521-15263-1 253 pages This is a book from the Cambridge Applied Linguistics series, and it is primarily concerned with what Borg describes as “language teacher identity” (p. 122). It begins with a brief introduction entitled “Teacher Research As a Paradox,” which questions why it is often assumed that classroom teachers should not “do” research. Borg indicates that research is “potentially of huge value to teachers, yet at the same time so underwhelmingly in evidence, globally speaking, in the field of language teaching” (p. 1). Obviously, there are many reasons. The sheer physical effort of teaching may leave many teachers too exhausted to face undertaking a research project. Family commitments and commuting from home to work may have a higher claim on teachers’ time. Stakeholders – heads of department, principals – may offer no incentives for teachers to do more than deliver the syllabus, and in private language schools, a transient population of teachers may have a limited commitment to EFL teaching. In other institutions, colleagues may openly snipe at “pot hunting,” discouraging both continuing professional development and any research interest. Finally, teachers with the more basic qualifications may simply feel that they are unequal to the task. Borg anticipates, and answers, each of these objections. He offers nine chapters: “Research and Teachers,” “Investigating Teacher Research Engagement,” “Conceptions of Research in Language Teaching,” “Teacher Engagement with Research,” “Teacher Engagement in Research,” “Research Engagement and Teaching Quality,” “Research Cultures in Language Teaching,” Volume 23

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“Facilitating Teacher Research Projects,” and “Promoting Language Teacher Research.” Each chapter and the introduction has its own list of references, but there is no overall bibliography. For this reviewer, the most interesting chapter was Chapter 8, “Facilitating Teacher Research Projects,” which makes reference to Borg’s involvement in the collaboration between the Omani Ministry of Education and the University of Leeds. For a decade, this project was responsible for providing BA TESOL accreditation for nearly 900 Omani in-service teachers of English, working in both the civilian and military sectors. By the end of the course, the teachers had learned how to do good quality research, learned how to evaluate TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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research, become equipped to help others do research, been prepared to do further research, and become enthusiastic about doing research (p. 194). A spin-off from the initiative, which effectively demonstrates the truth of the last point about becoming enthusiastic researchers, was a considerable amount of action research (Borg, 2006, 2008, 2009a, 2009b) and a general raising of the research culture in Oman, as evidenced by the increasing number of professional conferences held in the Sultanate. Despite the undoubted success of the Oman project, however, Borg is realistic about the problems encountered by teachers who wish to undertake research. Inevitably, there are difficulties with both time and resources. The workload is heavy, and it is placed on top of an already demanding teaching schedule. Teachers must, therefore, be particularly highly motivated, especially in cases where they receive no support or understanding from management. Resources, moreover, may be difficult to access, even in the days of the Internet and online journals.

References

Borg, S. (Ed.) (2006). Classroom research in ELT in Oman. Muscat: Ministry of Education. Borg, S. (Ed.). (2008). Investigating language teaching and learning in Oman. Muscat: Ministry of Education. Borg, S. (Ed.). (2009a). Researching English language teaching and teacher development in Oman. Muscat: Ministry of Education. Borg, S. (2009b). Understanding English language teaching and learning in Oman. Muscat: Ministry of Education. i

Neil McBeath Sultan Qaboos University Muscat, Oman

Borg summarizes his findings in a list of 20 points (pp. 212-213). Of these, the most important are probably number 9, “Teachers’ primary reasons for doing research are professional and pedagogic rather than instrumental (promotion)” (p. 212) and number 16, “Negative views about the value of research engagement to teachers were based on a conception of research as theoretical knowledge external to teachers and having no relevance to classroom practice” (p. 213). This second finding reinforces much of the negativity in other findings, and appears to be based on the misconception that research is, per se, both detached from the classroom and irrelevant to it. What is also significant is Borg’s use of the term “engagement.” This is a key concept in this book: just look how often it appears in the chapter titles. “Engagement” underpins the finding that teachers who undertake research are not primarily motivated by a desire for promotion. Teachers who undertake research are professionally and pedagogically engaged, and if ever there was a reason for encouraging more research, then that must be it. Volume 23

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Spotlight on Learning Styles: Teacher Strategies for Learner Success Marjorie Rosenberg Delta Publishing, 2013 ISBN: 978-1-905085-71-2 120 pages In her textbook Spotlight on Learning Styles:Teacher Strategies for Learner Success, Marjorie Rosenberg presents a wealth of information on different learning styles. Over the course of twenty years, Rosenberg has developed a collection of information pertaining to learning strategies (specifically visual, auditory, kinesthetic sensory perception, global-analytical cognitive processing, and mind organization), and has poured her vast knowledge into this textbook for the benefit of others interested in this field of education, specifically teachers. Rosenberg is careful to establish that the extent one implements strategies of learning styles in the classroom is up to the teacher, and (while it can be used to expand his or her individual teaching style) is not meant to be used as a lesson plan in itself. While the author firmly believes that a better understanding of the various learning styles will improve the language learning process, her goals for the textbook are not limited to identifying other ways of teaching a language; Rosenberg spends a great deal of time addressing the benefits for teachers and students to recognize their own learning style(s), and she includes several quick and easy tests to determine oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learning style. The author stresses the importance for teachers to recognize characteristics of their teaching styles (based on their learning styles) and to use this information to improve their overall skills. She also emphasizes that teachers should recognize learning characteristics in students, thus allowing the instructors to create materials and lesson plans Volume 23

