2011 NOV by TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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Lesson Plan Reviews Educational Technology Networking

In this issue: Feature Articles

TESOL Arabia News

Accessibility and Analyzability in L2 Learners’ Performance of Narrative Tasks – Mohamed Ridha Ben Maad

Chapter & SIG Reports

Iranian Graduate Students’ Conceptions about English Language Teaching and Learning – Reza Pishghadam & Shahrzad Pourali

Learning Preferences of Saudi University Students with Native English Speaking Teachers – Whitney Moores-Abdool, Noorchaya Yahya & Caridad H. Unzueta

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C o n t e n t s Perspec tives Volume 18 No. 3 November 2011

From the Editors

Message from the President

TESOL Arabia Conference Report

Feature Articles Accessibility and Analyzability in L2 Learners’ Performance of Narrative Tasks

Mohamed Ridha Ben Maad Reza Pishghadam & Shahrzad Pourali

Whitney Moores-Abdool, Noorchaya Yahya & Caridad H. Unzueta

Julia Dudas & Andrew Wright

Lobat Asadi

Emine Genc Shahla Yassaei

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Q: Skills for Success Angus Graham The Business English Teacher: Professional Principles and Practical Procedures Colin Toms Teaching and Learning in the Arab World Neil McBeath Calendar of Upcoming Events

40 42 43 45

Iranian Graduate Students’ Conceptions about English Language Teaching and Learning Learning Preferences of Saudi University Students with Native English Speaking Teachers

Lesson Plan Activities for Most Texts

Educational Technology Voices of Saudi Women Bloggers

Reviews Practise and Pass Starters Pupil’s Book Page Turners: Original Readers for Learners of English

Networking Cutting Edges, Autonomy, and Community in Language Learning, Teaching and Training IATEFL International Conference and Exhibit

Neil McBeath

Sufian Abu-Rmaileh

TESOL Arabia International Travel Grant Guidelines

TESOL, Inc., 2011 Annual Convention & Exhibit 45th Annual International IATEFL Conference & Exhibition

Mohammad Azaza

Sally Ali

TESOL Arabia News TESOL Arabia News

Special Interest Group Reports

Chapter Reports

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From the Editor

Dear Colleagues

Editors

We hope that you got off to a good start this new school year and that the recent Eid celebrations were joyful. With the end-of-year holidays just around the corner, this semester is flying by.

Melanie Gobert Abu Dhabi Men’s College

We have three interesting feature articles lined up for you. The first one, “Accessibility and Analyzability in L2 Learners’ Performance of Narrative Tasks,” by Mohamed Ridha Ben Maad, looks at how a group of Tunisian students of English coped when they had to perform speaking tasks under pressure.

Tandy Bailey Abu Dhabi Women's College

Our second feature, “Iranian Graduate Students’ Conceptions about English Language Teaching and Learning,” by Reza Pishghadam and Shahrzad Pourali, presents the results of a study of the metaphors Iranian students choose to describe themselves as learners and their professors’ teaching styles in their current learning environment and in their ideal learning environment. Do you think the students ideally preferred a teacher-centered classroom or a learner-centered one? This interesting study reminds us that our learners have their own ideas about how they want to learn.

Reviews Editor

Our third feature article by Whitney Moores-Abdool, Noorchaya Yahya and Caridad H. Unzueta entitled, “Learning Preferences of Saudi University Students with Native English Speaking Teachers,” presents the results of a detailed learning preference questionnaire given to female Saudi learners with some surprising results. It also looks at how they feel about non-native English teachers and native English teachers.

