Cover Artwork_Layout 1 11/30/10 8:38 AM Page 1
In this issue: Feature Articles The Night Journey: Understanding Our Arab Students – Stephen K. Roney Why Do Some Students Spend More Time Composing Their Texts Than Others? – Muhammad Abdel Latif Maintaining CLT in the Face of a Significant Curriculum Shift – Rebecca Belchamber Lesson Plan Reader Response Emerging Technologies Reviews Networking SIG Reports Chapter Reports
Cover Artwork_Layout 1 11/30/10 8:38 AM Page 2
Cover Artwork_Layout 1 11/30/10 8:38 AM Page 3
Intro. Pages_Newsletter Jan. 06 11/20/10 10:35 AM Page 1
C o n t e n t s Perspec tives
Volume 17 No. 3 November 2010
From the Co-Editors
2
Message from the President
3
TESOL Arabia Conference Update
4
Feature Articles The Night Journey: Understanding Our Arab Students Why Do Some Students Spend More Time Composing Their Texts Than Others?
Stephen K. Roney
6
Muhammad Abdel Latif
11
Rebecca Belchamber
17
Shireen Baghestani
21
Emad A. Jasim
23
John Raven
26
Dr. Asmaa Awad
29
Neil McBeath
31
Rasha Al Okaily
33
Colin Toms
35
Suzan Wadi
37
Maintaining CLT in the Face of a Significant Curriculum Shift
Lesson Plan Grammar Libs: A Collaborative Way to Practice Grammar
Reader Response When the Blue Men Unveil Their Faces
Emerging Technologies What’s New with WordPress
Reviews Flying High Starter Henry V & Jane Eyre Hot Spot 1 Student’s Book & Hot Spot 2 Student’s Book In Business with A, An and The Oxford English for Careers: Tourism 2 Calendar of Upcoming Events
39
Networking ALAA Conference
Hala El Miniawi & AbdulHadi Brenjekjy
40
Graeme Tennant
41
The 3rd International ELT Conference
TESOL Arabia News TESOL Arabia News
42
Special Interest Group Reports
46
Chapter Reports
51
Perspectives Contributor Guidelines
55
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Intro. Pages_Newsletter Jan. 06 11/20/10 10:35 AM Page 2
From the Co-Editors
2
It is relatively common for teachers at the beginning of an academic year to find themselves a bit out of sorts for a few weeks as they adjust to new classes, schedules or even entirely new work places. Furthermore, it can be even more unsettling for those teachers who may just be arriving in the Gulf and therefore adjusting to a different culture. It is our hope that this issue of Perspectives will have something that may be of use to both those who have returned from summer holidays abroad and those who have newly arrived to this region. The first of our two features, “The Night Journey: Understanding our Arab Students,” by Stephen Roney, addresses the topic of cultural metaphors and suggests that the Arab identity revolves around “The Journey.” He provides some historical support to his metaphorical claim and also discusses the ramifications it can have on our teaching experience. This article is sure to generate discussion in the cubicles and around the water coolers in our work places!
Co-Editors Melanie Gobert / Rebecca Woll Abu Dhabi Men’s College
Our second feature is an academic study by Muhammad M. Abdel Latif entitled, “Why Do Some Students Spend More Time Composing Their Texts Than Others?” His research looked into how EFL students’ writing competence, linguistic knowledge and affective traits had an effect upon the time allocated during various stages of writing. You may think, from your own experience as writers, that the apprehension of putting those first words to page can be overwhelmingly powerful, but does it have a greater impact than the lack of linguistic knowledge faced by those writing in a foreign tongue? You will have to read Muhammad’s study in order to find out.
Reviews Editor Cindy Gunn American University of Sharjah Sharjah, UAE
Advisory Panel
Our third feature, "Maintaining CLT in the Face of a Significant Curriculum Shift," by Rebecca Belchamber, recounts the changes made to a General English curriculum founded on the principles of Communicative Language Teaching in order to meet the needs of a changing student population.
Christine Coombe Daniel Mangrum Fatma Alwan Janet Olearski Kourosh Lachini Lynne Ronesi Mashael Al-Hamly Muhammad Abdel Latif Nayyer Chandella Nicolas Moore Paul James Dessoir Peter McLaren Saleh S. Al-Busaidi Jane Hoelker Patrick Dougherty Neil McBeath Rachel Lange Abdelhamid Ahmed Dina El Dakhs Joanna Buckle Lamya Ramadan
This issue also contains a very special Reader’s Response by Emad A. Jasim. In “When the Blue Men Unveil Their Faces,” he shares with us his “response” to a challenging teaching situation and the lasting lesson which it taught him both professionally and personally. In addition, we have a simple but effective lesson plan, “Grammar Libs: A Collaborative Way to Practice Grammar,” by Shireen Baghestani. It’s based on a popular series of American books called Mad Libs. Finally, an Emerging Technology article from John Raven entitled, "What's New with WordPress," discusses the way in which he uses a popular Web 2.0 blogging application with a research writing course. You will also find reports from TESOL Arabia’s Chapters and SIGs within these pages as well as a report from this year’s Conference Co-Chairs describing the exciting developments of the 17th annual TESOL Arabia Conference being held at the JW Marriott in Dubai, on March 10-12. As this new academic year commences for Perspectives, we pledge to deliver content not only of a high quality, but also content which satisfies TESOL Arabia’s diverse membership. However, this cannot be achieved without your assistance. Therefore, we strongly encourage you to continue submitting not only your articles and reports to us, but also contact us if you have any suggestions as to how we may improve. Here’s to a stimulating and productive year for all of us!
CREDITS Layout / Artwork Sudeep Kumar
Rebecca Woll
/
Printing
Melanie Gobert
International Printing Press Dubai, UAE
Co-Editors, Perspectives The co-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 organisation 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
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
November Cover Photo Kevin Dunleavy Dubai Supply Authority
www.tesolarabia.org
Intro. Pages_Newsletter Jan. 06 11/20/10 10:35 AM Page 3
Message from the President
3
Dear Colleagues, I am writing to express my thank you to all of TESOL Arabia members for their commitment to professional development. I applaud you for your loyal support of the organization.You are an asset without which our efforts would not be as fruitful as they are. Starting a new year brings with it hectic schedules and new surprises. Some are pleasant and others are not so pleasant. I am hopeful that by now you are settled and that the awkwardness of a new year has dissipated. I am also hoping that you are back to your normal schedules and looking forward to seizing the opportunity of getting some professional development. Our TESOL Arabia Area Chapter Representatives and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) have already started their tireless task of providing our valued members with a number of professional development events in their respective areas. These events are free to TESOL Arabia members. If you are not a member of TESOL Arabia, you can log on to www.tesolarabia.org, fill out the membership form, pay and become a member. I urge everyone to get involved in these workshops as audience participants and as presenters.You can get in touch with any of TESOL Arabia’s representatives if you wish to present. Towards the end of September (23-25), the Executive Committee along with the SIG Chairs met in Abu Dhabi to map out the professional development events that will be offered throughout the year. Our Chapter Representatives and SIG chairs have come up with another great selection of topics and ideas to help with the professional development of both instructors at the tertiary and school levels and the leadership at those levels. Their lineup of events can be viewed at www.tesolarabia.org. Volunteerism is another important part of TESOL Arabia. Everyone working with TESOL Arabia is a volunteer. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of those who are involved at the various levels of TESOL Arabia for volunteering their time, effort and expertise with our members. As an ever growing organization, we are always looking for fresh ideas and fresh blood to work for the benefit of our members. I urge people from within the membership of TESOL Arabia to come forward and volunteer at the various tiers of TESOL Arabia.You can get in touch with me or anyone in the leadership of TESOL Arabia at the above mentioned website to express your interest in getting involved in this great non-profit organization. Nominations for elections for an executive position will begin this November and continue till the end of December. This year, TESOL Arabia will continue to host the Franklin Global SpellEvent which is organized by TESOL International and Franklin Electronic Publishers. Last year’s event took place on April 24, 2010 at Dubai Men’s College where two students won a trip to New York City.This year, Franklin has asked us to continue with the event where 11-15 year old local school students compete for a chance to win a trip to New York City to participate in the 3rd Annual Global SpellEvent. First and second place winners from this event will be eligible to fly to New York along with a parent on an all-paid trip in August, 2011. The first prize winner of the New York event will receive a $10,000 scholarship. Teachers from all public schools in the UAE are asked to groom their students to qualify to participate. Information about this event will be sent to all in the near future. Following another successful tradition, the 17th Annual International TESOL Arabia Conference and Exhibition will take place at the JW Marriott Hotel, Dubai, UAE. The conference is due to take place March 10-12, 2011 with PreConference Events on March 9. The theme of the conference is “Rethinking English Language Teaching: Attitudes, Approaches, & Perspectives.” We are excited to let you know that a number of plenary, featured and invited speakers will be joining us in providing you with some of the best professional development experiences you will find in the region. The conference’s concurrent sessions will also provide you with a plethora of presentations which we hope will motivate you to attend. The job fair will also be active this year for those who are interested in changing their place of work. The Publishers’ Exhibition will feature a variety of publishers with a spring of never ending books to look at and acquire. During the conference, the book drive will also be active in receiving your donated books to send out to needy educational institutions around the world. For more details, check out the TESOL Arabia website on how to register for the conference. On a final note, I would like to thank you again for your support of TESOL Arabia. I am hopeful that you will become involved in our organization sooner rather than later.We look forward to seeing you at our events, especially at the conference. With our best regards,
Sufian Abu-Rmaileh. PhD TESOL Arabia President Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Conf. Update_Newsletter Jan. 06 11/20/10 10:30 AM Page 1
TESOL Arabia Conference
4
17th Annual TESOL Arabia International Conference and Exhibition 2011 Thursday March 10 - Saturday March 12, 2011 Pre-conference professional development courses on Wednesday March 9, 2011 JW Marriott, Dubai, UAE
“Rethinking English Language Teaching: Attitudes, Approaches & Perspectives” Proposal deadline: 15 November 2010 Look for details at http://tesolarabia.org/conference Presentations, Workshops, Publication Exhibition, Job Fair, Innovative Materials Showcase, Poster Presentations, and much more…. Further information? Contact the Chairs at sabu-rmaileh@uaue.ae
Dear Colleagues, On behalf of the Organizing Committee of TESOL Arabia Conference and Exhibition 2011, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our conference participants of previous years for their continuing support and participation and to welcome returning and prospective first-time conference participants to what is the premier conference of its type in the region. TESOL Arabia's 17th Annual International Conference and Exhibition will be held on March 10-12, 2011 at the JW Marriott, Dubai, UAE. March 9 will be dedicated to the Pre-Conference Professional Development courses and workshops. As always, we have endeavored to come up with something new and innovative and at the same time retain all those successfully tried and trusted ingredients from previous conferences. In line with the last few years, TESOL Arabia continues to offer a dedicated strand in our presentation program running throughout the conference to give publishers, distributors and education establishments a chance to showcase their latest products. The Innovative Materials Showcase sessions will showcase the latest teaching materials and professional development courses on offer.
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Conf. Update_Newsletter Jan. 06 11/20/10 10:30 AM Page 2
TESOL Arabia Conference
5
The theme of this year’s conference is “Rethinking English Language Teaching: Attitudes, Approaches and Perspectives.” Language teaching is a dynamic process that involves different attitudes, approaches and perspectives. The idea behind our theme for this year comes from the fact that language teaching is constantly evolving. It is always changing and different attitudes and perspectives are entertained, taking into account the different ways in which students learn. This is a theme that accounts for the fact that one item could be taught one way by one teacher to one group and a different way by another teacher (or even by the same teacher) to a different group. As for those of you who like continuity, this year sees a return to the JW Marriott as the conference venue. Many of you were delighted with this venue when the 2009 Conference was held there and we hope that many more of you will be equally delighted this year. As always, we have an impressive line-up of plenary and featured speakers ready to enthuse you with fresh ideas, discuss issues in the profession and provide you with their insights. Details of the speakers, as well as the key highlights of this year’s conference agenda, can be found at the TESOL Arabia website (tesolarabia.org). In line with previous years, the 2011 Conference will also offer a comprehensive Job Fair which will once again bring together job seekers and the major recruiting organizations in the region. Looking for qualified candidates to fill many posts with some jobs being offered onsite, the TESOL Arabia Job Fair retains its position as the premier employment opportunity for both recruiters and job seekers in the teaching profession. Please note job seekers must register for the conference in order to attend the Job Fair. For all book lovers and materials writers, as well as those of you looking for the latest teaching aids or the newest professional development courses on offer, TESOL Arabia Exhibition will once again play host to major education publishers and distributors in addition to many tertiary institutions. As with recent conferences, TESOL Arabia delegates will once again be offered the opportunity to participate in a selection of specialized professional development courses both before and during the conference. The Pre-Conference Courses include, "Action Research in TESOL" led by Ann Burns and Ali Shehadeh, and "Technology in the Field of TESOL," with Chris Stryker, Dimitri Hadji, and John Jennette. The Certificate Courses will be "Teacher Effectiveness and Leadership" and "Increasing Professionalism Through Personal and Professional Development." These specialized courses require payment of fees in addition to your main conference registration. As spaces on these courses are limited, you are advised to register for them early to avoid disappointment. Further information about the courses can be found in the relevant sections of the website. On behalf of TESOL Arabia and the 2011 Conference Organizing Committee, we look forward to welcoming you all to the 2011 Conference!
Sufian Abu-Rmaileh
Mashael Al-Hamly
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Ali Shehadeh
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article ONE_reviews 11/20/10 10:32 AM Page 1
Feature Articles
6
The Night Journey: Understanding Our Arab Students
Stephen K. Roney www.socialesl.com sroneykor@gmail.com
Nations and cultures are held together not by common language, history, or beliefs, but by common metaphors. Know the metaphor, and you have a fundamental understanding of the culture. Know it not, and misunderstandings occur. Each of the English-speaking nations has a central metaphor for civil society. The equivalent metaphor for Arab society is the journey. This has immediate ramifications for EFL/ESL.
be it word, phrase, idea, image, or all of these— functions like a system of beliefs ... which holds the country together and helps the people in it to cooperate for common ends” (Atwood, 1972).
Conceptual Metaphors
The Arab World
Atwood then enumerates national symbols for three English-speaking nations. For Britain, it is “The Island.” America's unifying image is “The Frontier.” For Canada, the equivalent theme, Atwood says, is “Survival.”
The encounter of two or more cultures is really what the TESL profession is about. Differing language is our focus, but all aspects of the encounter are present: it is the main thing that happens daily in every ESL class. This paper proposes one fruitful approach. This is the idea of shared conceptual metaphors, most familiar to the field of Applied Linguistics from George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s 1980 book, Metaphors We Live By. “Primarily on the basis of linguistic evidence,” they write, “we found that most of our ordinary conceptual system is metaphorical in nature.” What do they mean by “metaphor?” “The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, p. 4).
What is the equivalent metaphor for the Arab world? I submit that it is “The Journey,” the caravan over the desert, the dhow over the sea. Arab culture has always been especially concerned with transportation: cars, camels, horses, are still the most prized possessions; an independent country seems almost a reason for a national airline. Community solidarity among national groups within the broader culture is usually formed historically through some shared journey, such as the Qawasim two centuries ago into Ras al Khaimah, and the Bani Yas two centuries ago to Abu Dhabi. Likewise, when Morocco sought to establish its claim to the former Spanish Sahara, they did so by lining up along the border, men, women, and children, and walking in. The essential Arab self-image is still the bedouin, even if most Arabs now live in larger cities. Travel books are about the earliest genre of Arabic prose. A large proportion of Arabian heroes have been great explorers: Ibn Battuta, Antar, Hasan al-Wazan, Shahabuddin Ibn Majid, and, of course, in literature, perhaps the earliest Arab hero of all, Sinbad.
National and Cultural Metaphors The idea that cultures are held together by common metaphors is not new either. It was always known by writers and artists; perhaps also literary critics. Margaret Atwood writes in her 1972 book Survival, “Every country or culture has a single unifying and informing symbol at its core…. The symbol, … —
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article ONE_reviews 11/20/10 10:32 AM Page 2
Feature Articles
7
The spiritual significance is neither Safa, nor Marwa; it is the running in between.
The Arab Conception of The Journey The motif of the voyage, granted, is familiar to Englishmen as well, as a fellow trading nation. But there is a difference. An English hero braves the sea as needed to reach his island destination. Yet Sinbad, the Arab hero, after his first voyage, was rich enough to never need sail again, much less to face the terrible dangers of his journeys. Yet he returns to sea seven times. Why?
The Journey in Arab Thought Is this idea of journeying as a moral act arbitrary? Metaphors, if they work, are never arbitrary. Ibn Khaldun, the great 14th century Arab social scientist, makes a compelling case that it is not. His theory of human history, the world's first, according to Arnold Toynbee (Irwin, 1997), is as a cyclical movement, with cohesive bands from the wilderness settling, growing decadent, then being replaced by a fresh wave from desert or steppe.
Sinbad explains: “...very soon I grew tired of such an idle life ....” After the second voyage: “...as I was still in the prime of life, it pleased me better to be up and doing.” After the fourth voyage: “I soon wearied of [the quiet life's] pleasures, and longed for change and adventure” (Lang, 1918).
Settling, therefore, was the beginning of moral decline. Nomadism was and is a source of virtue and energy. “Sedentary life constitutes the last stage of civilization and the point where it begins to decay. It also constitutes the last stage of evil and of remoteness from goodness” (Ibn Khaldun, p. 94). “Superiority comes to nations through enterprise and courage. The more firmly rooted in desert habits and the wilder a group is, the closer it comes to achieving superiority over others” (p. 107).
For an Englishman, the voyage is a means to an end. For an Arab, the voyage is the end. The Arabian Nights as a whole is also a kind of metaphoric journey, and one in which the destination is never reached. Whenever Scheherazade’s narrative ends, she loses her head. So no story ever really comes to its conclusion. That is the central character of the narrative.