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that suit the needs of the class. This will also ideally encourage more patience in teachers as they begin to understand why their students might, for example, resist certain activities or perform poorly on tests. Rosenberg also encourages both teachers and students to strive to leave their comfort zone and teach or study in ways that are more challenging to them. The emphasis she places on recognizing student characteristics reinforces the idea that every person learns in a unique way; thus, some TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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students might struggle due to the way material is presented. In addition, she stresses that recognizing different learning styles is vital because classrooms are generally composed of mixed-ability learners. For example, visual learners acquire knowledge by seeing new material in writing and copying it themselves, while auditory learners perform best when they hear new material and practice it aloud. Kinesthetic learners, on the other hand, need to engage in physical activity to absorb new material. Once teachers understand how to create lessons that touch upon these different learning styles, Rosenberg claims that such strategies will make the learning process easier. This in turn will increase the motivation of the teachers and learners, thus encouraging language learning. Rosenberg’s textbook is concisely organized making it easy to employ. It is divided into three parts, and each part is further divided into sections that categorize activities depending on learning style. This text is not intended to replace traditional lesson plans; rather, it can be used to enhance lessons by providing alternate methods of approaching language. Activities provide teachers with a model for lessons that touch upon different styles. The wellresearched and in-depth descriptions of the learning styles are reinforced and illustrated by the activities she includes, which provide teachers with examples of how to incorporate several learning styles in the classroom. For example, the first activity in the book entitled “What Have I Changed?” focuses on the visual learning style, yet includes auditory and kinesthetic learning as the students deliberate aloud and alter their appearance. Rosenberg also provides a complete bibliography that enables her audience to read further into the various learning styles. Rosenberg’s textbook is unassuming and does not contain cultural references, which makes it appropriate for a wide variety of classroom settings. The activities are organized in settings that reflect Western culture, but very little would be required to alter them to fit the needs of various classrooms. The audience for this textbook is both teachers and students in a language learning classroom, as the author’s intent is for both groups to recognize their own learning (and teaching) style and use this knowledge to improve language acquisition. While Volume 23

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students would undoubtedly gain a great deal of useful information from the book, language teachers are the most likely to benefit from the detailed descriptions of the various learning styles, as well as the activities that correlate with these styles. Overall, Spotlight on Learning Styles:Teacher Strategies for Learner Success is very beneficial for teachers and can be a very useful tool in the classroom setting. Rosenberg presents information in a straightforward manner that makes the textbook enjoyable as well as interesting. Detailed descriptions of different learning styles provide readers with information that can readily be incorporated into classes. As the author admits, this textbook is designed as a “springboard” into considering other areas of teaching a language successfully, which makes it a useful resource. i

Sarah Camsuzou California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, California, USA

Smart Phone GiveAway at the AGM! Attend the Annual General Meeting at the 21st Annual TESOL Arabia International Conference and Exhibition and be entered into the drawing to win a smart phone.

Friday, March 13, 1:30-2:30 PM in the Crystal Ballroom All TESOL Arabia members are welcome to attend.

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IELTS Advantage: Speaking and Listening Skills Jon Marks DELTA 2013 ISBN: 978-1-905085-64-4 120 pages IELTS Advantage is a three-part textbook series for IELTS test preparation. IELTS Advantage: Speaking and Listening Skills (2013) is designed for students at levels B2 and C1 who desire a score of 6.5-7.0 or higher on the speaking and listening sections of the Academic IELTS exam. It is divided into nine units: units one to seven focus on the speaking component and units eight and nine concentrate on the listening section of the IELTS exam. All units are accompanied by a CD. The units are divided into short lessons and cover a range of topics including personal circumstances, leisure interests, travel, education, media, and transportation. The introduction of this book also provides general advice for what examiners are looking for in both speaking and listening tests. Marks discusses the use of this book in a classroom as well as for self study. Both options are reasonable because each section contains straightforward directions, brief lessons, and sidebar tips, aimed at improving students’ grammar and vocabulary as well as their speaking and listening. However, if a student utilizes the book for self study, Marks recommends working with a “study buddy” because it is more effective to practice speaking with another person, simulating test situations, than speaking alone. The structure of the speaking sections is always the same which is easy to navigate but also becomes repetitive and potentially dull. One of the strengths of this textbook is the interweaving of test preparation with vocabulary and grammar lessons. The topics for each unit are applicable for standard conversation, and the book addresses a broad range of smaller lessons about expressions, prepositions, and combining sentences and ideas. The listening component is quite short in comparison to the speaking sections, but listening elements also conclude each lesson throughout the Volume 23