Cindy Gunn Daniel Mangrum Fatma Alwan Janet Olearski Kourosh Lachini Lynne Ronesi Muhammad Abdel Latif 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 Laura Lau Richard Lau Mick King

Cindy Gunn American University of Sharjah

Advisory Panel

This issue also has a lesson plan by Julia Dudas and well-known author Andrew Wright entitled, “Activities for Most Texts,” which offers a few dozen ideas to get students reading. It’s sure to remind you of some old, forgotten favorites and give you some new ideas as well. In our Educational Technology article, “Voices of Saudi Women Bloggers” Lobat Asadi writes about the success she’s had getting her students to blog and offers tips to make blogging a rewarding teaching and learning tool. Be sure to check out the information on the fast-approaching 18th International TESOL Arabia Conference. The theme is “Achieving Excellence Through Life Skills Education” and the Conference Co-Chairs give us a sneak peak at the plenary and featured speakers and the professional development courses on offer. The conference runs from Thursday, March 8 to Saturday, March 10, 2012 at Dubai Men’s College, Academic City, Dubai. We’ve included a registration form for your convenience. Do you qualify for a Travel Grant to the Conference? Guidelines are included. We hope to see you there! And last, but not least, we welcome aboard our new Perspectives Editor, Tandy Bailey and wish you all a rewarding year.

CREDITS Layout / Artwork Sudeep Kumar

Printing Melanie Gobert

International Printing Press Dubai, UAE

/ Tandy Bailey

Editors, Perspectives

November Cover Photo Peter Waters Abu Dhabi Men's College

The editors would like to remind the readers that the views expressed in this periodical are those of the individual authors. These views are not necessarily shared by the other authors in this issue or by TESOL Arabia. Responsibility for the content and opinion of articles and advertisements rests with the authors. TESOL Arabia is a non-profit 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

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Message from the President

In my last Letter from the President I was looking at some of the similarities and differences in the context of ELT in our region between now and 2009. The second one I cited was: 2009: more institutions in the Gulf were teaching in English 2011: even more institutions in the Gulf are teaching in English The increased use of English as a medium of education in contexts where it is not the first language is apparent in many parts of the world. It has been quite long established in, for example, Europe, where such concepts as CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) have evolved. We are all aware of its introduction in some subjects in government schools here in the Gulf region, and private schools have been teaching in English here for many years. This spread of English has not been without controversy, but has been a consistent policy of the UAE government, for example, over the past few years, with the declared aim of educating its citizens to be fully functioning global citizens able to understand and operate in the most significant world language we currently have: English. This is a theme that has been constantly re-iterated by our Patron, HE Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, in his keynote addresses at the start of many of our recent Annual International Conferences. And, if you look at our membership cards, you’ll see the “strapline” (as I believe these are called in some contexts) “A Professional Development Organization For Teachers Using English as a Medium of Instruction.” Sometimes this aspect of our work has been neglected, but we are indeed open to all those educators who have an interest in English-medium education. For this reason, please let your colleagues who teach another subject in English, (be it Maths, Science, or anything else) know about TESOL Arabia and how membership is open to them as well. The more members we have from these areas, the more we will be able to cater for this burgeoning area of English teaching. A recent suggestion was that we inaugurate a CLIL SIG. With more support and a greater range of subjects our members teach, such a SIG will become more sustainable. It would also be a good way to tap into the experience of teachers in parts of the world where this is well-established. Finally, I would like to thank all the Executive Council members and SIG Chairs who gave up their weekends recently to take part in our annual Executive Retreat. This is when Chapters and SIGs get together to lay down the outline for events during the year, and when we step back to take a more strategic look at what TESOL Arabia does. Without giving too much away, I hope that as a consequence we will soon be able to announce some exciting and positive news. Keep reading Perspectives, checking the website and supporting your local TESOL Arabia events, as well as attending the annual international conference! I look forward to seeing you all.