There are traces of the moral superiority of nomadism in the Hebrew Bible. It is what distinguishes the Hebrews from the Egyptians and Canaanites. In the story of Cain and Abel, Cain, the villain, is a settled farmer; Abel is a nomadic herdsman. The issue is clouded, in the Bible, by the fact that Cain becomes a wandering fugitive later. In the Hadith, his punishment is the opposite. He is prevented from moving: “His leg was joined to his thigh, and his face was turned forever towards the sun...” (Ibn Kathir, 1999, p. 52).
The Journey in Islam Even time itself, to an Arab, is a journey. The Arab and Muslim calendar, uniquely, starts with an expedition. Years are given “After Hijra,” from the exodus of Muhammed and Abu Bakr from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD. Islam’s birth is dated to this event. “According to Islam,” an article in the Gulf Times explains, “Hijrah is of two kinds: literal...and metaphorical, which means the abandonment of sins” (al-Uthaimeen, 2009). Being on a journey is, therefore, symbolically, a deeply moral act. Every Muslim, therefore, is obliged to take such a journey, the Hajj or Umrah, as a religious imperative. Pilgrimage is in other religions, but only Islam requires it. Stephen Roney holds assorted degrees from Queen's, Syracuse, Nor is the Hajj just one and Ryerson Universities, is a past journey to a fixed president of the Editors' Association of Canada, and has destination. It is journeys taught at College of the North within journeys, even Atlantic, Qatar, where he served as one in which one must CALL chair. literally run between the hills of Safa and Marwa. Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
And where was Adam while this was happening? According to Islam, he was on a pilgrimage (Ibn Kathir, p. 49).
What Are the Implications for the English Class? Good news: All this implies that language is, for Arabs, important. Language, after all, shares many of the features of a journey. It is conceptually a journey between speaker and spoken to, understanding and intent, concept and object, beginning and end of a narrative. Like a journey, it is intensely temporal. Time is the medium through which language, written or spoken, is transmitted.
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article ONE_reviews 11/20/10 10:32 AM Page 3
Feature Articles
8
The Arabs, more than most groups, define themselves by their shared language. Every Arab, and every Muslim, must study a second language, classical Arabic, as a religious duty. This linguistic study was once the entire object of a formal education in Arabian countries. Meaningfully, the fact that the Qur'an was written in Arabic is considered part of its essence. One cannot meaningfully read it in translation. Language, in sum, obviously matters; hence so does English class. This importance of language, however, often causes intercultural misunderstanding, for language is not held in nearly the same high regard in the English-speaking world.
Yet, the Arab perspective was different. Obviously, he was not trying to lie—otherwise, why would he hold the conference on the rooftop, making the truth visible? It was a deliberate act of defiance. His action was heroic, whether one agreed with Saddam or not. Among the Arabs traditionally, “the perfect warrior was also the famous poet” (Siddiqui, 1960, p. 4). Al-Sahaf was performing the traditional role of the tribal poet, inspiring the troops and dispiriting the enemy. The Prophet himself employed such a poet at court (Lewis, 1995, p. 256).
For Arabs, the written letter killeth, but the spoken word giveth life. The Qur'an is meant to be recited, not silently read. Poetry, accordingly, is valued more highly here than in the West. When Mahmoud Darwish, the Palestinian poet, died, he was buried with state honours. By comparison, how many of us could name the current US or Canadian poet laureate? Of the arts more generally, it is the kinetic that most interests Arab culture, not the visual. It is poetry or dance, not painting or sculpture. Architecture might seem to be an exception until you realize that the way one experiences a building is by journeying through it.
It is said that, after the war, al-Sahaf turned himself in to the occupation authorities, only to discover that they were not even looking for him. To Arabs, his words were important weapons of war. To Americans, they were meaningless.
Yes, Arab students are less inclined to read. But we must ask ourselves, responsibly: Is their need to read and write as great as we suppose it is? Or are we imposing our own cultural values? We should also remember to convey important information orally when possible. Furthermore, we are probably
Our task, accordingly, as language teachers, is simple. Our students are eager to learn, and to learn language. If it is not simple in practice, this may be because, missing metaphors, we end up working at cross purposes. No. 3
November 2010
More generally, their reading and writing lag behind their speaking. In Arab culture, spoken language is more valued than written. The spoken word is more temporal, more like a journey. Once a passage is written, the destination is already present. It is possible, after all, to turn the page and read ahead, or even, if we are truly diabolical, to read it backwards.
Yet Arabs, and Muslims, did not embrace this new invention. Printing was forbidden in the Ottoman Empire by decree in 1485 (Lewis, 1995, p. 268). Printing in Arabic characters was finally permitted in the early 18th century, but only on non-religious subjects (Lewis, p. 269). The last thing in the world they would have thought to do with it was to print the Qur'an.
Americans thought this clownish. It earned him the nickname “Comical Ali.”
Arab Students Will Not Read
Consider the history of the printing press. It was invented, in the Far East, specifically to print the Sutras, the Buddhist canon. When Gutenberg independently invented movable type, what was the first book printed? The Bible.
Consider the example of Mohamed Saeed al-Sahaf, Iraqi Information Minister under Saddam Hussein. In the dying days of the Second Gulf War, he gathered the international press on the roof of his Information Ministry to tell them that there were no American soldiers anywhere near Baghdad, that they had all been barbequed in their tanks at the border. The massed cameras and microphones meanwhile showed the battle raging within eyesight.
Volume 17
One hears certain common complaints, among “native speakers” teaching EFL in the Gulf. What follows is a discussion of some of these common complaints.
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article ONE_reviews 11/20/10 10:32 AM Page 4
Feature Articles
9
missing out monumentally if we are not using poetry in the classroom.
class. They are the good guys in the situation, not the miscreant. Remember the famous Arab obligation of hospitality to a traveller. The latearriving student has a right to expect our help, all the more so if they have had a difficult journey. Should we complain about their being late, and not bringing their pen? Properly, it is our duty to supply all the traveller's wants for up to three days. Lending them a pen for an hour is a small matter.
The Students Will Not Go Along with the Lesson Plan We are drilled, in our TESL training, to prepare a detailed plan for every lesson. Those teaching in the Middle East then often find, often in horror, that the students argue against it in class, and try to turn the lesson in some new direction. Class discipline then becomes an issue.
Some argue that it is necessary to teach our students punctuality: “They will need it when they enter the workforce. You can't arrive late to an office job.”
This is bargaining. It too can be understood from the journey motif: the actual exchange— in the market; the decision—the class direction— is the destination. To fix it all in advance is to overlook the journey. Bargaining together builds social cohesion. Attempt to prevent this bargaining from happening, and you are forcing and imposing social discord. No surprise if the class then becomes hard to handle.
But will they be working in American offices, or Emirati offices? And how many, living in the Gulf, can truthfully claim that they always find locallystaffed offices opening promptly at the stated time? This becomes, in other words, a case of imposing our own culture. Why not simply to leave it up to the Arab students, as responsible adults, to decide for themselves when they need to be in class? The punishment, if they choose wrongly, is intrinsic: lower marks on the test. Alternatively, we might exploit the technology we have to post all materials online, including lectures. Students could then make up lost time at leisure.
In al-Isra wa al-Miraj, Mohammed travels to Heaven itself, and speaks to Allah. And, desirable as it might seem, he does not stay with Allah in paradise. He leaves and returns three times, each time bargaining to reduce the number of daily prayers Allah requires. Allah consents.
As to the issue of missing books or pens, it should also be fairly easy to keep needed texts and materials in a cabinet in each classroom, ready when needed.
Now let us consider, with some humility: If bargaining is proper with God himself, surely it is also proper, and properly respectful, with us? And if God himself is ready to concede a point, so should we.
They Cheat; They Will Not Do Their Own Work
Why shouldn't we encourage and prolong such bargaining whenever possible as legitimate realworld practice in English, with intrinsic motivation?
This is another example of the Arab imperative of hospitality to one in need. If your neighbor needs help on the path, it is immoral not to help him, all the more so if the juncture is critical, as with an exam. When we ban this, even when we must, we put our students in a moral quandary.
They Come to Class Late; They Do Not Bring Their Books or Pens If, for the Arabs, it is the departure, not the arrival, that matters, tardiness will naturally seem a lesser issue than to us “native speakers.” If they set out at a reasonable time with a reasonable intent, shouldn't that be enough? Hence, the “excuse,” as we call it, should be decisive. How can anyone predict what will happen on a journey? How can one promise to arrive anywhere at a given time?
In ordinary classes, therefore, it seems best that we not ban it. After all, we spend half our time trying to encourage “group work.” Why spend the other half trying to prevent it? For exams, this is not possible, but much can be done in designing testing situations to make the problem moot. Technology allows us, for example, with little effort, to give each student a different test, using question banks and computer
Remember too that, given the ethical dimension of the journey, the traveller stands automatically in a position of moral authority over the one already in Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article ONE_reviews 11/20/10 10:32 AM Page 5
Feature Articles
10
Perhaps, for the present, therefore, simply raising awareness is enough. For the rest, it is well to remember that for Arabs, learning itself is a journey: Muhammed urged Muslims to “seek knowledge, even unto China.�
randomization. Spoken tests can easily be taken individually.
They Will Not Sit Still Teachers complain that their Arab students get up, even walk around, during classes. They seem to need frequent bathroom breaks.
The important thing, for this as all journeys, is not to have already reached our conclusion, but to all be on that journey together.
Those from an island culture tend to see the classroom as an island of order rising above the outside world, and any movement to and from as chaos. Arabs will roughly invert those two values. A classroom's stillness is something akin to death.
References al-Uthaimeen, Shk. M. (2009, January 2). The Hijrah of Allah's messenger. Gulf Times, A1. Atwood, M. (1972). Survival: A thematic guide to Canadian literature. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. Ibn Kathir. (1999). Stories of the prophets. (M. AlAhmad, Trans.) Beirut: Dar al-Kotob al-Ilmiyah. Ibn Khaldun. (2005). The Muqaddimah. (Franz Rosenthal, Trans.) Princeton: Princeton University Press. Irwin, R. (1997). Toynbee and Ibn Khaldun. Middle Eastern Studies, 33(3), 461-479. Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Lang, A. (Trans.) (1918). The Arabian nights entertainment. London: Longmans, Green & Company. Lewis, B. (1995). The Middle East. London: Orion. Siddiqui. M. (1960). Life of Mohammed. Berkeley: Islamic Publications. Yates, F. (1966). The art of memory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Do we really need to sit still to learn? No, much research suggests exactly the opposite, that we think and learn better with out bodies engaged. For millennia, Jewish students have bobbed back and forth as they read the Torah, probably for this reason. We spend much time in our TESL training on arranging our classroom in specific ways while it might be best in the Gulf to let students fall where they may. Controlling their movements adds an unnecessary extra burden that distracts from learning.
Conclusion Without Conclusion This essay is, necessarily, only a brief introduction to our subject. The dominion of the metaphor, as Lakoff and Johnson (1980) point out, spans most of human thought. The implications here for our classrooms are vaster than can be covered within the present word count; even if we push the limits a bit.
TESOL Arabia Book Drive Back in Action! If you or your institution has books they want to donate, please contact Ruth Glasgow at tesolbookdrive@yahoo.com. Website: www.tesolarabia.org
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article TWO_reviews 11/20/10 10:33 AM Page 1
Feature Articles
11
Why Do Some Students Spend More Time Composing Their Texts Than Others? This study investigated how EFL students’ writing competence, linguistic knowledge and affective traits influence their composing time stages (pre-writing, writing, post-writing) and their total composing time. The study drew upon the participants’ thinkaloud data in identifying their total time and stage time which was compared to their scores on the linguistic, affective and written text quality measures used. Interview data was used to supplement quantitative data. The study revealed that the participants’ total composing time and the time they allocated to the writing stage was influenced by their writing apprehension more than their linguistic knowledge or writing self-efficacy (writing selfconfidence), and that the ideational content of their texts correlated more positively with these two time variables than the other organizational or languagerelated aspects.
remedial ones, but there were no significant differences between their pre-writing time. On the other hand, Sasaki’s (2000) study showed that expert writers spent more pre-writing time making their global plans than novice writers. Similarly, writers with higher competence, who were also of higher language proficiency, in Wang’s (2005) study devoted more time to the pre-writing stage and less time to the while-writing stage than writers with lower competence, but the differences between their total composing times were non-significant. Contrarily, Victori (1995) did not find any major differences between her two poor and two good writers’ composing time and pre-writing time, though the means of the time of the two good ones were a bit longer. These findings seem to be inconsistent and scarcely help draw any conclusions about the factors influencing the time writers spend composing their texts and allocate to the stages of their composing processes.
Introduction Researchers have paid little attention to the temporal aspects of the writing process. Previous writing process studies investigated some temporal aspects, including writers’ allocation of time to composing processes or behaviors, their text production rate, and the time spent on writing. A few previous studies using think-aloud protocols and observation reported some findings about these aspects of writers’ composing. For example, the apprehensive writer in Hayes’s (1981) study spent more time composing than the non-apprehensive one. Zamel’s (1982) study revealed that ESL writers spent the greatest proportion of time creating their first drafts and that skilled writers spent more time working on the writing task than less skilled writers. Similarly, Raimes (1987) found that her nonremedial writers spent more time composing than Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Muhammad Abdel Latif University of Essex United Kingdom
Attempting to resolve such inconsistency in the scarce research, the present study adopted a more comprehensive approach in exploring this issue by examining the relationship of EFL writers’ affect, writing competence, and linguistic knowledge with the time they spend composing and the time allocated to the stages of their composing processes (pre-writing, post-writing and writing stages). The results of this study could resolve the inconsistency in the findings of the previous few studies and inform practitioners and researchers about the explanatory variables of writers’ composing time.
Participants Thirty Egyptian EFL university students took part in the study. They were English majors attending a
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article TWO_reviews 11/20/10 10:33 AM Page 2
Feature Articles
12
word and last word in a draft; c) after-writing time: time spent after writing the last word in a draft; and d) total time of writing. These four time variables were compared to the participants’ scores on the three linguistic knowledge tests and the two affective scales as well as to their analytic text quality scores which were rated using Jacobs, Zinkgraf, Wormuth and Hartfiel’s (1981) ESL Composition Profile. The related interview protocols analyzed were used to supplement this quantitative data.
four-year pre-service English language teaching program at an Egyptian university. All the participants were in their final year of university study at the time of conducting the study. They were all males who spoke Arabic as their native language.
Materials and Procedures The instruments of the study included: the thinkaloud method, the retrospective interview, three linguistic tests, and two affective scales. All 30 participants attended individual sessions in which they thought aloud while performing a writing task and then they were interviewed about their composing processes and problems. They were asked to write on one of three optional argumentative topics. Three linguistic tests were used in the present study: Allan’s (1992) 100 multiple-choice item Oxford Placement Test (OPT) Grammar Test was used to measure the participants’ English grammar knowledge, while Laufer and Nation’s (1999) 90 gap-filling item Productive Vocabulary Levels Test (PVLT) and Schmitt, Schmitt and Clapham’s (2001) 150 cluster-matching item Receptive Vocabulary Levels Test (RVLT) were used to measure their English vocabulary knowledge. The three tests were administered to the participants in two collective sessions. Two five-point Likert scales were used for measuring writing affect: a 12-item English Writing Apprehension Scale (EWAS) and an 18-item English Writing Self-Efficacy Scale (EWSS). A description of the two scales and their development is given by Abdel Latif (2007). While the first scale measured students’ avoidance of the situations in which they may be required to write or in which their writing may be evaluated, the second one assessed students’ evaluation of their general essay writing ability and specific writing skills (e.g., their beliefs about performing the essay writing task) and the possession of some writing skills such as paragraph construction, grammar usage and mechanics.
Results Table 1 provides a description of the means and standard deviations of the total time spent by the participants on the writing task as well as on the different stages of their composing processes. As the table shows, all the participants spent the major part of their composing time (M = 39.24 minutes) on the writing stage (M = 35.57 minutes). Additionally, the time they spent on the pre-writing stage (M = 1.68 minutes) is less than the post-writing one (M = 2.20 minutes). The greater variance of the time spent on the three writing stages is in the pre-writing (SD = 2.43 minutes) and post-writing times (SD = 2.32 minutes) respectively; the standard deviations of these two stages exceed their means. On the other hand, the variance of both the total writing (SD = 17.40 minutes) and writing stage time (SD = 16.39 minutes) is less than half of their means.
Getting Students Motivated to ReadShare your ideas from the classroom with the READ SIG!
Data Analysis The think-aloud and interview data analyzed and reported here is limited to the participants’ four composing time variables: a) pre-writing time: time spent before writing the first word in the first draft; b) writing time: time spent between writing the first
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Contact Tom Le Seeleur at readingchampionsuae@yahoo.co.uk
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article TWO_reviews 11/20/10 10:33 AM Page 3
Feature Articles
13
Table 1: The Means and Standard Deviations of the Participants’ Composing Time
Composing Time (decimal data of minutes) Total 39.24 17.40
M SD
Pre-writing 1.68 2.43
The results of the correlational analyses of the participants’ linguistic knowledge, writing affect and text quality scores with the total time they spent writing their essays and allocated to each writing stage are given in Table 2. As the table shows, the participants’ linguistic, affective and text quality scores correlate significantly with the total time they
Writing 35.57 16.39
Post-writing 2.20 2.32
spent writing and the time devoted to the writing stage, but not with their pre-writing or post-writing time. The significant correlations of participants’ total writing and writing stage time with their scores are all positive with the exception of scores for writing apprehension.