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speaking units, combining the two skills. Lessons also increase in difficultly from answering general questions, to speaking about a topic for two minutes, to developing that topic with more abstract ideas, which directly corresponds to the IELTS exam. Another of the book’s strengths is a small portion in the lessons called “sequencing ideas,” dedicated to structuring, organizing, and combining sentences and ideas, issues with which many students have problems. There are also small yellow boxes in the side margins with tips or strategies about the test. The boxes also provide explanations for the activities, such as the reason for teaching filling-in phrases. Both a strength and a weakness of IELTS Advantage are the answer key and audio transcripts at the end. These two components are helpful for self study because students can check answers without TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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a teacher. However, it might be tempting for students to look at the key or dialogues when they do not understand the material rather than asking or searching for further explanations. The CD component is a strength, as well, for practicing listening to a native English speaker, but it is also a weakness because the speakers on the CD sound robotic and rehearsed; they also have unusual intonation and speak slowly. Although this textbook is a good resource for students wishing to improve on the IELTS test and for teachers who are preparing students for the exam, it seems more directed toward Western European students. There are few visual stimuli throughout the book such as pictures or cartoons, and the pictures that do exist are not very diverse. Even though most of the cartoons are humorous and relate to the material, one is particularly shocking. The cartoon displays a group of children with two adults and a lion tearing apart a backpack, clothing, and a shoe as one of the adults is saying, “And that’s why we make ‘em sign permissions slips” (p. 88). This

43 cartoon could be construed as offensive. Despite this cartoon, the photos provide a visually pleasing interruption to the abundant text. Overall, IELTS Advantage: Speaking and Listening Skills is a useful textbook for preparing for the IELTS exam, either in a classroom or through self study. It could also be a resource for an advanced English as a Second Language course, but a teacher should not rely solely on this textbook as it does not supply enough detail about advanced grammar and focuses on speaking and listening skills with little reading or writing practice. i

Tara Maher California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, USA

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Listening and Note Taking Skills Michael Thompson Delta Publishing, 2013 ISBN: 978-1-905085-60-6 112 pages Listening and Note-Taking Skills is designed for independent to proficient students of English. Following the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), the author suggests that the book is best suited for B2 and C1 students. This book primarily helps students develop their listening and note-taking skills. However, there is also a strong focus on vocabulary development throughout the book. The author claims that by using this book students will be able to adapt to the challenges of academic study in English. It would seem that the book is designed to move students from a basic, conversational understanding of English to a more advanced, academic understanding of the language. Thompson attempts to bridge the gap between basic English and academic English in four major ways throughout the book. First, he gradually lengthens the listening passages in each chapter and presents listening exercises that utilize conversations and extended, academic lectures. Second, the author presents note-taking and academic strategies as well as test-taking strategies throughout the book. Examples of academic and note-taking strategies include the use of outlines and graphic organizers. Test-taking strategies include strategies for solving gap-fill exercises and identifying signal words in listening passages. Third, the author introduces students to the Academic Word List (AWL) and word families throughout the book. There is even a special section at the end of the book with exercises which focus exclusively on words from the AWL. Finally, the themes introduced in each chapter may help students to culturally adapt to university life. Examples of the themes include an introduction to higher education, law, natural disasters, and brands Volume 23

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and marketing. These themes create the necessary space for interesting academic lectures that give students greater exposure to the type of language they will encounter in the university classroom. There are eight chapters in this book, divided into six main chapters and two consolidation chapters. Each consolidation chapter follows three main chapters. Main chapters begin by introducing the chapter theme. Important vocabulary and some basic listening passages are then presented. The next part of each main chapter focuses on a particular aspect of language such as saying large numbers or how transition words can be used to link ideas in a discussion. Each main chapter then focuses on what the author calls â&#x20AC;&#x153;listening for productionâ&#x20AC;? activities TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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which include gap-fill exercises as well as pair work and speaking activities. The next section of the main chapters is called “listening for meaning.” Activities in this section tend to focus on developing students’ vocabulary knowledge as well as their ability to deal with unknown words in listening passages. Finally, each main chapter ends with a summative listening activity in the section called “unit extension.” The consolidation chapters tend to be shorter and focus on vocabulary review as well as important language features from the previous three chapters. In addition, there are multiple listening passages to give students greater exposure to skills like listening for main ideas, listening for details, and inferring a speaker’s purpose. Finally, each consolidation chapter ends with productive activities that include speaking or writing activities. One of the greatest strengths of this book is how the author engages the reader. From the very beginning, Thompson writes to the student in a more personal tone. In a letter to the students, he tells the learners that they are already good at English, but it will take hard work to become “very good.” He then states that students who are “very good” at English can study and work effectively in the language. The author’s coaching begins with this letter but continues throughout the book in the form of text written in blue “information boxes.” If a student were to use this book without a teacher, the tone of these information boxes might help the student to better understand how strategies can be applied in each featured exercise, thus providing necessary scaffolding for self-motivated students. While the support provided by the information boxes may be the greatest strength of this book, sometimes the information provided in these sections is a bit more than the student may need. In one information box about numbers, the author discusses long scale and short scale numbers. For example, in long scale a billion can mean 1,000,000,000,000, whereas in short scale a billion means the number 1,000,000,000. English uses the short scale, but languages like French and Spanish use the long scale. While this is useful for many English language learners, sometimes it seems like so much information is provided that it may be difficult for learners to judge what information in these boxes will be most useful for them. However, with teacher Volume 23