Les Kirkham TESOL Arabia President 2011-2012

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TESOL Arabia Conference Report

Letter from the Conference Co-Chairs 2012 aaa

18th Annual TESOL Arabia International Conference and Exhibition 2012 aaa

Thursday, March 8 - Saturday, March 10, 2012 Pre-Conference Professional Development Courses on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at Dubai Men’s College, Academic City, Dubai “Achieving Excellence Through Life Skills Education” Proposal Deadline: November 15, 2011 Visit http://www.tesolarabia.org/conference/ for more information. Presentations, Workshops, Publication Exhibition, Innovative Materials Showcase, Job Fair, Poster Presentations, and much more. Dear Colleagues, Members, and Supporters of TESOL Arabia, On behalf of the Committee for TESOL Arabia’s International Conference and Exhibition 2012, we would like to thank our conference delegates, sponsors, exhibitors and recruiters of previous years for their continuing support and participation. We would also like welcome new and prospective conference participants to what is the largest EFL conference in the region, attracting well over 1,000 delegates each year. We invite you to participate in what we believe will be one of our best conferences ever. The theme for this year’s conference is “Achieving Excellence Through Life Skills Education.” Our lives are changing at an exponential rate, both personally and professionally. We need to be able to adapt to the changes we are experiencing in the world, learn about ourselves, learn about others and learn about the world around us. Our theme and the presentations offered will allow delegates to better understand themselves and how they can individually become better teachers, educators and administrators. We want teachers to be open to new ideas and new technologies that shape the world today. We hope that delegates will learn new ways to incorporate age-old tried and tested methods in their teaching. The intention behind the current theme is to reflect on these and other changes we face, and to share how we are meeting them or how they are influencing our practice. Overall, the theme “Achieving Excellence Through Life Skills Education” invites participants to explore the ways in which EFL teachers and educators adapt to changes in their workplace and society to become better teachers. As always, we have a fantastic line up of plenary, featured and invited speakers ready to challenge you with fresh ideas and insights.

Plenary Speakers Keith Folse (USA) Jeremy Harmer (UK) Jane Revell (UK)

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Christine Coombe (UAE) Jim Schrivener (UK) Rod Bolitho (UK)

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Dave Allan (UK) Joe McVeigh (USA) Andy Curtis (Canada)

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TESOL Arabia Conference

Featured Speakers Andrea Stairs (USA) Josephine Clark Kennedy (USA) Lienhard Legenhausen (Germany) Paula Wilson (USA) Z. N. Patil (India)

Fiona Copland (UK) John O’Dwyer (Turkey) Nancy Mullins (USA) Robert Ackland (USA)

Hector Ramirez (USA) Josie Fraser (UK) Nicky Hockley (Spain) Rosa Aronson (USA)

Affiliate Leader Speakers Natalya Alexeeva and Zarmena Emel Yanova of Yakut TESOL (Russia) Louisa Christina Alvarez from VenTESOL (Venezuela) Rubina Khan of BELTA (Bangladesh)

For those who would like to contribute to the program, the Call for Papers is open for submissions until midnight on November 15, 2011. Presentations and workshops will look at personal and professional development through new eyes. We hope this year’s conference will bring meaningful and beneficial changes to the lives of those who participate. The 2012 conference will be held at Dubai Men’s College, located in Academic City. We are grateful for DMC’s offer to host the event, with even more space provided than at previous conferences held at this venue. As with past conferences, TESOL Arabia delegates will once again be offered the opportunity to participate in a range of specialized professional development courses both before and during the conference.The Pre-Conference Courses to be held on 7 March 2012 are: Teaching and Learning Through the Arts, Personalized Professional Development, and Online Learning in TESOL. The two Certificate Courses to be held during the conference from 8-10 March are: Achieving Excellence Through Life Skills Education and Young Learners. These specialized courses require payment of fees in addition to your main conference registration. As space on these courses is limited, you are advised to register for them early. Further information about the courses can be found in the relevant sections of the conference website. For all book lovers and material writers, as well as those looking for the latest teaching aids or edition of their preferred texts, the TESOL Arabia Exhibition will once again host the major education publishers and distributors in the region. In addition to the Exhibition, we continue to offer the Innovative Materials Showcase. This part of the conference gives publishers, distributors, and education establishments a chance to showcase their latest products in interactive presentations and workshops. The Innovative Materials Showcase, coupled with the Exhibition, provides delegates with great networking and learning opportunities. The 2012 Conference will also continue to 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 a variety of posts, including some positions that are filled onsite, the TESOL Arabia Job Fair retains its position as the premier employment opportunity for both recruiters and job seekers in the EFL teaching profession. Please note, job seekers must register for the Conference in order to attend the Job Fair. Due to the incredible success of Dubai as an international tourist and conference destination, demand for hotel space is high.We have done our best to provide you with some options for your stay here in Dubai. Please feel free to make use of those listed on the conference website, and make hotel reservations as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. On behalf of TESOL Arabia’s Conference Organizing Committee we look forward to welcoming you all to the 2012 Conference!