Table 2: Correlations of the Linguistic and Affective Measures and Text Quality with the Total Composing Time and the Time Allocated to the Three Stages
Pre-writing
Total score
Mechanics
Language use
Vocabulary
Organization
Content
EWSS
RVLT
.253
.648**
Post-writing time
Writing quality profile
.650** .620** .635** -.684** .633** .734** .664** .688** .653** .446** .720** .145
Writing time
PVLT
OPT Grammar Test Total writing time
EWAS
Writing affective scales
Linguistic tests
.078
.156
-.318
.193
.600** .618** -.647** .596** .072
.174
-.210
.273
.293
.345
.228
.254
.129
.288
.703** .620** .654** .619** .446** .684** .218
.210
.224
.189
.079
.215
** p < .001 (2-tailed) Writing apprehension correlates higher than linguistic knowledge and writing self-efficacy with the total time of writing and writing stage time. On the other hand, the correlations of these two time variables with grammar knowledge are higher than those of productive and receptive vocabulary knowledge, and writing self-efficacy. It can be noted also that the significant correlation of receptive vocabulary knowledge is a bit higher than those of productive vocabulary knowledge and writing self-efficacy. While the participants’ essay content scores have the highest correlations
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
of all measures and writing quality aspects with both total writing and writing stage time, their writing mechanics scores have the lowest. On the other hand, the correlations of the participants’ total writing time and writing stage time with their total essay score are higher than those of essay, vocabulary, organization, and language use scores. Overall, the correlations of total writing and writing stage time with the essay content, total and vocabulary scores are higher than those of linguistic knowledge and affective traits of writing.
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article TWO_reviews 11/20/10 10:33 AM Page 4
Feature Articles
14
These results suggest that the higher linguistic knowledge and more positive affect levels writers have, the more time they are likely to spend on the writing task, on the one hand, and allocate to the writing stage, on the other. This mirrors the very high correlation found between the total writing time and writing time (r = .979, p < .001). It seems that the decision to spend a longer time on writing the essay was a dispositional one that resulted from participants’ beliefs that they had adequate linguistic knowledge and writing skills that would enable them to write well. That is, it is more likely that writers who believe they have good linguistic knowledge and/or writing skills spend more time on writing because they are confident in their ability to write well. On the contrary, writers who do not have such positive beliefs about their linguistic knowledge and/or writing skills are more likely to spend less time writing due to their poor outcome expectancy.
Meanwhile, it may be argued that the more time the participants spent writing helped them produce essays with better content, longer length, vocabulary, organization, language use and mechanics scores. In particular, the highest correlations of the participants’ total writing time and writing stage time with their essay content scores seem to indicate that the more time they have spent on the task, the more this helped them improve the ideational content of their essays by enabling them to generate more related ideas. The non-significant correlations of the measures with the pre-writing stage are higher than those of postwriting time. Though most of the correlations of pre-writing and post-writing stages are very low, there are a few relatively higher correlations that seem to have some indications. For example, the relatively higher correlations of pre-writing time with essay organization score (r = .345) and writing apprehension (r = -.318) might reflect some participants’ tendency to spend more time pre-writing to organize their thoughts, on the one hand, and some other participants to begin writing immediately due to their apprehensive attitudes towards writing, on the other. Similarly, the relatively higher correlation of post-writing time with writing self-efficacy (r = .273) might also reflect some highly self-confident writers’ tendency to spend more time post-writing for the purpose of improving their texts by reviewing and changing it.
The following three interview excerpts for Student A, a writer with lower linguistic knowledge and negative writing affect (time = 30.16 minutes), and Student B and Student C, two writers among the highest and most positive scorers on the linguistic and affective measures and the writing task (time = 52 and 81 minutes, respectively), may clarify this: Student A: I didn't think too much about the topic because my ideas were ready once I read the question… I always write one draft because I’m too impatient to write two drafts ...When I wrote more than one page, I said to myself this is enough… I felt I got fed up with writing the essay. There were some other things to write about, but I thought it may involve me in writing more and more ideas, so I stopped…. But I didn't run out of the ideas.
On the other hand, the think-aloud protocols showed that writers’ made more extensive use of while-writing reviewing than after-writing reviewing which might explain the non-significant correlations of their post-writing time. Similarly, the different approaches to starting the writing task reported by the participants in their retrospective interviews may account for the non-significant correlations of their pre-writing time. For example, Student B whose pre-writing time was found to be 25 seconds justified his approach:
Student B: I didn’t review my essay after finishing writing because there was no adequate time.
Student B: I just thought about the main points, and then the thoughts developed easily while writing …Usually I don’t spend much time thinking, I just find the main ideas of the topic then the ideas developed in most of my essays.
Student C: Actually, I wrote taking the time constraints into account, for example here I didn't write all what I want to say in the conclusion and I also was in a need to write my final draft because I didn’t have enough time. Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article TWO_reviews 11/20/10 10:33 AM Page 5
Feature Articles
15
On the other hand, some participants reported that they did not spend much pre-writing time due to the way they learned how to write an essay. For example, Student D attributed his short pre-writing time (24 seconds) to his lack of knowledge about how to plan an essay:
Student H: Planning what to write in advance depends on the time available and the situation…Today it took me about five minutes before writing…I thought about how to begin the essay and how to end and what to write in the middle.
Student D: Usually it doesn’t take me much time thinking about writing. I don't know how to plan for the whole essay. I write immediately. I begin immediately by writing a sentence that can attract the reader's attention.
Discussion The results discussed above indicate that the participants’ linguistic knowledge, affect and text quality correlate significantly with the total time they spent composing and the time allocated to the writing stage but not with the time they devoted to their pre-writing or post-writing stages. The study indicates that writers’ apprehension is more likely to influence their composing time than their linguistic knowledge or self-perceived writing ability and skills, and that the ideational content of their texts is more likely to be influenced by the time they spend composing rather than other organizational or language-related aspects.
Contrarily to Student D, Student E whose prewriting time is the longest attributed this to the need to be guided in his writing: Student E: At first I tried to retrieve all my thoughts about the topic, because I may make some errors if I write immediately. So I wrote some sentences to guide me in writing my essay. On the other hand, Student F who did not complete his planning outline at the pre-writing stage (time = 1 minute and 10 seconds) reported why he moved immediately to the writing stage: Student F: I know I should write down the points I'm going to talk about, but I don't do that because I get confused when writing these points and because they add nothing new to me…I don't know why! I do this even in the final exam. I always think about my ideas mentally not on paper. The retrospective interviews revealed some factors that may influence the time student writers spent before starting to write their (first) drafts. Student G, for example, reported how familiarity with the writing topic can influence his pre-writing time: Student G: I’m used to writing directly without thinking too much about the topic except when writing some essays about some unfamiliar topics. Another participant reported that the time set for the writing task may influence his pre-writing time as well as the total writing time spent writing it:
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
The skilled writers in the present study are similar to the ones in Zamel’s (1982) study who spent more time composing. They also resemble the nonremedial writers in Raimes’s (1987) study who spent more time composing, but not on their prewriting stage, than remedial ones. The results are also similar to those of Victori (1995) and Sasaki (2000). The remarkable negative correlation between writing apprehension and the total writing time contradicts the more time spent composing by the apprehensive writer than the non-apprehensive one in Hayes’s (1981) study. This contradiction might be interpreted by the multidimensionality of the Daly and Miller’s (1975) Writing Apprehension Test used in Hayes’s study and to its limited sample and L1 writing context. There also seems to be some contradiction between the time devoted to the writing stage by the skilled writers with higher linguistic knowledge in the present study and those of Wong (2005). This might be due to cultural differences (i.e. Egyptian EFL students versus Chinese-speaking EFL ones). These differences might also be attributed to the relatively larger number of participants who took part in this study. Overall, this study emphasizes the need to address EFL students’ writing problems resulting from their negative writing affect and/or lack of linguistic
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article TWO_reviews 11/20/10 10:33 AM Page 6
Feature Articles
16
knowledge. The similar correlations of the linguistic and affective measures with the participants’ four composing time variables suggest that their writing affect seems to have been influenced by their linguistic knowledge and that both of them exert some influence on their text quality aspects. Taking that into account, writing teachers need to enhance their students’ linguistic knowledge and perceived language competence, and to identify the other psychological, instructional and/or social factors that might influence their writing affect levels negatively and deal with these factors so as to inhibit their detrimental effects. When reaching the optimal levels of writing affect and linguistic knowledge, the quality of their texts will likely be improved by devoting more time to composing them. The issue of the composing time has been neglected in the vast majority of the previous writing process studies. Therefore, future studies need to give it due attention to resolve these differences between the findings reported here and those of Hayes (1981) and Wong (2005). Future studies also need to make more use of computer keystroke logging in investigating the temporal aspects of writers’ composing processes.
References Abdel Latif, M. (2007). The factors accounting for Egyptian EFL university students’ negative writing affect. Essex Graduate Student Papers in Language & Linguistics, 9, 57-82. Retrieved from http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/publications/ egspll/volume_9/pdf/57-82%20Muhammad.pdf Allan, D. (1992). Oxford placement test 2: The grammar test. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Daly, J. & Miller, M. (1975). The empirical development of an instrument to measure writing apprehension. Research in the Teaching of English, 9(3), 242-249. Hayes, C. (1981). Exploring apprehension: Composing processes of apprehensive and nonapprehensive intermediate freshman writers. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED210678). Jacobs, H. L., Zinkgraf, S. A., Wormuth, D. R., Hartfiel, V. F. & Hughey, J. B. (1981). Testing ESL composition: A practical approach. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Laufer, P. & Nation, B. (1999). A vocabulary-size test of controlled productive ability. Language Testing, 16(1), 33–35. Raimes, A. (1987). Language proficiency, writing ability, and composing strategies. Language Learning, 37(3), 439-468. Sasaki, M. (2000). Toward an empirical model of EFL writing processes: An exploratory study. Journal of Second Language Writing, 9(3), 259-291. Schmitt, N., Schmitt, D. & Clapham, C. (2001). Developing and exploring the behaviour of two new versions of the Vocabulary Levels Test. Language Testing, 18(1), 55–88. Victori, M. (1995). EFL writing knowledge and strategies: An integrative study (language proficiency and metacognition). Dissertation Abstracts International-A, 58(1), 2633. Wang, J. (2005). An investigation of the writing processes of Chinese EFL learners: Subprocesses, strategies and the role of the mother tongue. Dissertation Abstracts International-A, 65(10), 3789. Zamel, V. (1982). Writing: The process of discovering meaning. TESOL Quarterly, 16(2), 195-206.
Acknowledgements This article is based on a part of my PhD which was supported by the 2008 Sheikh Nahayan Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship Award granted by the International Research Foundation for English Language Education (TIRF). I would like to thank the TIRF for granting me this prestigious award. My special and grateful thanks go to Sheikh Nahayan, UAE Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, for his generous funding of the award.
Muhammad Abdel Latif is a lecturer of ELT at the Institute of Educational Studies, Cairo University, Egypt. He is a winner of the 2008 Sheikh Nahayan Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship Award, the CMLR 2009 Best Graduate Student Paper Award, and the 2009 ACTFLMLJ Emma Marie Birkmaier Award for Doctoral Dissertation Research in Foreign Language Education. Address for correspondence: Institute of Educational Studies, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt; email: mmmabd@cu.edu.eg
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article THREE_reviews 11/20/10 10:34 AM Page 1
Feature Articles
17
Maintaining CLT in the Face of a Significant Curriculum Shift
cent for Masters and the rest for undergraduate programs. All students get funding for one year of English language tuition prior to commencing their tertiary course. Saudi enrolment in the countries mentioned above has grown quickly throughout this decade, with Australia reporting a 500% increase from 2002–2007 (ICEF Bulletin, 2008).
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been subjected to multiple interpretations ever since its introduction. When Gulf States students attending a language preparation course were found to need a more literacy-based approach, this called for a review of the General English curriculum. This paper recounts the changes made to accommodate the needs of the new student group, and argues that it is possible to achieve a compromise between CLT and the students’ need for more reading and writing.
The General English Program The GE Program differs significantly from the EAP Program in two areas. Firstly, students enter the EAP course at an Intermediate level, while GE classes range from Elementary to Advanced levels. Secondly, the EAP course concentrates more on Reading and Writing skills. Classes in the GE Program at the International College have focused more on Speaking and Listening than Reading and Writing for several years now. It was recognised, and supported by student responses to a survey, that this is what General English students wanted. Many of the learners in this stream are part of study tour groups, i.e. they are in Australia for an immersion experience and seek intercultural and sightseeing opportunities.
Over the past few years, the number of students from the Gulf States studying abroad, particularly from Saudi Arabia, has increased enormously. La Trobe University International College, in Victoria, Australia, has been a part of this phenomenon, as students enrol for language studies prior to commencing their university course. Many of these students begin their language studies in the General English (GE) program, instead of the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course, creating a range of issues that affect a program that was designed for a very different type of student. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is the foundation of the GE course, and the challenge is in reconciling this approach when one is focusing on spelling and handwriting, for example.
The other type of GE student is there independently for a limited time to improve his or her language skills, and fluency in particular, in order to enhance his or her job prospects at home. For both types of GE students, CLT is a suitable approach. They have an opportunity to use language functions, and engage in roleplays as well as discussions.
Gulf Students’ Background How did this shift in GE class profiles transpire? Broadly speaking, generous scholarship programs have been supported by the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education, especially in recent years. Referred to as the King Abdullah Scholarships Program (KASP), this initiative sends about 5,000 students every year to the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, China and India. About 25 per cent of the students attend for PhD programs, 35 per Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Rebecca Belchamber South Australian College of English Adelaide, Australia
Some Issues The issues that arose following the increase in Gulf States students can be divided into two groups, cultural/religious and academic. The first group includes such concerns as the provision of prayer rooms, homestay arrangements where specific dietary
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article THREE_reviews 11/20/10 10:34 AM Page 2
Feature Articles
18
requirements are provided, and a spousesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; program that was set up at the time of the first wave of Saudi students for wives wanting to learn English but not necessarily having an academic pathway. As interesting as all these matters are, it is the academic issues that will be discussed here, and how it had an impact on the curriculum with its foundation in CLT. The initial groups entered the Intermediate EAP class, which is a recognised program for direct entry to university. Future cohorts entered at Preintermediate and Elementary levels, so they entered the GE program. Currently, there is a group in the Elementary class that is really at Beginner level and unable to cope with the materials and pace of work that could normally be expected from the Elementary group. Therefore, the curriculum has had to be adapted to accommodate the current group.
Responses When we became aware that the number of Arab students would be consistently higher than previous years, we started to implement some more formal changes in order to meet the specific needs of this group. Up to this time, individual teachers were responding at a class level, without any changes at the program level.
The Pre-intermediate entry level of the Gulf States students differs from that of many other academic pathway students, particularly the Chinese who have attained an overall IELTS score of 5 before they commence language studies abroad and so begin a course with an academic focus.
At the International College, there are First Language Advisors for groups such as Japanese, Koreans, and Mandarin speakers. With the number of Arabic speakers increasing, we decided to add a First Language Advisor as a point of contact for these students as well. This was extremely relevant considering the large proportion of students in the lower level classes, who did not have the language to deal with queries at Reception or with the Academic Advisors.
Another issue is the pressure for EAP students, and this operates on a variety of levels. Firstly, there is the issue of time and study pathways. Students enrol for the number of weeks, or terms, that they estimate it will take them to complete the course. If they have to repeat a term, they might miss the start date for their university course. Some educational institutions in the USA had similar concerns about Saudi studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; time lines (Redden, 2007); many students entered the program at very low levels of English proficiency, and some were not meeting the expectations within their allotted time limit.
Other initiatives being implemented in the GE Program include:
There is also the pressure of the workload. Within each term, there are a set number of objectives to cover to prepare students for the assessments. GE students, in contrast, can work at their own pace and enjoy the process. However, with more academic pathway students in the GE stream, it is inevitable that some of the pressure will be transferred to the General Program. In addition, it became evident that spelling and handwriting were issues that needed to be addressed. With handwriting, there is the obvious left-to-right direction of the word formation to be mastered; Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
another difficulty for Saudi students is the starting point for each letter. There are multiple reasons that account for the huge struggle that Arabic-speaking students have with these two skills. Some insights can be found in Swan and Smithâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (2001) comprehensive account in their book Learner English. As teachers, we are aware that different learner groups have specific needs when it comes to dealing with L1 interference with pronunciation, grammar and discourse features. However, with the Saudi students, we were entering the realm of literacy, in which few members of our ELT staff are qualified.
Spelling and handwriting activities A stronger focus on study skills Scaffolding tasks to prepare students for elements in EAP More writing opportunities
Apart from set classes, the International College offers activities; we introduced a Spelling and Writing (Literacy) Activity which should have been promoted as handwriting, as it initially attracted students who wanted to practise essay writing. This was clarified in the next term. Many of the Arab students have problems with spacing between words, and using upper and lower case correctly. The handwriting issue is significant for these students who will eventually be sitting in lectures taking notes. Teachers decided to look for opportunities for TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article THREE_reviews 11/20/10 10:34 AM Page 3
Feature Articles
19
additional hours in the classroom each week.
students to do more writing, which would assist spelling and letter formation. Thus, we agreed to move away from writing on the computer, reserving that for CALL lessons with specific software or websites. We encouraged dictation and copying from the board in the classroom. Students were also encouraged to write their answers down when completing worksheets.
Despite this adjustment, it was the actual approach in class that was still a concern. CLT is a cornerstone of the GE Program and we did not want to see that eroded. However, teachers must define what they mean by CLT before they can judge to what extent they are incorporating or neglecting this approach. Broadly speaking, CLT involves developing communicative competence. Canale and Swain (1980) define this under four headings:
Mindful of the content and approach of the EAP Program, we introduced some of the elements at a more manageable level in the GE Program. One example is the Correction Code for written work. The list for this at the Advanced level is exhaustive, so it helps to introduce students to a handful of correction symbols in the lower levels, and then build on this as the students progress through the levels.