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guidance, and with enough class time, all of these extra bits of information can make for interesting class discussions. Most of the themes in this book are student centered and culturally appropriate. However, the second chapter focuses on rock and roll music. Learners in the Middle East may lack the necessary background information to understand or take an interest in this chapter. In addition, the topic itself may not be culturally suitable for some classrooms. However, the other chapters of this book focusing on university education, law, and marketing may prove very interesting for learners in the region. Overall this book is effective in addressing the goals of developing learner competence in listening and note-taking skills. In addition, the author focuses on strategies in a very unique and student centered way throughout the book. Finally, the focus on word families and the AWL helps learners develop academic language proficiency in preparation for university education. i

Matthew A. Carey Qatar University Doha, Qatar

TESOL Arabia Needs YOU! We are looking to add to our pool of book and material reviewers. If you would like to evaluate recent books, or materials, please contact the Reviews Editor, Paul Dessoir, at

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Charity School Bwejuu: A Teacher Training Project Bwejuu, Zanzibar Rob Wilson The charity school in the village of Bwejuu on the east coast of Zanzibar is a long way from the comforts of Abu Dhabi. Bwejuu is a small village which seems to have received little benefit from the high end tourism that has come to Zanzibar. Housing is very basic and local facilities are poor, but the villagers are resilient and earn a living from the harvesting of seaweed and fishing. The school itself has a remarkable role in its community. It is self-sustaining and offers a free education to children who would otherwise miss out. Not only does it provide an education, but it also engenders a genuine sense of pride and school spirit among the pupils. The school, which was registered in 2004, offers education to a large number of children from mostly poor or challenging backgrounds at no cost, and this includes some children who are HIV orphans. Full board and lodging at the school is also offered to students who are most in need. The striking orange school building was constructed with support from a Dubai-based sheikh and his family. The school also receives regular support from a prominent Omani family. Apart from the resourceful principal, Rajab Ali Jaku, the majority of teachers at the school are volunteers who have had little or no teacher training. Some of these teachers have long-term ambitions within the profession. In June 2014, four lecturers from Abu Dhabi â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Aaron Sorenson, Ben Sempek, Lucia Holliday, and I â&#x20AC;&#x201C; were fortunate enough to spend 10 days at the school delivering a teacher training program. That we were allowed to proceed with the project says much about the generosity of the senior management of our university, most particularly the president. Tod Laursen, and our program director, Jim Boyce. Volume 23

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Children at Charity School Bwejuu are ready to learn.

Before travelling to Zanzibar, we had a fundraising drive and art photography sale which raised over 1,200 US dollars to buy supplies for the school. We were delighted to be able to present the school with one used and four new laptops well as a variety of childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s books for the library. Khalifa University also provided an array of stationery for the school. Our aim for the project was to provide the teachers with tools which would enable them to initiate their own teacher development programs as well as offer practical activities for the classroom. The majority of the training program was designed to cover general teaching skills, but it also included some English- and mathspecific sessions. We focused on four main areas: peer observation, reflection, designing classroom activities, and using stories with very young leaners. The training was initially offered to the teachers of the charity school, but was also made available to teachers from the local public school. This resulted in around thirty teachers attending at least some of the training on offer. We faced a number of difficulties delivering the training. The biggest initial problem was language. We had understood the English level TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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47 carrying out an extensive feedback session with the participants, but we felt that the teachers who had long-term teaching ambitions had enjoyed and benefitted from the sessions on peer observation and feedback. In addition, the teachers as a whole had a positive experience with the activity-based sessions.