Dr Christine Coombe Conference Co-Chair

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Features Article ONE_reviews 10/23/11 8:31 PM Page 1

Feature Articles

Accessibility and Analyzability in L2 Learners’ Performance of Narrative Tasks

processing mode and holistic processing mode. The terms “holistic” and “analytic” are adopted from Wray and Perkins (2000).

Accessibility and analyzability in second language (L2) learners’ oral production have been common place for scholarship interested in task-based research. However, the relationship between the two processing modes, accessibility and analyzability, has not been empirically defined. The present study presented an attempt to address this research gap. It examined the nature of this relationship in the oral production of L2 learners when they were under demanding task conditions. Thirty Tunisian undergraduate students of English participated in this study. They performed three narrative tasks with variable demanding conditions. Results revealed that these participants activated their memory-based system (Accessibility) at the beginning of their performance when the tasks were not demanding. They resorted to the rule-based system (Analyzability) when faced with the increasing processing load due to time pressure and lack of planning. These results validated the long unchecked role of formulaicity in L2 learners’ processing decisions.

The analytic processing mode (also known as analyzability) is activated by L2 learners’ analytic ability which is, according to Skehan (1998), “the capacity to infer rules of language and make linguistic generalizations and extrapolations” (p. 207). This capacity stands for their grammatical sensitivity to attend to formal accuracy. It is also the ability to abstract rules and patterns from language samples. Skehan concurs with Widdowson’s (1989) reference to analyzability as a system that is cognitively demanding since “rules need complex processes of construction to underpin their operation” (Skehan, 1998, p. 89). In contrast, the holistic processing mode (also known as accessibility) draws on a lexically-based memory system composed of formulaic sequences holistically internalized and remembered as multi-word chunks (Widdowson, 1989; Wray & Perkins, 2000). In the face of difficult tasks, speakers opt for the holistic processing mode because of the processing advantage it has over the analytic processing mode. Skehan (1998) describes accessibility as a system of limited generative potential because its lexical constituents “do not require excessive internal computation, since they can function as integrated wholes” (p. 89). Thus, we are not totally creative in language use nor do we rely only on grammatical rules as this might overburden our processing capacity.

Background Skehan’s (1998) information-processing approach has substantially informed task-based research. This approach is premised on the concept of competitive relationship between the performance areas of fluency, complexity, and accuracy. Competition for limited attention resources is determined by the specific demands of each area (i.e., fluency for communication, complexity for restructuring, and accuracy for grammar). The competition lies in what Skehan (1998) labels as the dual-mode system. Accordingly, when learners grapple with pressures from real-time communication, they activate two processing modes: a rule-based mode and an exemplar-based mode. These two linguistic knowledge parts respectively engage an analytic Volume 18

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Mohamed Ridha Ben Maad Higher Institute of Childhood Education University of Carthage Tunis

Purpose Despite the elaborate account on the processing modes of analyzability and accessibility, there has been almost no interest among L2 researchers in exploring whether such modes influence speakers’ processing decisions and linguistic output as do other variables ◆