Another task that can be introduced in a modified form is a weekly vocabulary list. At the Pre-intermediate level, I encourage students to have a worksheet where they record new words and then write a sentence to show they understand the meaning. When they begin the EAP program, they have a vocabulary notebook in which they are required to enter ten words a week. At this stage, they indicate pronunciation features, write a definition and a sentence to show meaning.
From this perspective, anything that contributes to the achievement of improved communicative ability can be considered worthy of inclusion under the CLT label. While many might consider this a much too liberal application of the term, we need to acknowledge that some of the activities done in class, while not explicitly communicative, are steps towards eventual communicative competence. With Arabic speakers characterised as having high oracy, one might wonder why there is any concern about maintaining a CLT approach in the class. Generally, they do not need any encouragement to talk. However, in a class of mixed nationalities, there are always others who are generally quieter and thus, do need encouragement and the opportunity to contribute. In addition, Arabic speakers do need guidance when it comes to saying things accurately, especially in terms of sentence structure. Therefore, teachers should look for more opportunities for oral correction, either at the moment of occurrence or during feedback at a later time. Decisions regarding oral correction can be made according to student profiles; compare confident males from the Gulf States with reticent Japanese females whom you are happy just to hear speak. Nevertheless, this accuracy focus can be reconciled with a CLT approach; if students are to use certain functions or participate in a role-play, they require guidance in producing accurate expressions, be it in grammar or pronunciation.
With Writing, relevant sub-skills became a more explicit part of the GE Program to prepare students for the transition to the academic stream. At the Pre-intermediate level, this included punctuation and linking words, for example. This move was a major change; each GE level contains two Writing objectives, from which the teacher chooses one. In the Pre-intermediate class, it is “Write a letter” or “Write a recount.” Now there are specific elements that need to be covered in a more mechanical, less communicative, way.
CLT Opportunities Having realised the innumerable elements that required addressing, teachers wondered what would have to be forfeited to allow for the extra aspects we were including. A solution was provided in response to the huge increases in student numbers. Previously, each class had been allocated two hours a week in both the Listening Laboratory and the Computer Room. This was halved, presenting us with two
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Grammatical competence: Words and rules Sociolinguistic competence: Appropriateness Discourse competence: Cohesion and coherence Strategic competence: Appropriate use of communication strategies
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Features Article THREE_reviews 11/20/10 10:34 AM Page 4
Feature Articles
20
suggestion to reject CLT would mean discarding what can continue to be very useful; especially considering the fact that Context and using a CLT approach are quite compatible. In both cases the teacher’s aim is responding to the needs of the students as learners of the English language.
Actually, it is when there is more class time spent on writing that a teacher may find fewer opportunities for implementing CLT. On the other hand, writing also provides some activities which can be made more communicative for students. Firstly, writing does not have to be done individually. A group can work together on a text, ideally on large sheets of paper, and the product can then be exchanged for peer correction purposes. However, if the writing is done individually, such as with a letter about a childhood memory, or a narrative, students can conclude with a mingle activity where they ask “What did you write about?”
Conclusion
Earlier, dictation was mentioned as an opportunity for students to focus on essential skills (handwriting, spelling and grammar). If this is done in the form of a dictagloss or running dictation, then it becomes more interactive and learner-centred.
For a long time now, teachers in non-Western EFL settings have argued for the adaption of CLT to their contexts. See Jin, Singh and Li (2005), Saengboon (2006), and Hiep (2007) for accounts from China, Thailand and Vietnam respectively. The situation described with the Gulf States students in Australia is no different. We should adapt CLT in Western classrooms according to the specific requirements of our students. Our ultimate aim is to provide a rich and positive language learning environment within which our students can achieve their goals.
Reconciling CLT
References
CLT can in fact be considered a two-dimensional approach, with both macro- and micro-elements. The macro-elements are those traditionally attributed to CLT, such as functional language, negotiation of meaning, and information gap activities. Microelements belong to a different dimension; if we consider the classroom as a place full of communicative potential, the micro-elements of CLT are those exchanges used in a purposeful way, such as “Please take out your books” and “Look at the bottom of the page,” part of the language necessary for learning to be achieved. For example, consider the useful collection of phrases whereby students can ask a teacher about the meaning, pronunciation or spelling of a new word. These should be taught explicitly, and corrected when misused. All of these are just as relevant as whatever functional language is listed in the syllabus for their specific level.
Bax, S. (2003). The end of CLT: A context approach to language teaching. ELT Journal, 57(3), 278 -287. Canale, M. & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics 1, 1-47. ICEF Bulletin. (2008, May). Retrieved from http://www.icef.com/emailer/bulletin/200805/MarketReport_ep_en.html Gaynor, B. (2006). The learning environment and student motivation. Muroran Institute of Technology, 56, 63-66. Retrieved from http://mitlib.lib.muroran-it.ac.jp/kiyo/56go/56_09.pdf Hiep, P.H. (2007). Communicative language teaching: Unity within diversity. ELT Journal, 61(3), 193-201. Jin, L., Singh, M. & Li, L. (2005). Communicative language teaching in China: Misconceptions, applications and perceptions. Retrieved from http://www.aare.edu.au/05pap/jin05646.pdf Redden, E. (2007). Supporting Saudi students. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/08/16/saudi Saengboon, S. (2006). CLT revisited. Retrieved from http://www4.nida.ac.th/lc/journal2006/saksit.pdf Swan, M. & Smith, B. (2001). Learner English: A teacher's guide to interference and other problems. UK: Cambridge University Press.
Gaynor (2006) claims the classroom is a social construct with its own contexts and purposes, and that the English taught there should reflect this. He implies that this approach makes CLT less workable. Bax (2003) went even further with his suggestion that the profession replace CLT with a Context approach which involves adapting the methodology to the context. Aspects to be considered in this approach include an assessment of the individual students’ learning needs and styles, the learning environment, and culture at all levels from the local to the national level. Responding to Bax’s Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Rebecca Belchamber has been teaching English since 1994, in both migrant and ELICOS programs. Currently, she is the CELTA Coordinator at the South Australian College Of English, Adelaide. Her particular teaching interests are CALL, curriculum design, socio-cultural linguistics and teacher training.
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Lesson Plan_reviews 11/20/10 10:37 AM Page 1
Lesson Plan
21
Grammar Libs: A Collaborative Way to Practice Grammar This activity provides an opportunity for students to practice using correct grammatical forms within the context of a cloze-type passage. It was inspired by a popular word game called Mad Libs in which there is a text with missing words (blanks) and beneath those blanks are the parts of speech of the missing words. Players brainstorm words of the specified parts of speech before knowing what the text is about; therefore the fun is that the words generated by the players usually do not fit at all with the main text and sound completely absurd. One example of a Mad Libs (Price & Stern, 2001) is as follows:
The portions of text that are made into blanks should be the portions the teacher wants the students to generate (i.e., the target grammatical structures). Unlike in the Mad Libs example where the part of speech was written below the blank, the teacher does not need to supply them here as the idea is that the students have to figure out which grammatical forms are needed. The text with the blanks, or “skeleton paragraph,” should be prepared in advance and saved as a Word document for the teacher to retrieve during class.
Procedures The teacher should begin the activity by briefly introducing the topic. For this example, the topic is “Acts of Kindness,” so the activity could be introduced by describing a time somebody did something nice. Next, the teacher should elicit from students one or two examples of kind acts and write them on the board. The teacher should write the phrase the way the student said it and then show them how to change it into the proper form for this activity. The proper form includes two elements: it is a phrase and not a complete sentence and the phrase must start with an -ing verb. An example of a phrase in the proper form would be “Giving up one’s seat on the metro.” The reason for this strict format is to make it easier for students to fit the phrases into the skeleton paragraph later on.
“Be sure to visit the Rocky ________ in Colorado. When you first see the plural noun
________ beauty adjective
of these majestic ________, your eyes will fill up with _______ and your plural noun
plural noun
__________ part of the body
will skip a beat.”
This Mad Libs-inspired activity can be tailored to many different grammar-learning objectives. The example lesson provided here targets verb conjugation in terms of past/present tense, person, and number, as well as when to use non-finite (to- V and V -ing) verb complements. This activity is suitable for advanced beginners and up, since it requires students to supply the words or phrases that go in the blanks. It can be made more challenging as needed.
Next, each student should write down one example of a kind act on a piece of paper in the proper form shown above. It helps if the teacher provides students with small slips of paper to write on. As students finish, the teacher should collect their slips of paper and mix them up inside some kind of container.
Design The passage can be adapted from an existing text or written from scratch by the teacher. In preparing the text for this activity, the teacher should first decide which grammatical points he or she wishes to target.
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Shireen Baghestani American University of Sharjah Sharjah, UAE
Now the teacher can turn on the overhead projector to display the skeleton paragraph. The student
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Lesson Plan_reviews 11/20/10 10:37 AM Page 2
Lesson Plan
22
the activity is done as a class, students will have the opportunity to see the thinking processes their peers go through when fitting each phrase into the paragraph. Students also get the added benefit of learning or reviewing vocabulary from each other’s phrases.
chosen to go first will draw one phrase from the bowl. He or she must read the phrase aloud as it is written and then modify it accordingly so that it fits into the first blank of the story. In addition to changing the verb form (or perhaps deciding to keep it the same), the student may also need to change pronouns so that they fit within the context of the paragraph. For example, “Giving up one’s seat on the metro” may need to be changed to “Giving up her seat on the metro.” It works well if the paragraph is displayed on a word processor so that the teacher (or a student) can type the phrases into the blanks as the activity proceeds. Once all the blanks have been filled in, the teacher can choose one student to read the story aloud. Each student will have contributed a personal touch to the story by providing their own phrase.
Adaptations The activity can be made more challenging by not requiring students to write down their phrases in the specific format outlined above. This would make it more challenging for students to see how the phrase should be changed to fit into the skeleton paragraph. In addition, the paragraph the teacher writes can be made to target different grammatical structures based on the level or needs of the students. The skeleton paragraphs can also be based on a theme from the textbook in order to focus on the vocabulary that the students have been learning. In this way the activity can serve double-duty as both a vocabulary review and a targeted grammar practice. Once written, these skeleton stories can be re-used for classes to come.
References Price, R., & Stern, L. (2001). Mad Libs on the Road. New York: Price Stern Sloan.
Have you recently used an activity in the classroom which thoroughly engaged your students?
Strengths of the Activity This activity captures some of the best aspects of both group and individual work in that each student gets to write his or her own phrase, but the class also comes together as a group to fill in the blanks of the paragraph. Students will have fun as they wait in anticipation for their phrase to be drawn by one of their classmates. As in regular Mad Libs, no one knows how the final paragraph is going to turn out, and the end-product is meant to be surprising. Since
Consider submitting a lesson plan to Perspectives!
Shireen Baghestani is an MA TESOL student at the American University of Sharjah. She was born and raised in the United States. She received her BA in Linguistics from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 2009. She is currently working on her Master’s thesis on corpus use in the classroom.
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Reader Response_reviews 11/20/10 10:39 AM Page 1
Reader Response
23
When the Blue Men Unveil Their Faces
given a statement of the school policy which is endorsed by the Libyan Ministry of Education. Education in Libya is a state monopoly and rules are enacted by the state. One positive aspect of this meeting is that the administrators make it clear that they are so glad—exalted as a matter of fact—for having eventually gotten hold of an English teacher after the notorious runaway of the previous English teacher the year before. The principal kindly escorts me to the classroom and introduces me to the class. Before stepping outside the classroom, he whispers in my ear to pay careful attention to the school policy in order not to anger the “state” which I later learn is a metaphor he uses to replace the object pronoun “me.”
Note from the Co-Editors: The Reader Response Section is normally reserved for articles which directly respond to a feature published in a previous issue. However, we felt that this submission was special and deserved a home within the pages of Perspectives. It is a reflective piece- one to which many Western-educated EFL teachers can probably relate. It is, in fact, a “response” to a very different educational environment, one in which many foreign teachers may find themselves upon their arrival in the Gulf. We sincerely hope you agree.
It is hot. No, it is roasting in a high school in the middle of nowhere. Apologies, I mean in a high school in Al Kufra, a city in the central Sahara which is in the southern portion of one of the previously most anti-English language teaching (ELT) areas in the world—Libya, North Africa. It is my second day in this city and my first day in this school. On the way to school, besides reflecting on my thoughts of how I ended up here, I notice that people in the streets are staring at me and murmuring to each other. Another thing which catches my wandering eye is the costumes of the people around me. Women are wearing head cloths but they do not cover their faces while men are wearing blue turbans and a face covering which is blue, too. It feels like I have landed in one of Indiana Jones’ movie shooting locations.
Students usually arrive to class late and are very disruptive. I guess I am not an alien to this leniency towards time. Students sometimes outspokenly express their discomfort at the idea of staying fifty minutes in the classroom. My students come from a nomadic community who may find the classroom infinitely small in comparison to the vast expanses of the Sahara, the world’s largest hot desert. Thus, the sound of the bell for them marks a release from the captivity of the classroom. Students are extraordinarily polite. They call me Dr Emad although I do not have a doctoral degree. I keep telling them that I am not a doctor. It is in vain though. The principal tells me that the Tuaregs, the inhabitants of Al Kufra, have a wise-man who operates as the doctor, too. The Tuaregs have a tremendous respect for the man who occupies this post. One of the roles this wise-man assumes is the role of a doctor, the healer. Thus, they call me “doctor” to show respect. Some students also show signs of disgruntlement when I assign them to groups. Mansour, a smart, very confident student,
At school, I am totally lost. It is unlike any other school I have ever seen, heard, or been to. I feel like a little school boy who needs someone to usher him in on his first day at school. The place is chaotic. Until that day, I have never envisioned the hurlyburly of a school such as this, like it is straight out of my worst nightmares. Luckily, a dark-skinned man with very white teeth, probably the whitest teeth I have ever seen, volunteers to show me the way to the principal’s room. After a lengthy welcome and brief introduction, the principal numerates the dos and don’ts in this government school. I am also Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Emad A. Jasim Institute of Technology Sharjah, UAE
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Reader Response_reviews 11/20/10 10:39 AM Page 2
Reader Response
24
and the leader of the grumblers, is the usual instigator of such unfortunate behavior. I guess social constructivism does not work here. Who can scaffold a student who likes to single out certain partners in learning and refuses to share with other students no matter how brilliant these students are? It is a big challenge to my authority in the classroom. Mansour is a rebel who wants to undermine my authority. He also wants to receive preferential treatment. Other students do not seem upset about Mansour’s rejection to be a sharer in learning, nor a student willing to operate as an equal to the rest of the class. He even has more influence on students than me. For me, Mansour is insolent and arrogant. For other students, he is a role model. When Mansour shows interest in a lesson, students start to be more attentive and try their best to rattle out any information they know about the topic. And the opposite is true if Mansour shows a sign of indifference to a new topic. I bring it up to the principal. He tells me that Mansour is the son of the chief in Al Kufra. Tuaregs are a hierarchical society and a highly stratified one so typical of a nomadic society made up of tribes. Mansour dislikes standing on equal footing with other students who he deems as coming from a lower social status.
uniform and stop wearing what I view as a source of discomfort. The next day, Mansour turns up in class with a bare head and an uncovered face. I notice that he is not the same. He has stopped being the confident and proud student who wants to own the show. He is hurt. The whole class is hurt, too. Mansour is not as responsive as he used to be, the other students are not responsive either. I feel a strange compulsion to find out what has gone wrong. “I must do something,” I say to myself. With a little investigation I find out that the Tuaregs start wearing this costume at a certain age, usually around puberty. This tradition marks the maturity and manhood of a Tuareg. Tuareg children look forward to wearing this turban and veil as it is a symbol of manhood, identity, and a significant phase of their lives. The Tuaregs take their names “the blue men” from the color of these blue turbans and blue veils. They also believe that these veils ward off evil spirits of the desert. I discover that I have simply taken all that away from Mansour. I think that I have taken advantage of the paternalistic society to impose my worldviews. It is not a mere emotional setback; it goes much deeper for a Tuareg teenager. Stripping a Tuareg of that blue veil equates to the ultimate insult he could ever sustain in his whole life. I hate myself.
On a beautiful January morning, Mansour shows up in the classroom wearing a blue veil covering his face except for his eyes and nose. It is a blatant breach of the school policy on dress code. It is a golden opportunity that I have to seize. “Time to regain my lost authority,” I say to myself. Now I have the support of the “state” to restore my order. The dress code states that students, without exception, have to wear a uniform, or they will be locked out of the premises. I tell Mansour that if he really wants to attend my class, he has to take off this turban and veil. I make it no secret that the Emad A. Jasim teaches ESP at the law says this, not me. Sharjah Institute of Technology in Sharjah, UAE. He is also doing his Nevertheless, Mansour MA in TESOL at the American confidently refuses to University of Sharjah. Over the last abide by this law. Other 12 years, he has taught English in North Africa, Jordan, and the UAE. teachers advise me to His professional interests are taskspeak to his father. I based language learning and immediately contact his teaching, language testing, and culture. father who promises to make him wear the
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
In retrospect, I simply was not prepared for what is unanimously acknowledged as one of the biggest challenges in the circles of foreign language education—cross-cultural differences. The shock that I sustained due to this encounter with a cultural difference left havoc in its trail. It caused an emotional havoc in my students and in me. I failed to establish a non-threatening class environment where learners are welcomed to approach me and speak their minds and hearts. I guess this is antithetical to Krashen’s (1981) affective filter and Golaman’s (1995) emotional intelligence (EQ). They both agree that negative emotions like resentment, anger, self-doubt, and hatred are counterproductive and detrimental to learning. I obviously did not know my students well. I genuinely loathe what my unawareness of the significance of Mansour’s attire made me do. I also blame the threatening system where I received my education. In this system the teacher is the symbol of authority and discipline. Being strict and keeping a straight face equates to
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Reader Response_reviews 11/20/10 10:39 AM Page 3
Reader Response
have consequently reduced Mansour’s and his fellow students’ anxiety over encountering a foreign language and a foreign teacher with whom they did not share a lot of things in common, apart from humanity. Mansour was forced to unveil his face, but he did not know that he unveiled my ignorance in ELT, too. My apologies, Mansour, and I sincerely thank you for allowing me to see the reality of my competence as a teacher and my shallow social sophistication as a person.
knowledgeability of your subject matter. I simply took it too far. What would have happened if I had simply permitted Mansour to wear what stands for manhood, identity, and honor? I could have asserted his need for recognition as the son of the chief and the future dignified leader of his Tuareg tribe. What impact would Mansour covering have had on me? It may seem inappropriate attire for school, but it was not beyond the expectations of the other stakeholders in that school to dress like that. The burden, I now realize, lays on me to adapt myself to their norms not the opposite. Mansour’s change of clothes could have been an excellent springboard to establish a social relationship that would have helped produce a successful foreign language learning experience. Such a social relationship could
25
References Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. New York: Batman Books. Krashen, S.D. & Terrell, T.D. (1983). The natural approach: Language acquisition in the classroom. London: Prentice Hall Europe.