Aaron Sorensen demonstrated math teaching techniques.

of the teachers to be upper intermediate to advanced. In reality, this was not the case for the majority of the teachers.There were also cultural and conceptual difficulties. Some concepts that we take for granted in our teacher training, for example reflective practice, proved rather arcane and challenging for the Zanzibari teachers. Finally, we endured a variety of health and personal issues during our time in Bwejuu. All of these factors made for a challenging training environment. However, despite the complications we encountered, we were able to deliver a successful programme. We adjusted our expectations when it came to language, concepts, and activities. We changed the focus of the training from concepts that the local teachers found somewhat esoteric, such as reflection, peer observation, and feedback, and focused more on activities for the classroom. Time prevented us from

For Aaron, Ben, Lucia, and me, it was a challenging and exhausting but rewarding experience. We were able to meet and interact with the local community, an experience not available to tourists staying in the high end resorts. While it may be a cliché to describe the experience as an “eye-opener,” it undoubtedly fits as a label for this project. The teachers in Bwejuu work in incredibly challenging conditions both professionally and personally. For example, whilst we were at the school, the wife of one of the teachers suffered pregnancy complications which, although not uncommon, with Zanzibar’s limited medical care were life-threatening. The commitment of principal Jaku to the school, the students, and the staff is undoubtedly inspiring. We hope to return in the near future. Whilst the school is a positive and inspirational place, it does still face great difficulties. Charity School Bwejuu is desperately short of supplies and equipment that we take for granted. If you are interested in the school, see their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ charityschoolbwejuu?fref=ts. Alternatively, contact me at rob.wilson@kustar.ae.ac.To see more pictures of Bwejuu, please feel free to visit my website, http://www.robwilsonphotography.com/zanzibar. i

Ben Sempek, Aaron Sorensen, and Lucia Holliday posed with the proud participants. Volume 23

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Special Interest TESOL Group Arabia Reports News Feature Article

Teaching, Assessment & Evaluation SIG Update Christine Coombe, TAE SIG Co-Chair The year’s first event for the TESOL Arabia Teaching, Assessment & Evaluation (TAE) SIG took place in October 2014 with a joint event with National Admissions and Placement Office (NAPO) on creating valid and reliable objective test items. The 40+ attendees learned about good practice in item writing from Dr Christine Coombe and Peter Davidson and then participated in a training conducted by Rachel Lange of NAPO to become item writers for the Common Educational Proficiency Assessment (CEPA). Our next big initiative was the launch of our Professional Development Certificate series. In November 2014, over 30 teachers in the region registered for the first course on alternative assessment. Our top graduates are Catherine Hill of RAK Men’s College, HCT, and Sharif Alghozo of Umm Al Qura University. Mabruk to Catherine and Sharif on a job well done! February 2015 sees the publication of TESOL Arabia’s first e-book entitled Best Practice in ELT: Voices from the Classroom. This joint initiative between the TESOL Arabia TAE SIG and the Bangladeshi English Language Teachers Association (BELTA) Testing SIG features 25 chapters on best practice in the field as a whole, assessment, the skill areas, and technology. The volume is co-edited by TAE SIG Co-chair Dr Christine Coombe and BELTA Testing SIG Chair Dr Rubina Khan. At the TESOL Arabia 2015 Conference, plenary speaker and Past President of TESOL International, Dr Deena Boraie, will deliver the TAE SIG featured session. For more information about the TAE SIG or to become a member of our team, contact the chairs, Dr Christine Coombe ccoombe@hct.ac.ae or Peter Davidson peter.davidson@zu.ac.ae. Volume 23

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Donate to the TESOL Arabia Book Drive at TACON 2015. Contact: ruth.glasgow@zu.ac.ae TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Special FeatureInterest Article Group Reports

Leadership and Management SIG Starts a New Year! Dr Christine Coombe & Konrad Cedro, LM SIG Co-Chairs comes to us all the way from Peru and was recently awarded TESOL’s Leadership Mentoring Award for 2015. Christine will serve as his mentor for the coming year. In this session, they hope to share their views on the importance of mentoring and strategies they have found to be successful.

The TESOL Arabia Leadership and Management SIG (LM SIG) started the year off with the 7th Annual Teacher Leadership Academy, on Friday, February 13th at Dubai Men’s College. Invited speakers included a number of TESOL Arabia Executive Committee members: Dr Sufian Abu Rmaileh, Dr Christina Gitsaki, Mohammed Azaza, and Mohamed El Zamil. TESOL Arabia President Dr Melanie Gobert delivered the plenary address on leadership theories for teachers.

The final event of the year for the LM SIG will be the 1st Annual TESOL Arabia SIG Conference. For this inaugural event, an educational association based in Turkey called T PLUS will co-organize the event which will take place on May 1-2 at Dubai Men’s College. More information about this event will be posted on our website.

At the annual TESOL Arabia Conference, the LM SIG featured session will be on the topic of mentoring and will be offered by LM SIG Co-Chair Dr Christine Coombe and Moises Alcantara. Moises

Develop Your Leadership and Communication Skills with TESOL Arabia Toastmasters Mohammad Azaza, Research SIG Chair Toastmasters International (TI) is a nonprofit educational organization that has become a world leader in communication and leadership development by helping thousands of people become better public speakers and leaders. According to a recent report released by Toastmasters International, there are more than 313 members and 14,650 clubs all over the world. The organization offers a unique and carefully developed education program which supports the toastmasters’ journey towards communication and leadership competence. The program has two tracks: a communication track and a leadership track which are not mutually exclusive as participants can work both on their leadership and communication projects at the same time. Volume 23