17th Annual TESOL Arabia International Conference & Exhibition 2011 Announces the Innovative Material Showcase TESOL Arabia 2011 is announcing an “Innovative Material Showcase” and inviting submissions for consideration. It is open to all companies and institutions, whether they are exhibiting at the conference or not, who would like to promote a particular educational product, range of products, or services, in a presentation. There will be a fee payable of AED 625 per presentation slot, but the presenter of the Innovative Material Showcase sessions will not need to pay either conference fees or TESOL Arabia membership fees. In case of more than one presenter, then the co-presenter(s) has to pay conference fees. In order to apply to give such a presentation, all you need to do is to complete the Innovative Material Showcase form and email it to the conference co-chairs (tacon2011@tesolarabia.org), who along with a committee of three active TESOL Arabia members, will select a limited number of proposals for inclusion in the conference program.
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Emerging tech._reviews 11/20/10 10:31 AM Page 1
Emerging Technologies
26
What’s New with WordPress
John Raven Higher Colleges of Technology Sharjah, UAE In an attempt to address these concerns, I set up each student with their own individual blog site that is linked to the other students’ and to the course blog site (illustrated in Figure 1), thus creating a virtual speech community, and making the blogging activity an integral part of the course projects and assessments rather than an option. The collection of blogs forms a community in the sense that all of the blog sites are linked together and the students are required to post updates on their research writing each week as well as provide supportive comments on each other’s posts. They continue this process the whole semester for a series of research writing tasks in a blended learning environment, with face to face sessions, online blogging and one-on-one tutoring workshops creating a variety of learning environments in the course. A typical post by a student discussing her assignment about the Apple Online Store is illustrated in Figure 2. At the time, this post had attracted six helpful comments by other students and the instructor.
WordPress is the most popular Web 2.0 blogging application used on the Internet today and has helped revolutionize the way people use the web to communicate their personal ideas and interact with others (WordPress Usage Statistics, 2010). WordPress is a free open source application that is offered by thousands of available commercial and free servers (such as http://wordpress.com/) or the application can be downloaded and installed easily on a local PHP/ MYSQL capable server. WordPress has now evolved into a fuller content management system winning, in 2009, the Open Source CMS Award (2009). It is a mature application which first appeared in 2003, yet continues to grow with features and updates that continue to make the software so successful. In this article, I will describe some of these features, including ways in which I have utilized them in the classroom. I have used WordPress successfully in a blended learning environment for a number of years with Emirati students to help with a research writing course. A previous study illustrated that such blogs promote student autonomy and help them “develop ideas for their own writing as well as encourage other students through their projects” (Raven & Gunn, 2008, p. 67). However, as Lansiquot, Rosalina and Howell point out (2009), the use of the application must be situated correctly in the learning environment to avoid misuse.
Figure 1: A WordPress 3.01 blog site using the default theme. Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Figure 2: One student’s post with comments.
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Emerging tech._reviews 11/20/10 10:31 AM Page 2
Emerging Technologies
My students, being IT students, are also interested in customizing their blog sites, adding some of the thousands of plugins, widgets and themes, which integrates also with their other courses on web development and networking. However, this may not suit many learning contexts as problems have occurred occasionally when a poorly written theme or third party plugin has crashed one of the studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blog sites requiring a reinstallation and loss of data. The latest version of WordPress (version 3.01) has remedied this situation with multiuser capabilities. Just one installation can now provide a virtual community with separate identities for a number of users, rather than requiring separate installations for each. This centralizes administrative tasks thus making it easier, for example, for a teacher to set up and control the blog site for a class of students. The teacher can simply add users to one shared blog site, allowing the users to enter the blog site and create their own posts, pages and comments under their username rather than having to administer their own blog site.
27
WordPress has recently followed the trend towards more mobile devices with native applications now being available for a number of mobile phones and PDAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s including those using the Android operating system, iPhone/iPod Touch and BlackBerry. With these applications, users of mobile devices can connect to their WordPress blogs and can access the Administration Panel and modify their blogsites easily. So, while on holiday recently, for instance, I was able to easily keep up with what was happening on my blog site by simply using an iPhone. This reflects the potential of WordPress and already these technologies have been tried out and researched with success in mobile learning environments (Dickson, Wiggins & Harapnuik, 2010). One trend resulting from a mash up of Web 2.0 technologies that WordPress has yet to address fully and that many think represents the future of blogging, is video logging or vlogging, (Reamsbottom & Toth, 2008). The argument is that video is more intuitive for users to create and post, (i.e. more accessible) although obviously not as suitable for supporting writing activities. WordPress is still centered around text-based blogs and, although graphics and multimedia can be embedded into these posts, links to external multimedia, such as from Youtube, are not recommended. This is one aspect that WordPress will need to address if it is to remain at the top of the Web 2.0 heap. However, in the meantime, it still remains the best application for blogging.
The WordPress administration tool, entitled Dashboard (see Figure 3), has been improved with greater control over templates, plugins and themes than previous editions. Thousands of themes and plugins are still available but WordPress only offers those that meet the General Purpose License (GPL). This means no more annoying advertisements, which avoids the problems with spam and bugs experienced previously. It has also closed many of the security holes that appeared in previous editions. The platform is now stable, bug free and supported by a huge online community, although third party themes and plugins may still be problematic.
References Dickson, K., Wiggins, M. & Harapnuik, D. (2010). WordPress as a mobile learning environment. In D. Gibson & B. Dodge (Eds.), Proceedings of society for information technology & teacher education international conference 2010 (pp. 2212-2213). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Lansiquot, R., Rosalia, C. & Howell, A. (2009). The use and abuse of blogging as a course activity: Three perspectives, three approaches. In I. Gibson et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of society for information technology & teacher education international conference 2009 (pp. 2853-2857). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Figure 3: The Dashboard administration tool offering a variety of themes.
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Raven, J. & Gunn, C. (2008) Emerging pedagogies in the Middle East: Enhancing student autonomy using weblogs (blogs). The Buckingham Journal of Language and Linguistics 1(1), 59-70.
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Emerging tech._reviews 11/20/10 10:31 AM Page 3
Emerging Technologies
28
Reamsbottom, B. & Toth, C. (2008). The mash-up of web 2.0 technologies: The future of podcasting and social networking. In K. McFerrin et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of society for information technology & teacher education international conference 2008 (pp. 650-653). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
WordPress Usage Statistics. (2010). Retrieved http://trends.builtwith.com/blog/WordPress John Raven has taught as faculty in the IT Dept. at the Sharjah Higher Colleges of Technology since 2001. Before that he lectured at the Auckland University of Technology and prior to that was a teacher and computer coordinator in various schools. He has a PhD in Educational Technology from the University of Auckland and is interested in blending IT into learning activities and contexts having published articles on a variety of technologies including wikis, blogs, LMS, and digital storytelling applications.
The 2009 Open Source CMS Award. (2009). Open Source CMS Award [Previous Winners]. Retrieved from http://www.packtpub.com/article/opensource-cms-award-previous-winners
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
reviews_reviews 11/20/10 10:40 AM Page 1
Reviews
29
Flying High Starter Jane Sturtevant & Paul Davies Macmillan, 2008 ISBN: 978-0-230-03264-4 111 pp
Flying High is an inspiring topic-based course book that exposes international adult learners to the English language in clear, comprehensible and interesting contexts that are relevant to their interests and needs. The series is designed for use with beginner students and carefully progresses to a solid upper-intermediate level. Each level includes a Student’s Book with combined workbook pages for further practice, whether in the classroom or at home, and a CD-Rom with rich interactive practice activities that compliment the Student’s Book. It also consists of a Teacher’s Book with step-by-step teaching instructions for teachers and a color-coded answer key.
function, vocabulary and pronunciation. Topic descriptions are provided to explain unit titles. When a learner comes across a unit entitled “Personal Matters,” for example, he or she immediately finds the lesson’s title refers to one’s family and things. Thus, the learner does not need to skim the whole book to find the required topics. Moreover, the division of the units gives more flexibility to the teacher to deal with each unit as a separate body. Flying High is also well-designed so that it can be taught in order or not. Teachers may choose the order in which they wish to cover the material that they feel is suitable for their class. A teacher, for instance, can start with Unit 5, “Places,” then go back to Unit 3, “International World,” without puzzling the students. This can be seen from some teachers’ points of view as a drawback as it indicates that the book does not increase in difficulty; thus, learners may not actually progress throughout the book. But, as a teacher, I recognize it as an advantage because it gives me more freedom to use what is appropriate for my students.
Although the Student’s Book consists of only six units, it covers various attention-grabbing topics such as dream jobs, time, events, activities, countries, people, national colors, geography, family, work places, study, neighborhoods, cities, towns, friends, relatives, television and life. Throughout this wide variety of subjects, adult learners are continuously given opportunities to practice the four skills of language by focusing on the meanings, forms and use of the English language. Having the workbook combined with the student’s book is a brilliant idea that makes it handy and practical. It saves the learner time and money by offering a free number of fun supplementary activities in an accessible and attractive format that can help build the learner’s confidence.
Every lesson in Flying High contains a variety of activities that range from gap-fill to oral partner work. All activities get students practicing the four skills of language, listening, speaking, reading and writing, and give them the opportunity to use the new target language in meaningful ways in day to day life. The Triple A approach to language learning—Access, Analysis and Activation—is applied effectively to each lesson with a focus on one of them in particular. Lesson 1, for example, focuses on Access as learners are
The contents page is a well-designed gatefold of helpful information for both teachers and learners. Each unit is divided into four lessons: grammar,
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
reviews_reviews 11/20/10 10:40 AM Page 2
Reviews
30
Additionally, the Teacher’s Book is very user-friendly, both in regard to its format and to the information provided to guide the teacher. Each notes page clearly states the aims of the activity, a step-by-step procedure, likely outcomes and possible responses as well as suggestions for follow-up work.
exposed to English through an interesting dialogue in an English class between Suzana and David. Lessons 2 and 3, “Your Occupation” and “Dream Job” focus on Analysis. The meanings of some occupations such as accountants, engineers and receptionists are illustrated with pictures and fun activities. The different forms of the verb “to be” with different subject pronouns are also explained in detail. Lesson 4, “What Do You Do,” provides students with an opportunity to activate the target language in a natural and authentically communicative context. In addition, each approach in Flying High is color-coded to show its type: Access, blue; Analysis, green; and Activation, purple. This color code helps familiarize the new learner with the Triple A approach of the book efficiently.
The one drawback of Flying High is that the Student’s Book is not designed for self-study as the book is not provided with an answer key. The answer key exists only in the Teacher’s Book. As a result, the learner always needs a teacher to check his or her answers which is not always appropriate for adult learners. All things considered, the Flying High series consists of user-friendly books which are suitable for Middle Eastern students. The authors claim that “Flying High puts communication first and last” and all the activities of the book are designed to realize this claim. I recommend the book to be used for beginner students in universities who study English as a Second Language.
Furthermore, tasks, activities and pictures of the book are appropriate for Middle Eastern teenagers and adults. They have been chosen carefully to motivate and engage conservative adult learners. The content is up-to-date and every lesson contains lots of fascinating information. Subjects which relate to working life, family, television, neighborhood, travel and food are integrated with culture, the changing modern world and many surprising facts. They also help to develop more cultural awareness of Western culture in general.
Reviewed by: Dr Asmaa Awad University of Sharjah Sharjah, UAE
Is there a new book or a piece of software you really enjoy using with students or one that has helped you in your teaching? Consider writing a review for Perspectives. Contact our Reviews Editor, Cindy Gunn, for more information. cgunn@aus.edu
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
reviews_reviews 11/20/10 10:40 AM Page 3
Reviews
31
Henry V Adapted for ELT by: Brigit Viney Heinle Cengage, 2009 ISBN: 978-1-4240-2875-7 144 pp
Jane Eyre Adapted for ELT by: Amy Corzine Heinle Cengage, 2010 ISBN: 13 978-1-4240-2887-0 144 pp as a rather superfluous Bronte family tree (pp. 143).
In 1955 an urban legend about a vampire in a graveyard in Glasgow sparked a moral panic in Britain, and the passing of the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act. Thus it was that an unholy alliance of the Scottish clergy, teachers and the Communist Party of Great Britain were able to ban American “horror comics” across the United Kingdom, ensuring that the only form of graphic fiction remained the province of pre-adolescents, and of the Scottish publisher catering to their tastes.
Henry V tells the story of the play. That, unfortunately, is all it does. Anyone who has seen the Lawrence Olivier film version of Henry V, or the more recent interpretation by Kenneth Branagh, will be aware that this is a play that can be improved by adaptation. The cinema gives the action the very range and scope that the Chorus admits is lacking in the theatre. This graphic retelling, however, removes one essential ingredient, and that is the poetry.
In Europe, by contrast, the bande desinee was a part of local culture, with Tintin and Asterix the Gaul commanding respect as popular heroes across both social class and generational divides.
On pages 33-34, Mistress Quickly’s account of Sir John Falstaff ’s death lacks any pathos. Shakespeare’s original gives an unlettered woman a series of bathetic malapropisms that somehow reach out to touch the heart. In performance, no one can doubt the sincerity of her grief. Somehow, the words make her simultaneously ridiculous and dignified. All that is missing here.
Heinle Cengage have now attempted to bring that European tradition into English Language Teaching, but it has to be said that these two books show the difficulties of their venture. One is absolutely excellent, the other disappoints, but both share common features.
Later, the “little touch of Harry in the night,” the morale raising rapport that only genuinely good officers can deliver, is paraphrased to “his kind face makes everyone’s fear disappear” (p. 73), which plumbs the depths of banality. Similarly, Henry’s agonized prayer “Oh, God of Battles, steel my soldiers’ hearts” is watered down to “Dear God, help my soldiers. Don’t let them be afraid” (p. 86). The sense remains, but the magic has gone.
In both cases, for example, there is an attempt to tell the complete story. Both books contain glossaries that are linked to the Collins COBUILD Intermediate dictionary (Henry V) and the Collins COBUILD School and Intermediate Dictionaries of American English (Jane Eyre). Henry V has one page of information about Shakespeare’s life (p. 140) and another about the historical King Henry V (p. 141). Jane Eyre does rather better. There are two and a half pages about Charlotte Bronte (pp. 139-141) as well Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
In Jane Eyre, by contrast, the magic remains. This book is a triumph. While the illustrations in Henry V somehow remain two dimensional, Jane Eyre leaps
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
reviews_reviews 11/20/10 10:40 AM Page 4
Reviews
32
this, graphic version, his character is neatly delineated by the superciliousness of his expression.
off the page. There is a clever mixture of full color and two-tone illustrations, and dramatic events – Mr. Rochester’s horse skidding on the ice (p. 43); the revelation of the mad wife in the attic (p. 84) – are given their full value. Indeed, the death of Bertha Rochester (pp. 113-114) is as satisfyingly gothic as any aficionado of the horror genre could wish.
How could these books be used? Firstly, they could find a place in any reading center or self-access center. They deserve a place in class libraries, and they could be offered to students who find graded readers “boring” (i.e., a challenge). The illustrations might well delude such students into believing that there is less to read, when in fact they are more likely to read with greater understanding.
This version of the book, moreover, is effectively unabridged. It traces Jane’s journey from her Aunt Reed’s house through Lowood School and on to becoming a governess. It shows her relationship with Mr. Rochester, but when Jane leaves Thornfield Hall, it follows her into the sub-plot with St. John Eyre Rivers and his sisters.
But of the two, Jane Eyre is outstanding and most highly recommended.
Here, particularly, the illustrations help. It is easy to understand that Mr. Brocklehurst is an obnoxious prig, but there is not a little of Mr. Brocklehurst in St. John Rivers. The latter shows more compassion for the poor, but his view of the world is almost as limited, and he has no doubt of his own rectitude. In
Reviewed by: Neil McBeath Sultan Qaboos University Sultanate of Oman
Do not learn about this year’s conference, be a part of it and join TACON Online 2011. What will I find on TACON 2011 Online? Members’ Profiles TACON 2011 Blogs Discussion Forums Video Archive TESOL Arabia Publications News Twitter Channel Updates & Announcements Presentation Handouts & more!
TACON 2011 Online opens January 1, 2011 http://TAconference.org Participation and registration are FREE! For further information or to get involved, please contact Ismail Fayed & Sebah Al-Ali TACON Online Co-chairs 2011
tacononline@tesolarabia.org #tesolarabia
Volume 17
Hashtag
No. 3
#TACON2011
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
TACON Online QR
www.tesolarabia.org
reviews_reviews 11/20/10 10:40 AM Page 5
Reviews
33
Hot Spot 1 Student’s Book Colin Granger Macmillan, 2009 ISBN: 978-0-230-72374-0 120 pp
Hot Spot 2 Student’s Book Colin Granger Macmillan, 2009 ISBN: 978-0-230-72375-7 111 pp
at the end of each module encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning by writing down what they have learned. This helps them understand whether or not they have achieved their learning goals. Fast finishers are also taken care of through a number of activities especially designed for them. This is to help those who can learn more, actually learn more!
Active, lively, popular, fashionable and involves technology. This is what came to my mind after reading the title of Macmillan’s new ESL course book series. What can be more inviting than that? Again, Macmillan is successful in choosing an interesting title for an interesting series. Hot Spot is designed for young teenagers (ten to fourteen year-olds) of mixed language abilities upon their entry to secondary school. It addresses the needs of beginner to low intermediate levels of language proficiency through diverse activities that cover all four skills of the language. The chosen topics, for example, “The Other Side of the World,” “Rules of Sport,” “School Uniforms,” “Famous People,” “Holiday Plans,” and more are lively and relevant to modern young people and the tasks involve a variety of skills such as using the Internet for webquests and other mini projects that help increase learner autonomy.
The progression of exercises is quite logical. Each exercise prepares and leads the student to the next exercise. Receptive skills are introduced first with the vocabulary and grammar points explained and emphasized. This is followed by productive skills with tasks designed to help students produce the target language. Units generally begin with listening and/or reading tasks, some grammar notes and exercises, followed by speaking and writing tasks. Writing tasks are sometimes merged with speaking tasks and come in the form of having the students write notes to help them speak. In some other units the writing tasks are short and simple, and this is one weakness of the books. Students, even at a lower intermediate level, can be challenged to write more.
The Student’s Book is enriched with cartoons and pictures which make it lively and interesting. There is good emphasis on grammar and vocabulary, two aspects of the language students need more of at this level. The wealth and variety of exercises create opportunities for students to use the target language of each module. A considerable recycling of the language presented in the Student’s Book is done in the Activity Book. Moreover, the “Learning Diary”
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
There is also a student CD to help reinforce language points introduced in the Student’s Book. The CD covers all the modules with four sections for each module. There is a grammar section and a vocabulary section that provide extra exercises. The
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
reviews_reviews 11/20/10 10:40 AM Page 6
Reviews
34
skills section provides exercises for integrated skills with audio excerpts as well. Finally, there is the “Fun Spot” section where students can play a game and listen to a song related to the theme of the module.
Although all skills are covered in Hot Spot, some skills do not receive equal attention. The reading passages, for example, are quite short, though they tend to grow slightly longer as the units progress. The Activity Book has more readings, but they are as short as the ones in the Student’s Book.
An important advantage of Hot Spot is the support teachers get in the Teacher’s Book. Apart from the usual summaries, teaching tips, tape transcripts, and answers, there is a section that gives dyslexia teaching tips with suggestions on how to help dyslexic students. Another section helps with cultural information to enable the teacher to put the language point in its proper cultural framework. Plenty of useful photocopiable resources are available at the end of the Teacher’s Book providing a wealth of extra material for classroom use. Tests are also taken care of. There is a readymade test for each module and two end-of-book tests as well. All come with the recordings for the listening part of the test.
Overall, Hot Spot is an interesting addition to ESL books. Teachers can use it with confidence due to the amount of support they get throughout the book. Younger learners would find it stimulating and fun due to the richness and variety of exercises provided for them. On the other hand, young teenagers would need something more challenging and relevant in terms of approach and display.
Reviewed by: Rasha Al Okaily University of Sharjah Sharjah, UAE
That’s not it! There’s even supplementary support for teachers through the Macmillan website. Teachers can find additional relevant resources for their students online from http://www.macmillanenglish.com/hotspot. Having said all that, there are a few comments that must be made regarding Hot Spot 1 and 2. The first and foremost comment is the targeted age group. The book is very interesting and lively, but may not appeal to a 13 to 14 year-old student. The type of stories and exercises and especially the types of songs and games might not be suitable for this age group. It would be great for 7 to 10-year-old children instead. Hence, younger learners would be a more suitable target. They would be better stimulated to learn through cartoons and songs than young teenagers who would prefer fewer cartoons and comics and more real pictures and topics such as adventure and sports, and definitely different kinds of songs!
No. 3
November 2010
The Ed Tech SIG is back... And they are better than ever!!
Furthermore, some of the themes and topics covered in Hot Spot 1 appear in Hot Spot 2. This makes one a bit careful when choosing both books for consecutive levels. Students (and teachers) might find the repetition not so stimulating. Both levels of Hot Spot contain a module on “Family and Hometowns” and another on “Work and Play.” Some other modules might not have the same titles but are about the same themes such as friends, school, cities and towns.
Volume 17
Go to their website
http://taedtech.ning.com/ to find out more details on upcoming events, join a discussion in the forum, etc...
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
reviews_reviews 11/20/10 10:40 AM Page 7
Reviews
35
In Business with A, An and The Software Review Available from: Rehearsal Technology www.EnglishExtras.com
beloved of so many a grammar book? Well, maybe…and maybe not…but we’ll come to that.
Back when I was on nodding terms with the Spring Chicken, the pedagogical imperative du jour was “communication.” Message was king: accuracy deferred to fluency and mistakes deferred to meaning. If learners made it across the Information Gap alive, then the job was well done. Rooms were booked, tickets bought and arrangements made, all with nary a thought for the omission of an article here or there.
To hire the necessary personnel, you are required to interact with representatives from each department in turn. They speak via voice bubble or recorded message, and your job is to respond appropriately. This, in actuality, involves drag ‘n’ dropping into a structured text, indentifying utterances from a selection of alternatives or composing emails and letters. All task types, however, are predicated upon the same thing: the correct and precise use of articles.
Well, that was then. And Rehearsal Technology’s new, interactive In Business with A, An and The is most definitely now. Welcome, therefore, to “Bicycles International,” a Boston-based company, soon to open a subsidiary in San Francisco. And you, game player and de facto BI employee, are tasked with hiring an accountant, a salesperson and an engineer for the new office. Take care, though, for as TJ, your pop-up grammar guide, points out: “they all want to work with someone whose English is excellent.” Meaning, to put it less obliquely, that they all want to work with someone whose English is absolutely "article perfect."
Inaccurate choices result in your on-screen interlocutor frowning, as their interest in you conspicuously wanes (there’s an “interest meter” at the bottom of the screen). Some usage distinctions are really quite fine: even I, native speaker that I am, tripped up on occasion (and you don’t get a second chance, either—there’s no "back"option). In response, TJ suddenly cut short my chat with Stella Chen, telling me that she would not, after all, be joining me in California. “Your total correct score with Stella was 76%,” he added, somewhat ambiguously.
Now articles are the bane of any learner’s existence—and no language does them quite like English. So articles, the nitty-gritty, nuts and bolts of ‘em, are the sole business of In Business.
My shortcomings should not, however, imply that you go to BI as a lamb to the slaughter. Help is readily available in the Library (and you are encouraged to visit before starting the game proper).
Is this, then, an innovative, mid-intermediate alternative to those finicky a/an/the/ø gap-fills,
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
reviews_reviews 11/20/10 10:40 AM Page 8
Reviews
36
Once there, TJ will obligingly outline the article requirements of a variety of nouns for you. Further advice, if needed, can be obtained at any stage of the game by clicking where indicated. All idioms (and cultural references) are hyperlinked, providing onthe-spot definitions and background knowledge to support you as you play. Taken in sum, In Business is self-contained and teacher-independent. It is also relatively user-friendly and my less than stellar performance with Ms Chen notwithstanding, really rather fun.
This, manifestly, is clunky and contrived, differing in no wise from the a/an/the/ø gap-fills to which we alluded earlier. And with it we come full circle. For the truth is, many learners find that articles remain elusive at all stages of proficiency, and thus we might reasonably ask: is it really worth it? My employees may want to work with “someone whose English is excellent,” but surely they’ll forgive me a slip here and there? (Not that Manny will, if you mess up your potted history of _______ Red Sox.) The upshot, then, is that In Business is a nice enough little software package. One which, if articles are essential to you as an E2L user, will be essential to you as an E2L learner. Yet for many people—yes, even business people—successfully negotiating the Information Gap is, in itself, a job well done.
So why the equivocation, above? By way of exemplar, consider this excerpt from your conversation with salesman Manny (blanks indicate where you might insert an article): “Yes, the famous baseball player _______ Babe Ruth played for Boston in the early twentieth century. _______ Ted Williams played for the team in _______ 1940s, but was away for _______ Korean War Period. After many years of disappointment the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in _______ 2004.”
Reviewed by: Colin Toms Petroleum Institute Abu Dhabi, UAE
In the June, 2010, Volume 17 No 2 issue of Perspectives, the book Natural Environments was attributed to the wrong author. The correct information is as follows: Natural Environments Joanna Burgess Black Cat Publishing, 2009 ISBN: 978-88-530-0994-4 95 pp
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
reviews_reviews 11/20/10 10:40 AM Page 9
Reviews
37
Oxford English for Careers: Tourism 2 Robin Walker & Keith Harding Oxford University Press, 2007 ISBN: 978-0-19-4551038 143 pp
Each of the three students’ books is divided into the following nine sections:
Oxford English for Careers: Tourism is a set of three ESP course books designed for students preparing for a career in the tourism and hospitality industry. The course provides language training as well as information and skills for three different aspects of the tourism industry: Level 1 focuses on promoting and selling tourism products, Level 2 deals with tourists on holiday, and Level 3 covers tourism management.
“It's My Job” - This section provides an authentic insight from professionals involved in the tourism industry. It also serves as a suitable warm-up activity for each unit to capture students' attention. “Tourism Management and Customer Care” - This section focuses on interpersonal skills for customer relations, plus key management skills.
Each book in the series contains 12 units and each unit deals with all four aspects of the language: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Not only does this integrated approach ensure an equal coverage of all skills in every unit, but it also keeps boredom at bay. Each Student Book comes with a class CD and there is a Teacher's Resource Book. The Teacher's Resource Book contains handy tips and advice on how to approach the book and provides background information for the teacher in order to teach the units confidently. It also contains supplementary materials as well as unit-by-unit tests that enable teachers to monitor their students' progress and provide them with the support they need.
“Vocabulary” - This section provides technical vocabulary used in the tourism sector to build students’ communication skills through exercises on definitions of words and different forms of given vocabulary. “Find Out” - The tourism projects and internet research in this section encourage students to take an active role in learning. “Listening” - This section exposes students to natural spoken English within the context of the tourism industry and develops their comprehension skills through the questions provided after each listening. “Reading” - The reading section consists of prereading as well as post-reading activities that further enhance students’ skills in comprehension. As a matter of fact, reading is encouraged through various sections of each unit and not only under the reading section.
The series also provides online resources for teachers (www.oup.com/elt/teacher/oefc) such as listening scripts, glossary and tips that aid teachers on how to teach tourism and also provides online interactive exercises for students to help them revise and master the language better.
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
reviews_reviews 11/20/10 10:40 AM Page 10
Reviews
38
offensive or insensitive to the views of Middle Eastern culture in general, thus making them quite appropriate for use in the Gulf. Most units have cultural notes about customs and traditions of different parts of the world in order to raise cultural awareness among students and promote respect and tolerance to cultural difference which is an essential requirement for any individual involved in the tourism and hospitality industry. What I also found interesting about the Tourism series is that the units in each book provide information about various parts of the world which adds to students’ general knowledge and helps them become well-informed about the world in general while they simultaneously learn the language.
“Writing” - Each unit has at least one or more writing assignments that provide practice in corresponding via emails, preparing presentations as well as writing reports. “Language Spot”- This part introduces different expressions used in discussions (such as agreeing or disagreeing, giving opinions, negotiating, etc.) to develop students’ speaking skills. Language reference is provided at the end of the book to cover all the grammatical points and spelling rules needed for the expressions introduced within the "Language Spot" section. “Pronunciation” - This section has various pronunciation exercises like segmental articulation, intonation, phrases and others which serve to help students have an easily intelligible flow of speech.
Through its proactive approach and varied topics, the book addresses all the needs of language learners while keeping them engaged and interested. The online resources and supplementary practice exercises that the series provides for students are also one of its strengths. All in all, Tourism 2 is a good book and I would recommend it to anyone teaching English language for students involved in the hospitality and tourism field.
“Speaking” - The facts, figures and quotations provided under this section generate interest that induces further discussion and gives the students the opportunity to recycle the vocabulary they are learning and the confidence to converse in English. Each book in the series deals with all the above mentioned sections in a way that provides students with sufficient training in all the aspects of the language. At the end of each unit, there is a checklist that encourages students to reflect on their learning and evaluate their own progress. In addition to that, a list of key words related to the theme of the unit is provided.
Reviewed by: Suzan Wadi University of Sharjah Sharjah, UAE
Though not specifically targeted in this part of the world, the series does not contain topics that may be
New TESOL Arabia Publications out now Computers in English Language Teaching, Mashael Al-Hamly, Peter Davidson, & Ismail Fayed, Eds. English in Learning: Learning in English, Proceedings of the 15th TESOL Arabia Conference, Mashael Al-Hamly, Christine Coombe, Peter Davidson, Ali Shehadeh, & Salah Troudi, Eds. Developing Oral Skills in English, Adel Jendli, Christine Coombe, & Neila Miled, Eds.
Contact Mashael Al-Hamly at mashael2@hotmail.com
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
reviews_reviews 11/20/10 10:40 AM Page 11
Upcoming Events
39
Calendar of Upcoming Events December 1-3, 2010
GLoCALL 2010, "Globalization and Localization in Computer-Assisted Language Learning," Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Email: programs@glocall.org Website: http://glocall.org/ember
December 3-4, 2010
The 11th Annual EgypTESOL Conference, “Best Practice in TEFL,” Cairo, Egypt. Email: mariamghazala@mac.com Website: http://www.egyptesol.org/
December 4, 2010
Applied Linguistics, Association of Korea (ALAK) International Conference, "Interdisciplinarity in Applied Linguistics," Korea University, Seoul, Korea. Email: alaksecretary@gmail.com Website: http://www.alak.or.kr
December 4, 2010
Sharjah Chapter Event, Sharjah, UAE. Email: monaelsamaty@gmail.com
December 6, 2010
8th National Annual Teacher Education Conference 2010. “Focus on Learners: Effective Strategies for the Student-centred Classroom.” Dubai Women’s College, Dubai, UAE. Website: http://www.dwc.hct.ac.ae/dwcweb/hct_edu_conference_2010.php
December 11, 2010
RAK Chapter & Leadership & Management SIG Joint Event, Ras Al Khaimah Men’s College, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE. Email: anna.bailey@hct.ac.ae Western Region Chapter Event. Email: amelki22@yahoo.com Abu Dhabi Chapter, Language, Literature, and Language Arts SIG, & Ed Tech SIG Event. Email: edtechsig@gmail.com or tarabialit@gmail.com READ SIG & Dubai Chapter Event, Dubai, UAE. UAE. Email: rehabrajab@yahoo.com
December 15, 2010
Al Ain Chapter Event, Al Ain, UAE. Email: mmouhanna@gmail.com
January 8, 2011
EdTech SIG & Al Ain Chapter Event, Al Ain, UAE. Email: edtechsig@gmail.com
January 22, 2011
Western Region Chapter Event. Email: amelki22@yahoo.com
January 22-24, 2011
IATEFL YLT and TTEd Sigs supporting ELTAI, EFL-U (India), “Starting, Stimulating and Sustaining English Language Teacher Education and Development,” Hyderabad, India. Email: arnoldworld@gmail.com or sam.prasanthkumar@in.britishcouncil.org Website: http://www.britishcouncil.org/india-english-teachersandtrainers-development.htm www.yltsig.com and http://ttedsig.iatefl.org/
January 29, 2011
READ SIG & Sharjah Chapter Event. Email: readingchampionsuae@yahoo.co.uk
February 12, 2011
RAK Chapter & Young Learners SIG Joint Event, Ras Al Khaimah Men’s College, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE. Email: tarabiayl@gmail.com
March 6-7, 2011
The 3rd Conference on “Linguistics in the Gulf ” by the Department of English Literature and Linguistics in the College of Arts and Sciences at Qatar University. Website: http://www.qu.edu.qa/artssciences/english/lingconference/third/submission.php
March 10-12, 2011
The 17th Annual TESOL Arabia Conference, “Rethinking English Language Teaching: Attitudes, Approaches and Perspectives," JW Marriott, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. E-mail: sabu-rmaileh@uaeu.ac.ae
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Networking_reviews 11/20/10 10:38 AM Page 1
Networking
40
ALAA Conference Brisbane, Australia
Hala El Miniawi English teacher/ Ministry of Education Sharjah, UAE
AbdulHadi Brenjekjy BA student Canadian University of Dubai
The Annual Conference of the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia, held this year at the University of Queensland on July 4-7, is considered one of the largest conferences in the world in terms of presentations, workshops and the 210 presenters coming from the East and West to share their best practices in the field of linguistics and language teaching.
program to be carried out in the UAE giving ESL teachers training on the use of Web 2.0.
Entitled “Future Directions in Applied Linguistics: Local and Global Perspectives,” the conference attracted a wide audience from both around the region and further afield. The University of Queensland, one of the most reputed universities in the world, was quite big, full of spacious gardens and playgrounds. At Abel Smith Lecture Theatre, we attended Professor Martin Bygate’s talk on "The Dynamics of Classroom Tasks.”
Hala El Miniawi poses at the University of Queensland in Brisbane.
On Tuesday we presented our paper on grammar, “Is Grammar Taught or Acquired? Can IT Help?" of which the main concern was to relate teaching grammar to the other skills, trying to answer many important questions on language acquisition, independent autonomous learning and implementation of technology in teaching. The presentation consisted of two parts: the theoretical aspect which provided different definitions of grammar which might carry more than one meaning, followed by the way in which words relate, or rather the rules that determine the construction of a sentence in terms of surface and deep structure from sentence level to paragraph.