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The program, which is guided by four major principles (experiential learning, self-paced learning, peer feedback, and mentoring), is reinforced by a system of recognition and awards aimed at enhancing participants’ motivation and involvement. The communication track enables toastmasters to develop their communication skills through delivering ten speeches that are usually evaluated by other toastmasters according to specific evaluation criteria available in the organization’s Competent Communication Manual. Moreover, there are fifteen advanced manuals; each manual focuses on a particular type of presentation, such as speaking to inform, communication with news media, speaking on television, story-telling, interpersonal communication, technical presentations, etc. Similarly, participants in the Toastmasters programme achieve the competent leader award by completing TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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ten leadership projects. In these projects, toastmasters learn leadership skills such as running meetings, time management, delegation, and empowering others by mentoring and coaching. The toastmasters experience also offers other leadership opportunities, such as club president, vice president education, vice president public relations, vice-president membership, club secretary and sergeant of arms. Upon the completion of project speeches and participation in meeting roles, club members can earn internationally-recognized qualifications. Apart from the club meetings, the organization offers other professional development opportunities through different events held at the area, division, and district levels.

Date

Event

Time/Location

Saturday, January 10

Club Meeting #8

Dubai Men’s College

Friday, January 30

Club Meeting #9

Dubai Men’s College

TESOL Arabia Toastmasters is a newly-chartered club based in Dubai. We are part of area 20, division F, District 20, and we meet at Dubai Men’s College twice a month, usually every other Friday. Although the club is sponsored by TESOL Arabia, membership is open to all educators and professionals. What makes our club unique is that it attracts members from diverse regions and Emirates of the U.A.E (Fujairah, Dubai, Ajman, Sharjah, Al-Ain, and Abu Dhabi). TESOL Toastmasters is the most active SIG in TESOL Arabia with two meetings every month. Our calendar of events for 2015 follows:

Shifa Desai from HCT Fujairah delivered her fifth project during the January 10th event at Dubai Men’s College.

At the TESOL Toastmasters November 29th event, the group celebrated the UAE National Day. Volume 23

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Saturday, February 14 Club Meeting #10

Dubai Men’s College

Friday, February 27

Club Meeting #11

Dubai Men’s College

March 12-14

Club Meeting #12 at TESOL Arabia Conference Club

Hyatt Regency Hotel, Dubai

Friday, March 20

Club Meeting #13

Dubai Men’s College

Friday, April 10

Club Meeting #14

Dubai Men’s College

Friday, April 24

Club Meeting #15

Dubai Men’s College

Friday, May 1

TPlus Event – Club Showcase + TESOL Arabia SIG Conference

Dubai Men’s College

Friday, May 8

Club Meeting #16

Dubai Men’s College

Friday, June 5

Club Meeting #17

Dubai Men’s College

Friday, June 19

Club Meeting #18

Dubai Men’s College

One of our goals this year is to increase membership and achieve the President’s Distinguished Club which is a recognition program administered by Toastmasters International that tracks the progress of a club in meeting educational and membership goals and recognizes clubs based on the number of goals achieved during a one-year period. In closing, I’d like to urge all TESOL Arabia members to take advantage of this professional development opportunity. Being part of Toastmasters could have a lasting impact on your professional profile as an educator and TESOL practitioner. For more information about joining the club, please email us at tesolarabiatoastmasters@gmail.com, or call Mohamed Azaza at 055 3790099. TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Chapter Feature Reports Article

Al Ain Chapter: Technology for Tots Ian Taylor, Al Ain Chapter Representative Once upon a time we taught children using slate boards and chalk; we used pictures and picture-books to explain; we used toys to help get our messages across. Well, now that we have arrived in the 21st century, it is time we moved on and started using 21st-century teaching devices – mobile technology! But if the thought of handing over your Samsung Galaxy S5 Gold or your recently bought MacBook Air to the kids makes you shudder, fear not because it is usually the adult that does damage to new technology. Children, on the other hand, embrace it like their favourite cuddly toy. This is the message from TESOL Arabia Al Ain Chapter’s latest professional development event which took place at, appropriately enough, Zakher Kindergarten in Al Ain on Tuesday, November 18. The two speakers were Javier Lucero, who spoke about “Engaging 21st Century Thinkers with Mobile Devices,” and Rashenah Walker, whose talk was entitled “The Reverse Classroom.”

Rashenah Walker explains how to reverse a classroom. Volume 23

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In Javier’s session, he explored the unlimited ways to engage 21st-century skills using mobile devices. He said, “Whether it’s an entry-level language learner or a high proficiency student looking to expand, teachers will uncover just how invaluable mobile devices can be in the classroom.” Javier showed a spectrum of mobile applications that can be utilized to target direct skills or engage students in creative projects to enhance learning. Rashenah’s talk discussed reverse classroom (also known as flipped classroom) methodology and focused on developing 21st- century learners and skills by incorporating the use of technology, creativity, research inquiry, and self-management. According to Rashenah, “By combining these strategies, the teacher is able to create a classroom that differentiates instruction, and accommodates various learning styles and ability levels, along with providing rigorous instruction.” So, it is time to put away the doubts and issue the young learners with mobile devices. After all, we are in 2015!