In the following days, we attended many great linguistics presentations. Professor Michael Walsh talked about “Future Directions for Australian Indigenous Languages,” and Professor Susan Gass discussed “Issues of Quality in SLA.” One of the most important topics was presented by Dr Christina Gitsaki on “Web 2.0 Tools: Is There a Place for Them in the ESL Classroom?” She pointed out that effective teaching can still happen without the use of Web 2.0 tools (social networking, blogs, wikis, online collaborative tools, media manipulation and distribution tools, etc.), yet there is a gap between the way students are taught at schools and the way young people in real life socialize, communicate and learn. Dr Gitsaki mentioned some of the obstacles that teachers encounter when trying such updated techniques, and suggested a PD Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
The practical part of the presentation introduced deep analysis of a survey applied on a sample of 100 native and nonnative speakers of English, investigating their opinions on different aspects of teaching grammar, its validity, ways of teaching and
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Networking_reviews 11/20/10 10:38 AM Page 2
Networking
41
the new possible options that technology may provide for teachers and learners as well.
developed a kind of familiarity with the place and people. Frankly speaking, the conference organizers were quite successful in providing a rewarding experience for all the attendees, particularly those coming from overseas.
The conference lasted four days, providing a variety of sessions covering different categories ranging from sociolinguistics, multilingualism to writing assessment, vocabulary and grammar.
Hala El Miniawi is the recipient of a TESOL Arabia Travel Grant, 2009-2010.
The closing ceremony was touching, as we had
The 3rd International ELT Conference Northern Cyprus to use linguistic tags when teaching. His research also showed that words were learned in ten encounters, showing how modern corpora brought whole contexts to the user. Disappointingly, with the wealth of computer-generated data, the on-line student practice seemed to focus on “fill in the blank” sentences.
Graeme Tennent UAE University Al Ain, UAE
The conference theme, “Telling ELT Tales Out of School,” was broad and inspirational and many of the presentations – including my own - took this on board reflecting how narratives were used effectively. Young learners were also catered for. Angi Malderez of Leeds University, UK, illustrated this in her presentation “Stories in ELT” where she told us of the motivational aspects of story-telling in an informative and well-supported session.
Telling ELT Tales Out of School The 3rd International ELT Conference was held by the Eastern Mediterranean University in Famagusta, Northern Cyprus from May 5-7 at the Hotel Salamis near the ruins of Ancient Salamis. The first plenary was given by Leo Van Lier of the Monterey Institute of International Studies. His talk, “The Ecology of Language Learning: Practice to Theory and Theory to Practice,” started with a couple of quotations: “Theory is grey if not connected to life” (Goethe) and “There is nothing as practical as a good theory.” He outlined the multitude of factors which influence language acquisition (his eco concepts) stating they should not be viewed in isolation but as part of an interconnected eco-system. As usual with plenaries, it was an overview, but he illustrated it well with a variety of examples of how these boundaries were broken in good practice including a striking one from a French film set in a school in the banlieues of Paris, Entre les Murs.
New Zealander Scott Thornbury used the conference theme well in his talk of his grandfather’s experiences as a teacher. He integrated the ideas of Paulo Friere and others in his journey of discovery about the teaching career of his grandfather. It was touching and wellmeasured. He seemed to have done the talk before, as he turned it into a very effective performance. There was much that was good in the conference thanks to an interesting and stimulating theme which gave a lot of scope to presenters. The organisers entertained us with trips to Old Famagusta and Ancient Salamis. In the first there was the eerie emptiness of the deserted Greek quarter which rested within the great city walls, and, in the latter, the remains of the stout defences against the Persians, then the Turks, and finally the Crusaders.
Another plenary session was “Instructional Use of Linguistic and Cognitive Technologies” by Tom Cobb. Although it was a bit "techie," he tried to relate current research to practice, revealing the amazing progress of concordancy research in its brief existence. He added a salient point, saying that there was no need Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
My thanks to TESOL Arabia for helping fund my attendance at the conference. Graeme Tennent is the recipient of a TESOL Arabia Travel Grant, 2009-2010.
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Tesol Arabia News_reviews 11/20/10 10:39 AM Page 1
TESOL Arabia News
42
TESOL Arabia Research Grant Guidelines 1. Overview
3. Eligibility
TESOL Arabia provides limited financial support to fund small-scale research projects conducted by active TESOL Arabia members who are engaged in research on issues and concerns pertinent to the TESOL Arabia membership. The goal of these grants is to generate new knowledge about English teaching and learning in the Arabian Gulf. The grant is administered by the TESOL Arabia Research Grant Committee which is composed of the Publications Coordinator, who acts as the Committee Chair, the Vice-President, the Proposals Chair, and three ordinary members of TESOL Arabia in good standing appointed at the discretion of the Chair. This Committee will field all applications, but reserves the right to send a proposal out for external review.
All current members of TESOL Arabia who have been members of TESOL Arabia for at least one full calendar year are eligible to apply for funding. Current members of TESOL Arabia who have been members for less than one full calendar year are not eligible to apply for funding. Members may apply jointly or as individuals.
4. Applying for a Research Grant i.
Applicants are requested to submit an application in full, following the format below. This should be sent to the Chair of the TARG Committee.
ii.
Research Grant Proposal Format:
2. Current Limitations and Constraints Given funding limitations, the following constraints are necessary: i. Financial support available through the TAR Grant will in many cases be modest and partial in terms of the full costs of the proposed activity. TESOL Arabia expects that the applicants will apply for other funding and use some of their own resources. This enables the allocated resources to benefit more members.
ii. There is no absolute entitlement to available funds in any given year, and when the funds are depleted, no further applications will be accepted. iii. Applicants may only be funded for one TAR Grant per budget year. The budget year runs from October 1-September 30.
iv.. No TAR Grant shall exceed 5000 AED per year.
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
A cover page, which includes: Title of project Name/s and affiliation/s of applicant/s Email, phone, fax and mailing address of applicant/s Project summary (200 to 250 words) Detailed proposal (5 pages maximum), which includes: Statement of the research issue or problem Brief theoretical background Research methodology Timetable Plans for dissemination of results (names of journals, conferences, etc.) Select bibliography (2 pages maximum; not included in 5 page limit) Researcher bio(s) Detailed budget and rationale for all items (2 pages maximum) Allowable expenses: personnel, transportation, communication, supplies, etc.)
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Tesol Arabia News_reviews 11/20/10 10:39 AM Page 2
TESOL Arabia News
ii.
Unallowable expenses: equipment (i.e., laptop, software), travel to conferences Applicants must supply information about all other funds they are receiving as well as report previous TESOL Arabia grants received. Applicants must state their TESOL Arabia membership number, and describe their service to TESOL Arabia. Current curriculum vitae All of the above should be pasted into one document and sent as an e-mail attachment to the Publications Coordinator. Applications should only be submitted in the budget year in which the research will be conducted. The budget year runs from October 1-September 30. Incomplete documentation will not be considered. The deadline for applications is January 1, 2011.
iii.
iv.
v. vi.
iii.
iv. v. vi.
43
Preference is given to projects that have clear and direct implications for policy and decision makers involving English language teaching, learning and assessment practices in the Arabian Gulf. Whether the applicant/s has/have previously received money from TESOL Arabia in the form of a PDC Grant, a Travel Grant (In) or a Travel Grant (Out) The applicant's/sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; service to TESOL Arabia Preference is given to projects that can be completed in less than one year. TA reserves the right not to grant funds based on the quantity and quality of proposals received.
In all cases, decisions made by the Committee are final and no correspondence regarding decisions reached will be entered into.
6. Responsibilities of the Grantee/s Grantees will have to i. Submit six month progress reports to the TARG Committee Chair In the 2009-2010 academic year, TESOL Arabia awarded the following Research Grants:
5. Criteria for Awarding the Research Grant Funding is evaluated and awards granted based on the following factors: i. The relevance of the research for which money is requested to TESOL Arabia
AbdulBasset Jeddi Muhammad Abdel Latif Josephine Kennedy and Melanie Gobert
The TESOL Arabia Professional Development Course Grant Sandra Oddy, Member-at-Large
TESOL Arabia believes that learning is a continuous and never-ending process. It is something we, as professionals, should engage in throughout our lives. To help our members realise this goal, TESOL Arabia has a Professional Development (PD) Course Grant so that members in good standing can receive some financial help with courses of study they wish to follow. Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Courses come in various shapes and forms. They include, for example, studying for a masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s or doctorate degree over a period of several years, or attending TESOL Arabia Pre-Conference Professional Development courses which happen in just one day. No matter how short or long your course is, you may be eligible for a TESOL Arabia PD Course Grant to help you pay for it!
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Tesol Arabia News_reviews 11/20/10 10:39 AM Page 3
TESOL Arabia News
44
TESOL Arabia looks at various elements when considering PD Course Grants. One of the most important factors is the applicant’s service to the organisation. In other words, what have you as a member contributed to TESOL Arabia? The more service a member has given to TESOL Arabia, the better the chance of the application being successful.
v.
vi.
So what kind of things can you do to “serve” TESOL Arabia? Well, how about these examples: i.
ii. iii.
iv.
This is by no means an exhaustive list and I am certain that you will be able to think of many more creative ways of helping our organisation.
Doing a presentation/workshop for your local Chapter or SIG. If you are willing to do this, get in touch with your Area or SIG Rep to discuss matters. Presenting at the Annual International TESOL Arabia Conference. Becoming a reviewer of the books we are sent for review in Perspectives. If you are interested in this, contact Melanie Gobert and Rebecca Woll, our Perspectives editors for more information. Writing a feature article for Perspectives. If you are studying for an MA, this might fit in very well with the modules you are studying for that. Again, contact the Perspectives editors for more detailed information.
Offering to become part of the Chapter committee, or if not the committee, a volunteer to help with such things as publicising events, contacting people, setting up venues, writing or organising the Chapter newsletter, and/or writing reports of Chapter events for the website. Volunteering to help with the TESOL Arabia book drive for your area. Again contact details are on the website.
In the 2009-2010 academic year, TESOL Arabia awarded one PD Course Grant: David Litz received AED 1,000 for the course “Adult Education and Global Issues.” Congratulations to our grant recipient! If you would like to apply for a TESOL Arabia PD Course Grant, nothing could be simpler. Just go to the TESOL Arabia website at http://tesolarabia.org and fill in the application form on-line.
BOOK NOW FOR TESOL ARABIA’S 2011: Pre-Conference Professional Development Courses Action Research in TESOL - Presented by Ann Burns & Ali Shehadeh Technology in the Field of TESOL - Presented by Chris Stryker, Dimitri Hadji & John Jennette Certificate Courses Teacher Effectiveness and Leadership Increasing Professionalism Through Personal and Professional Development
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Tesol Arabia News_reviews 11/20/10 10:39 AM Page 4
TESOL Arabia News
45
TESOL ARABIA CONFERENCE 2011 TRAVEL GRANT GUIDELINES Overview
Applying for a TESOL Arabia Conference Travel Grant (In)
The Annual TESOL Arabia International Conference provides limited financial support to help individual eligible TESOL Arabia members attend the Annual International Conference in the UAE. The grant is administered by the Travel Grant (In) Committee which is composed of the Conference Chair, who acts as the Committee Chair, the Proposals Chair, and three ordinary members of TESOL Arabia in good standing appointed at the discretion of the Chair. This Committee will field all applications.
Applicants are requested to complete the online application in full. This will automatically be sent to the Chair of the Travel Grant (In) Committee when it is submitted. The deadline for applications is January 15 for that year’s conference.
Criteria for Awarding the TESOL Arabia Conference Travel Grant (In) Funding is evaluated and awards made based on the following criteria:
Current Limitations and Constraints Given funding limitations, the following constraints are necessary:
i.
the rating given the applicant’s proposal by the Proposals Committee ii. the applicant’s number of years of membership in TESOL Arabia iii. whether the applicant has previously received money from TESOL Arabia in the form of a PDC Grant, a Travel Grant (In) or a Travel Grant (Out).
Financial support available through the Travel Grant (In) is currently a flat AED 1,000. TESOL Arabia expects that the applicants will apply for other funds and use some of their own resources. This enables the allocated resources to benefit more members. There is no absolute entitlement to money in any given year and when the funds are depleted no further applications will be accepted.
In all cases, decisions made by the Committee are final and no correspondence regarding decisions reached will be entered into.
Eligibility
Payment of the Grant All grants will be paid in AED dirhams, at the conference.
All current members of TESOL Arabia residing outside the UAE who have had a paper accepted for the Annual International Conference are eligible to apply for funding.
Responsibilities of the Grantee Before the payment of the Travel Grant (In) can be made, the following condition must be met. The grantee must have: Submitted receipts to the value of AED 1,000.
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
SIG_reviews 11/20/10 10:41 AM Page 1
46
Special Interest Group Reports
A Busy Summer for the TESOL Arabia Testing SIG Christine Coombe & Peter Davidson When most of the TESOL Arabia activities were winding down for the summer, co-chairs of the TESOL Arabia Testing, Assessment and Evaluation SIG (TAE SIG) embarked on a circuit of “Fundamentals of Language Assessment Conferences” in South and Central America.
The TOEFL Board Grant, received for the fourth year in a row, funds airfare for assessment trainers to conduct basic level assessment training in developing countries. Host institutions typically cover the costs of hotel accommodation and food for the trainers. Many thanks to our FLA partners, Anthony Acevado (Peru), Leonardo Mercado (Peru), Silvio Avendaño (El Salvador), and Arturo Munoz (Costa Rica) who worked very hard to ensure the success of these events.
Thanks to a TOEFL Board Grant, FLA Conferences were held in Peru, El Salvador and Costa Rica in August 2010. Eighty English language teachers came together for two days of assessment training at the Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano on August 2-3, 2010. From Lima, trainers Christine Coombe, Peter Davidson and Nancy Hubley took a short break to Machu Picchu before heading off to San Salvador. On August 9-10, Christine and Nancy were joined by Neil Anderson for another two-day FLA event which brought together 95 El Salvadorian teachers from all over the country and included participants from five surrounding countries. The event in El Salvador was hosted by the Instituto Especializado de Nivel Superior Centro Cultural Salvadoreño Americano in San Salvador. The third FLA was conducted in San Jose, Costa Rica on August 12-13 and was hosted by the Centro Cultural Costarricense-Norteamericano. Attendance at this event was very good with over 70 teachers and students taking home certificates for the two-day assessment training workshops.
It’s not “all work and no play” for the TAE SIG co-chairs in Peru.
As is always the case, FLAs are a great networking opportunity. The TAE SIG has already received invitations to host similar events in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Georgia and Ukraine. The next overseas FLA is currently being planned for the Dominican Republic and Haiti. In the UAE, we have a busy schedule ahead for this academic year. We conducted events in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi in October 2010 and organized the 14th Annual CTELT Conference in November 2010. On February 26, 2011 a major FLA will be held in the Western Zone. See the TESOL Arabia website for more details and a full calendar of our events.
There were over 70 enthusiastic teachers and students at the FLA in Costa Rica - here are just a few of them. Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
SIG_reviews 11/20/10 10:41 AM Page 2
Special Interest Group Reports
47
Learner Independence SIG Report Darcy Harris The LI SIG is looking for articles on learner independence to go in our newsletter. The newsletter will be circulated at TESOL Arabia Conference (TACON) 2011. This is a fabulous opportunity to share your views, opinions, practical tips and research with people from all over the world. If you are interested in contributing, please email me directly at dharris1@hct.ac.ae. We would like all submissions no later than January 15, 2011. Don’t forget, we also publish articles on our website.
The LI SIG would like to start this report by thanking Phil Cozens for all of his efforts as LI SIG Coordinator. Phil has worked diligently for a number of years to coordinate events which have promoted technology and learner autonomy. Despite having moved to Macáu, Phil has graciously agreed to continue being the LI SIG Webmaster. The LI SIG Committee for 2010-2011 will be Amr El Zarka, Darcy Harris, Patricia Valiant and Virginia Robson. We look forward to working with you this year and hope that you will continue to participate on the Independent Learning Forum, http://groups.google.com/group/ilearn2 and the Distance Learning Support group, http://groups.google.com/group/distancelearningissues. The LI SIG also hosts a Distance Learning Wiki, a Study Skills Wiki, a Moodle Site, and a Facebook group. For more information on how to join these sites, please visit our Website: http://ilearn.20m.com. You may also email your ideas, thoughts, comments and suggestions at tailearn@yahoo.com. If you are reading this, and you are not a member of the LI SIG, we’d love for you to join us. Just drop us an email and we will get you on the list.
This year the LI SIG is pleased to announce that our guest speaker at TACON will be Hayo Reinders. Hayo is the author of the book Beyond the Language Classroom, as well as numerous articles including “Key Concepts in Second Language Acquisition,” “The Effects of Task Type and Instructions on Second Language Acquisition” and “Implicit and Explicit Knowledge in a Second Language.” To learn more about Hayo visit his website at: http://innovationinteaching.org/books/. On behalf of Amr, Patricia, Phil, Virginia and myself Virginia and myself, we wish everyone a great year and we look forward to seeing you soon!
This year we have many exciting events in the works, the first of which was the LI SIG/Fujarah TA Chapter event entitled “Practical Tips and Tactile Learning,” held on October 23 at the Higher Colleges of Technology Fujarah Women’s College. On November 27, the LI SIG will hold a joint meeting with the Ras Al Khaimah TA Chapter: “Your Own Self Access Corner.” This event is a must for anyone who may be considering a selfaccess corner whether it be for an entire institution or for your own classroom. There will be practical tips and activities, along with a tour of the Independent Learning Center at the Ras Al Khaimah Men’s College. In January/February, we are hoping to offer an event in Ajman aimed at Madras Al Ghad (MAG) teachers. Watch this space for more information as this, and other, exciting opportunities unfold!