Javier Lucero demonstrates the latest technology. TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Chapter Article Reports Feature

Eastern Region Chapter and Young Learners SIG Host Joint Event in Fujairah Mohamed El Zamil, Eastern Region Chapter Representative The Eastern Region Chapter and the Young Learners SIG co-hosted the fourth event offered this year by the Easter Region Chapter on Saturday, January 24, at the Ajman University of Science and Technology in Fujairah. Approximately 25 teachers attended the event, entitled “Effective Strategies for Teaching Reading and Writing Skills in the ESL/EFL Classroom.” Garlfar Andrews, Head of Faculty at Al Shaheen Primary School in Al Ain, UAE, presented on “The 21st Century Reading Teacher.” Garlfar explained Cummins’s (1984) distinction between BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills) and CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency). BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills) is the language most students know when they start school at the age of 6 in their own language, how to communicate with people, how to ask questions, how to find out information, etc., while CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency) is the language we need to know to learn content from teachers. It starts developing when young children are first taught how to read and write. In a school, where only 20% of the student population are emerging language learners, for example In UAE schools, where most if not all of the children are Arabic speakers, students are expected to develop BICS in English simultaneously with CALP.. Andrews recommended lots of listening and speaking

Eastern Region Chapter Representative Mohamed El Zamil introduces presenter Garlfar Andrews at the Young Learners joint event.

activities to enhance input such as choral reading, role playing, reading in small groups, and more. On the other side of the continuum, Mark Silverlock of the British Council in Abu Dhabi presented on “Extending a Story.” He took one story book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and showed teachers how they could adapt a multitude of activities to teach and reinforce language. One activity was “whispering stories,” where students read one line of the story and whisper it to the next student, who continues whispering it down the line. Another was “stepping stone words” where children put one foot on a color and one on the animal that goes with it. If laminated, the “stepping stones” (cut-out foot shapes) can be used again and again by writing on them with a white board marker. “Sentence scramble,” “find a partner,” and “retell the story” were other activities Mark suggested. Dr Melanie Gobert, current President of TESOL Arabia, was on hand at the event and was awarded a plaque from Dr Hussein Taha, Deputy Dean of the College of University Requirements, at Ajman University of Science and Technology, Fujairah.

References Mark Silverlock demonstrates how to use “stepping-stone words” to teachers at the event. Volume 23

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Cummins, J. (1984). Bilingual education and special education: Issues in assessment and pedagogy. San Diego, CA: College Hill.

TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Chapter Feature Reports Article

New Format = More Learning: The Dubai Chapter Teachmeet Tamas Lorincz, Dubai Chapter Representative On a wonderful November morning, the classroom provided by the very generous Canadian University of Dubai started filling up slowly. The organisers were very excited and worried. They did not know what to expect or what was going to happen. We have organised dozens of events ranging from great to forgettable, but we had never done anything like this. We invited our members, the great, dedicated teachers of our ELT community, to come along and not just listen to someone telling them great things and learn from the best and the greatest. We wanted them to speak to everyone else for 3 or 10 minutes about anything related to their professional life. The response was amazing. Soon we had about twenty short presentations scheduled. Some of them were familiar, others less well known. The topics ranged from introducing apps and websites to designing tasks and curricula. We at the Dubai Chapter believe in the value and relevance of the knowledge gained by entering the classroom every day, preparing mentally and physically for the challenges of facing that group of students, but the knowledge gained this way is often overlooked and dismissed. We also believe that in our classrooms behind closed doors, we all deal with similar problems, experiment with similar ideas, and deal with similar situations. The teachmeet is a great platform where we can share, vent, and rejoice together. This format is not our invention; there have been very successful teachmeets (aka unconferences) around the country and the region. Know.Do.Serve. Learn. (KDSL) has organised some excellent events for teachers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the amazing Spark team has been spreading the ideas of classroom practitioners around the region for a long time. The Dubai Chapter is dedicated to organising similar Volume 23

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events because we believe in the value of learning from each other and sharing not just our successes but the challenges we face, or the problems we have. There is someone else out there with a similar story or a great idea. There is also someone who you can team up with to create something amazing, or try out something new. If you have not seen a teachmeet yet, come along to the first TESOL Arabia Conference Teachmeet at our annual conference in March and experience the power of sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly. To find out more about the next Spark event, visit https://www.sparkevent.me/ If you would like to join the Dubai Chapter for our next teachmeet, check out our blog: http://dubaichapter.edublogs.org or email us at dubaichapter@gmail.com

TESOL Arabia president Melanie Gobert could not resist the temptation to join in the spirit of sharing. TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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SpecialFeature Interest Article Groups Special Interest Groups

TESOL Arabia Special Interest Groups English for Specific Purposes SIG Phone: 02 644 0339 Email: esptesolarabia@gmail.com

Saad Rabia Co-Chair

Namaat Saadi Hezber Co-Chair

Christine Coombe Co-Chair

Konrad Cedro Co-Chair

Leadership & Management SIG Phone: 050 619 4796 Email: christine.coombe@hct.ac.ae Email: konrad.cedro@tesolarabia.org

Teacher Training & Teacher Development SIG

Email: tatdsig@gmail.com Racquel Warner Chair/Secretary

Young Learners SIG

Faiza Umar Marketing Communications Officer

Independent Learning SIG

Phone: 050 151 3613 Email: kathygardner007@gmail.com

Email: oabuorouq@aus.edu Phone: 050 984 8066

Kathy Gardner Chair

Kathya Garder Al Haddad Secretary

Testing, Assessment & Evaluation SIG

Samah El Shal Treasurer

Ola Marie Abu Orouq Chair

Read SIG

Phone: 050 619 4796 Email: christine.coombe@hct.ac.ae Phone: 050 266 8937 Email: yassersalem@yahoo.com

Phone: 050 843 8782 Email: peter.davidson@zu.ac.ae Christine Coombe Co-Chair

Peter Davidson Co-Chair

Yasser Salem Chair

Educational Technology SIG Email: edtechsig@gmail.com Ning: http://taedtech.ning.com edtecharabia.twitter.com #taedtech James Buckingham

Research SIG Phone: 050 780 3988 Email: amelki22@yahoo.com researchsig22@gmail.com

Mohammad Azaza Chair

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Helen Demirci Treasurer

TESOL Arabia Perspectives

Sahbi Hidri Secretary/Proposals & Publications Coordinator

www.tesolarabia.org

Chapter Feature Representatives Article

Abu Dhabi Representative

Ian Taylor

Higher Colleges of Technology/CERT PO Box 17155, Al Ain, UAE 050 277 3981 (mobile) itaylor1@hct.ac.ae

Sharjah Representative (acting) Nicholas Karavatos

American University of Sharjah PO Box 26666 Sharjah, UAE nicholas.karavatos@tesolarabia.org

Tamas Lorincz

German International School Sharjah, UAE 050 585 2347 (mobile) dubaichapter@gmail.com Blog: http://dubaichapter.edublogs.org

Safaa Abdulla Hassan Eissa

Ittihad University, RAK safa.eissa@tesolarabia.org

Mohamed El Zamil

Ajman University mohamed.elzamil@tesolarabia.org

Peter Stanfield

Higher Colleges of Technology/MZ/RUW Colleges peter.stanfield@tesolarabia.org

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TESOL Arabia Perspectives

www.tesolarabia.org

Executive Council Feature Article Executive Council

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President/Conference Chair

Past President

Melanie Gobert Abu Dhabi Men's College Higher Colleges of Technology PO Box 25035 Abu Dhabi, UAE mgobert@hct.ac.ae

Rehab Rajab Dubai, UAE 050 637 5957 (mobile) rehab.rajab@tesolarabia.org Twitter: @tesolarabia || #tesolarabia

Vice-President

Executive Treasurer

Naziha Ali Emirates Aviation College - B Dubai, UAE 050 646 1788 (mobile) nazihaali2005@yahoo.co.uk

Sufian Abu Rmaileh UAE University - UGRU PO Box 17172 Al Ain, UAE 03 706 4562 (home) 050 713 1803 (mobile) sabu-rmaileh@uaeu.ac.ae

Membership Secretary

Executive Secretary (acting)

Christina Gitsaki HCT - Dubai Men's College Dubai, UAE christina.gitsaki@tesolarabia.org

Sheri Henderson HCT - RAK Men's College PO Box 4793, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE sheri.henderson@tesolarabia.org

SIG Coordinator (acting)

Member-at-Large (acting)

Mick King Middlesex University Dubai, UAE micjak66@gmail.com

Linda Marshall Zayed University PO Box 19282, Dubai, UAE linda.marshall@tesolarabia.org

Conference Proceedings/Publications Coordinator

Perspectives Co-Editor

Peter McLaren United Arab Emirates University Al Ain, UAE 050 138 3406 (mobile) pmclaren@uaeu.ac.ae

Suhair Al Alami Al Ghurair University PO Box 37374, Dubai, UAE suhair.alalami@tesolarabia.org

Perspectives Co-Editor Julie Riddlebarger Khalifa University of Science, Technology & Research PO Box 127788, Abu Dhabi, UAE julie.riddlebarger@tesolarabia.org

Volume 23 Volume 18

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TESOL Arabia Perspectives TESOL Arabia Perspectives

www.tesolarabia.org www.tesolarabia.org

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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TESOL Arabia Perspectives

www.tesolarabia.org

Feature Article

Volume 23

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TESOL Arabia Perspectives