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Contact LI SIG at: Independent Learning Forum: http://groups.google.com/group/ilearn2 Distance Learning Support: http://groups.google.com/group/distancelearningissues Distance Learning Wiki: http://tailearn.pbworks.com/ Study Skills Wiki: http://ilearnstudyskills.pbworks.com/ E-newsletter: http://ilearn.20m.com/newsletter/index.htm Moodle: http://learnerindependence.info Facebook Group: Learner Autonomy and iLearn
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
SIG_reviews 11/20/10 10:41 AM Page 3
48
Special Interest Group Reports
Young Learner SIG Report Fiodhna Hyland-Gardiner
The Young Learners SIG has attracted new leaders this year who hope to revitalize this group and extend its influence among primary and secondary teachers of English across the Middle East. Fiodhna Gardiner-Hyland, an educational consultant based in Abu Dhabi, will chair the group for the coming year. She is being supported by Susan Herford, Chris Morrow and Pansy Walker from Al Ain, and Sayed Ahmed from Ajman. They have launched a new website for the SIG at www.yl-sig.com, which they hope will become a focal point for sharing news, contextualized resources and teaching strategies for teachers in the Arab world. Since this SIG covers both primary and secondary education, they plan to coordinate events with other TESOL Arabia SIGs that also focus on those students. Furthermore, they hope to take advantage of the experience of external organizations such as IATEFL as they develop training opportunities and resources.
teaching English in the region today, and the Young Learners SIG would like to become a vehicle for building bridges and raising standards among them. As the first developing community of practice for Young learners in a Middle Eastern context, the SIG leaders would like the new website to foster such collaboration by means of regular discussion forums and surveys, along with developing a repository of contextualized resources for teachers of young learners in the Arab world. Please visit us periodically at www.yl-sig.com to keep up-to-date with our SIG events and help us build a community of practice that is unique to this part of the world. You can contribute to a discussion forum, upload a contextualized teaching resource or offer to present a workshop on how to help teachers deal with young learners in the Arab world. We welcome your suggestions on how to develop this SIG further and we will be conducting an online survey of member needs in the near future. You can also contact us at tarabiayl@gmail.com. Take part in our exciting new venture!
Fiodhna and her colleagues believe that this SIG has huge potential for growth, considering the expanded emphasis being placed on English language education in primary and secondary schools across the Arab world. For starters, they have planned three workshops to be held around the UAE in the coming months, each focusing on a different aspect of developing young EFL learners. The first has been arranged in conjunction with the READ SIG and it will be held in Abu Dhabi on November 25. The theme of this event is “Creating a Reading Culture in the UAE Young Learner Classroom.” The second workshop is planned for Ras Al Khaimah on February 12, and it will address the theme of “Making Speaking and Listening Fun in the EFL Young Learner Classroom.” A third workshop is planned for Dubai in May, 2011 and will focus on “Guided, Shared and Independent Writing for the EFL Young Learner Classroom.”
The Young Learners SIG has launched a new website at www.yl-sig.com! The website offers useful links, teaching resources, a discussion forum, and much, much more...
An increasingly diverse body of teachers and organizations in public and private schools are
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
SIG_reviews 11/20/10 10:41 AM Page 4
Special Interest Group Reports
49
LLLA SIG Report Hala El Miniawi
As drops of dew might wet flowers and leaves in early mornings, words of literature enlighten human hearts with hope, inspiration and deliver the essence of human experience.
process of providing new ideas for ESL & EFL teachers and educators in the field. Taking advantage of the power of words in changing the attitudes of learners towards a more positive perspective of learning in general and literature in particular.
3.
But how does literature apply to EFL & ESL teaching?
As a new team, the Literature, Literacy and Language Arts (LLLA) SIG has many objectives which can be found on the TESOL Arabia site SIG page. We hope to welcome our members and await their contributions either by attending conferences, presenting workshops, papers or by any other means that would help fulfill the aims of the SIG and the expectations of its members.
In-depth story-telling, literary analysis of great pieces of writing, poetry appreciation along with the Fine Arts that exploit the senses and link animation to teaching, have created the urge for a LIT SIG that would address members of TESOL Arabia aiming at obtaining the following objectives: 1.
2.
Providing a variety of options for workshops, presentations, publications and joint events that would bring together the different SIGs to a common ground of mutual interests. Indulging the different domains of reading, technology and independent learning in the
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Our new leadership team is Hala El Miniawi, Team Leader, Dr Wessam Fathy, Treasurer, Negmeldin Alsheikh, Administrator, and Iman Mansour, Webmaster. Please email us at tarabialit@gmail.com or visit our forum at http://groups.google.com/group/tarabialit.
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
SIG_reviews 11/20/10 10:41 AM Page 5
Special Interest Group
50
TESOL Arabia Special Interest Groups ESP SIG Phone: 02 644 0339 Email: esptesolarabia@gmail.com
Saad Rabia Chair
Fathi Bin Mohamed Co-Chair
Christine Coombe Co-Chair
Phil Quirke Co-Chair
Virginia Robson
Amr El Zarka
Najaat Saadi Hezber Co-Chair
Sandra Zaher Co-Chair
Darcy Harris
Patricia Valiant
Leadership & Management SIG Phone: 050 619 4796 Email: christine.coombe@hct.ac.ae Phone: 050 813 3148 Email: pquirke@hct.ac.ae
Learner Independence SIG Email: tailearn@yahoo.com Website: http://ilearn.20m.com
Testing, Assessment, and Evaluation SIG
Young Learners SIG
Phone: 050 619 4796 Email: christine.coombe@hct.ac.ae
Phone: 050 322 0697 Email: tarabiayl@gmail.com Website: www.yl-sig.com
Phone: 050 843 8782 Email: peter.davidson@zu.ac.ae Christine Coombe Co-Chair
Peter Davidson Co-Chair
Dr Fiodhna Gardiner-Hyland Chair
Ed Tech SIG Email: edtechsig@gmail.com Website: http://taedtech.ning.com edtecharabia.twitter.com #taedtech James Buckingham
Cindy Gunn
Clair Hattle
Literature, Literacy, and Language Arts SIG
READ SIG
Phone: 050 527 7685 Email: tarabialit@gmail.com
Phone: 050 681 9936 Email: readingchampionsuae@yahoo.co.uk
Hala El Muniawai Teamleader
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Vance Stephens
Tom Le Seeleur Chair
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Chapter Reports_reviews 11/20/10 10:28 AM Page 1
Chapter Reports
51
Dubai Chapter Report Rehab Rejab
Dubai Chapter team would like to welcome all the members to the academic year 2010-2011 and wish everyone a great year full of success.
Subscribe to our blog at http://dubaichapter.edublogs.org/ to receive all our news updates and to get information on sessions, presenters and locations of upcoming events automatically into your mailbox.
We would like to thank all the presenters that volunteered to share their ideas and expertise with more than 100 members in six events that took place in the 2009-2010 academic year. Special thanks also go to the ESP, Testing and READ SIGs for organizing joint events with Dubai Chapter last year.
If you wish to present for Dubai Chapter, please fill out the presenter form at http://goo.gl/b7pK or contact us directly at dubaichapter@gmail.com. I would like to thank the Dubai Chapter team, Dima AL Nsour, Dubai Chapter Secretary, and Kristina Rajic, Dubai Chapter Treasurer, for their efforts and support in organizing all the events.
We look forward to meeting you at our upcoming events. We have a busy calendar with six events planned for 2010-2011, five of which will be organized jointly with the EdTech, READ, YL, Testing and LI SIGs. Please check our calendar online at http://dubaichapter.edublogs.org/calendar/. Your ideas, feedback and suggestions are always welcome. Please share them with us and tell us about your PD needs by visiting the Dubai Chapter suggestion box at http://goo.gl/eeek. Your contributions to our plans are very important.
Mahjabeen Zaheer at her presentation, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Revising with Evaluation Tools.â&#x20AC;?
Have you attended an interesting conference lately? Submit a review!
Contact
perspectives@tesolarabia.org
Beth Wiens presenting on Standardized Exams.
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Chapter Reports_reviews 11/20/10 10:28 AM Page 2
Chapter Reports
52
Eastern Region Chapter Report Yurii Vedrashko
This academic year, TESOL Arabia’s Eastern Region Chapter (ERC) would like to focus its PD events on academic data gathering practices with online monitoring facilities, along with practical and effective ways of achieving the normal distribution of course grades. The themes of PD events will include the relevance and effectiveness of instructional materials, efficient modes of delivering them to students and test validity. We are planning on having regular discussions of different educational technologies for monitoring collective and individual learning processes beyond normal contact hours, automated marking functions, and student profiling.
Higher Colleges of Technology (Fujairah Men’s and Women’s Colleges). Last year, participants of PD events enjoyed HCT’s high-tech facilities and warm receptions. This year, Fujairah Women’s College welcomes participants into its recently extended classroom space, fitted with cutting-edge SMART Boards. The management team of the ERC calls for datadriven presentation proposals from material writers, course designers, classroom practitioners, program chairs and policy makers. We hope that our PD conferences will be the venue for solutions to problems in the areas of effective learning management, educational tracking methods, student profiling and action research in ways of achieving normal distribution of course grades.
By positioning online monitoring facilities for academic data gathering as the strategic direction for PD activities, ERC intends to contribute to current collective understanding of quality in public education. The desired outcomes of such focused collaborative effort can be the emergence and dissemination of realistic and quantifiable PD standards in the public educational system of the UAE.
Apart from its regular PD events, the ERC would like to offer faculty members at different educational institutions free training in designing and managing online courses with Moodle and Blackboard Vista. Faculty will have an opportunity to master online facilities for collective online learning, dynamic (adaptive) instructional materials design, instant-marking assessment, and their monitoring capacities.
With great appreciation, the ERC team of TESOL Arabia presents the host of its PD events: the
Interested in doing research? Need funding? Apply now for a TESOL Arabia Research Grant. Details available at: http://www.tesolarabia.org/grants/Research_Grant_Guidelines_2009.pdf
Contact Mashael Al-Hamly at mashael2@hotmail.com.
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Chapter Reports_reviews 11/20/10 10:28 AM Page 3
Chapter Reports
53
RAK Chapter Report Christine Jones
Ras Al Khaimah Chapter started the year with a bang with the first event of the year on October 2, hosted at Ras Al Khaimah Men’s College, “Ways in, Ways out: Tasks to Use with Graded Readers.” This was a joint event with the READ SIG. Presenters at this event included Robert Hill, who was sponsored by the British Council, and Tom Le Seelleur. The event opened with registration, refreshments, networking and a visit from the membership secretary for the renewal of memberships. It continued with entertaining demonstrations and suggestions on materials introduction and use in the classroom. This was followed up by motivating and creative suggestions for speaking and writing as afterreading tasks. This was rounded off by suggestions for dealing with young learners. Participants commented on the usefulness of the suggestions from young learners up to higher levels. Finally, awards were given at the end of the event. Awards included several graded readers and textbooks.
We would like to invite both members and firsttimers to join us at these chapter events. If you would like to present an idea, lead a workshop, or facilitate a discussion at one of our events, please let us know. We would also like to encourage members to contribute to the RAK Chapter Report newsletter, which continues to grow in size and readership every year. If you are interested in more information, please contact the RAK Chapter representative Anna Bailey at anna.bailey@hct.ac.ae. Thanks to all of the participants; it was a fantastic event and has set a great tone for the coming year. We look forward to seeing you at our next event. Note from the Co-Editors: In the previous issue, June 2010, Volume 17, No 2, the captions for two photos were accidentally swapped. To rectify this mistake, we are publishing the photos again with the correct captions. Please accept our apologies.
We would like to express our gratitude to Black Cat Publishers and the British Council for their sponsorship of this event. Thanks also go to the READ SIG for their continued contributions to raising awareness of the need to read and their joint hosting of this fine event.
Ali Al Maskari at his popular presentation on learning outcomes.
Prizes were given to lucky winners by Robert Hill and Karen Ryan from the British Council.
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
Jeff Knowling introducing Audacity software.
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Chapter Reports_reviews 11/20/10 10:28 AM Page 4
Chapter Represenatives
54
TESOL Arabia Chapter Representatives Abu Dhabi Representative Ahmed Saadawi IAT PreCORE Program General Equivalency Diploma (GED) Program Institute for Community Engagement (ICE) Zayed University P.O. Box 4783, Abu Dhabi, UAE 050 771-7255 (mobile) a_saadawi@yahoo.com
Al Ain Representative Mouhamad Mouhanna UGRU United Arab Emirates University P.O Box 17172, Al Ain United Arab Emirates 055 959-2547 (mobile) mmouhanna@gmail.com
Sharjah Representative Mona El Samaty University of Sharjah College of Arts English Department P. O. Box 27272, Sharjah, UAE 06 505 3349 (office) monaelsamaty@gmail.com
Dubai Representative Rehab Rejab Institute of Applied Technology PO Box 124354 Dubai, United Arab Emirates 050 637 5957 (mobile) rehabrajab@yahoo.com
RAK Representative Anna Bailey Ras Al Khaimah Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s College Higher Colleges of Technology PO Box 4792, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE 07 202 5230 (office) anna.bailey@hct.ac.ae, rakrep@yahoo.co.uk
Eastern Region Representative Yurii Vedrashko Fujairah Women's College Higher Colleges of Technology PO Box 1626, Fujairah,UAE 050 193 9805 (mobile) yvedrashko@hct.ac.ae
Western Region Representative Mohammad Azaza Zayed Al-Khair Model School PO Box 57657, Zayed Town, UAE 02 884 4453 (office), 02 884 4478 (fax ), 050 780 3988 (mobile) amelki22@yahoo.com
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Chapter Reports_reviews 11/20/10 10:28 AM Page 5
Guidelines for Contributors
55
Guidelines for Contributors Perspectives. Please contact Dr Cindy Gunn, the Reviews Editor, at cgunn@aus.edu.
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.
Emerging Technologies This section will document short articles of about 5001000 words that provide overviews of educational technologies, their utilities and incorporation into practice. This could include software, hardware, and web-based resources.
Networking This section will feature conference and country reports. Reports will range between 250-1000 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. Country reports can provide a glimpse of professional activities, concerns and projects in the Photos with captions must accompany the submission.
Submission Categories & Guidelines Feature Articles Features should generally be between 2000-3000 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:
Reader’s Response Reader’s Response gives the readers a forum to respond to articles published in previous issues. Responses should focus on the content of an article and provide reasoned feedback. Responses should be between 500 – 1000 words.
Lesson Ideas Do you have a great lesson idea or an activity that others should know about? Lesson Ideas offers teachers the opportunity to share their activities in context. Submissions should be between 500-1000 words and detail the activity as well as provide a context for usage.
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.
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.
Reviews
Send your submissions to:
Reviews should evaluate any recent textbook, resource book, CD/DVD and audio or video title. 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
Melanie Gobert & Rebecca Woll TESOL Arabia Perspectives Co-editors Melanie.gobert@hct.ac.ae Rebecca.woll@hct.ac.ae
TESOL Arabia Perspectives is published three times a year: November, January and June
Deadline for next issues: November 15, 2010 and March 30, 2011 Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org
Chapter Reports_reviews 11/20/10 10:28 AM Page 6
Executive Council
56
TESOL Arabia Executive Council President
Past President
Sufian Abu Rmaileh UAE University - UGRU PO Box 17172 Al Ain, UAE 03 706 4562 (res) 050 713 1803 (mobile) sabu-rmaileh@uaeu.ac.ae
Josephine “Jo” Kennedy Abu Dhabi Men's College (HCT) PO Box 25035 Abu Dhabi, UAE 02 404 8312 (office), 02 681 0026 (res) 050 317 7062 (mobile) josephine.kennedy@hct.ac.ae
Executive Secretary
Executive Treasurer
James McDonald Academic Bridge Program Zayed University Dubai, UAE 04 402 1371 (office) james.mcdonald@zu.ac.ae
Deborah Wilson American University of Sharjah PO Box 26666 Sharjah, UAE 06 515 2644 (office) deborahewilson@gmail.com
Membership Secretary / Vice President
Conference Treasurer
Les Kirkham c/o Al Ain Women’s College Higher College of Technology PO Box 17258, Al Ain, UAE leskirkham@gmail.com
Beth Wiens Zayed University PO Box 19282, Dubai, UAE 04 402 1350 (office) 04 402 1003 (fax) 050 4620566 (mobile) beth.wiens@zu.ac.ae
Conference Co-Chair
Member at Large
Sufian Abu Rmaileh UAE University - UGRU PO Box 17172 Al Ain, UAE 03 706 4562 (res) 050 713 1803 (mobile) sabu-rmaileh@uaeu.ac.ae
Sandra Oddy Al Ain Women's College Higher Colleges of Technology P.O. Box 17258 Al Ain, UAE 03 709 5319 (office) Sandra.Oddy@hct.ac.ae
Co-Editors - Perspectives Rebecca Woll Abu Dhabi Men's College Higher Colleges of Technology P.O. Box 25035 Abu Dhabi, UAE rwoll@hct.ac.ae
Melanie Gobert Abu Dhabi Men's College-CERT Higher Colleges of Technology P.O. Box 25035 Abu Dhabi, UAE mgobert@hct.ac.ae
SIG Coordinator
Conference Proceedings Editor / Conference Co-Chair
Heather Maria Baba Abu Dhabi Men's College Higher Colleges of Technology P.O. Box 25035 Abu Dhabi, UAE tasigscoord@yahoo.co.uk
Mashael Al-Hamly Dept. of English Language and Literature Faculty of Arts Kuwait University Kuwait mashael2@hotmail.com
Publications Coordinator
Web Master
Mashael Al-Hamly Dept. of English Language and Literature Faculty of Arts Kuwait University Kuwait mashael2@hotmail.com
Ismail Fayed Institute of Applied Technology P.O. Box 66866 Al Ain admin@tesolarabia.org
Volume 17
No. 3
November 2010
TESOL Arabia Perspectives
www.tesolarabia.org