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like task sequencing and individual differences. A case in point is Skehan’s (1998) account of competition for attention being entirely confined to the surface levels of the three language areas (i.e., fluency, complexity, and accuracy). Also, in mainstream L2 task-based research there has been no agreement on which language area competes against the other(s) (see Ortega, 2005). This intimates the postulate that competition is activated by a deeper level of processing rather than by simplistic trade-offs between one given language area and another. In order to make a concise account of competition, L2 research interest should accentuate the nature of the relationship between analyzability and accessibility. The question that is worth-addressing here is: Are these two processing modes complementary to each other or simply competitive? In this respect, Skehan, like Wray and Perkins (2000) and Widdowson (1989), holds that both processing modes balance each other in the form of a formulaic-creative continuum. The assumption that speech is largely formulaic still needs a minimal degree of analyticity where, according to Widdowson (1989), rules “are not generative but regulative and subservient” (p. 135).

perform poorly in terms of formulaic language use. When, however, they perform under less taxing task conditions, the proportion of formulaic language in their output increases to the advantage of fluency. Overall, it follows that switching between the two processing modes is capacity-driven, and so focus on the rule-based system (i.e., through frequent pauses and repairs as indicators of analytic processing) is due to the limitation of a NNS lexically-based system. Interestingly, these findings put in question the widely accepted belief of Skehan and his coresearchers that language processing patterns are merely determined by task difficulty. Instead, it is argued here that the extent of formulaic language in one’s interlanguage may enable a more incisive account of how language processing operates. The present study therefore sought to shed empirical light on formulaicity being a key element in any processing operation. Accordingly, the following hypotheses are suggested: (a) NNSs draw on (i) holistic-processing under effortless task conditions and (ii) analyticprocessing under demanding task conditions. (b) The availability of formulaic language controls the trade-offs between the areas of fluency, complexity, and accuracy.

This account lacks some credibility, especially since these L2 researchers have been consistently focused on a mature native speaker’s (NS) dual-mode system rather than a fledgling non-native speaker’s (NNS) system where the former has more automated rules and a bigger formulaic supply. Due to differences in linguistic ability between NSs and NNSs, it would appear simplistic to assert that both NS and NNS may activate their processing modes in the same way. Among the few studies which addressed the difference between NNS and NS production modes was Temple’s (2000). She noticed that NSs, unlike NNSs who showed considerable hesitation and pausing with difficult tasks, skillfully alternated between the two processing modes with no detrimental effect on their fluency. In addition, Foster (2001), who revisited findings reported in Foster and Skehan (1996), observed that when tasks were taxing, her NS informants resorted to formulaic language and when pressure eased they switched to the analytic processing mode to produce more syntactically complex language.

Methodology Thirty undergraduate students of English at the University of Tunis participated in this study. Most of these participants were females (n = 25 females; n= 5 males) and they were aged between 18 and 23. Their proficiency in English, assessed through previous exam results, was estimated to be of low-intermediate level. As native speakers of Tunisian Arabic, they all learned English (average of 6.7 years) in a classroombound environment. None of them had ever visited an English-speaking country, nor had they the opportunity to use English beyond the threshold of classrooms. The sample was homogeneous in terms of learning history and English proficiency level so as to control for any outlying individual differences. The informants were asked to perform three narrative tasks based on sequenced picture prompts in a watch-and-tell style. They performed the narrative tasks over six episodes and only three out of the six tasks were tape-recorded for subsequent transcribing, coding and analysis (n = 90 transcripts).

Both Foster (2001) and Temple (2000) found a reverse processing pattern when it comes to their NNS informants. Under high task pressure, NNSs Volume 18

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The study examined variation in L2 production as a function of switching between the two processing modes according to the degree of cognitive pressure. In its design, time pressure was chosen as the withinsubjects independent variable to measure task difficulty. According to Skehan (1998), time pressure stands for the communicative stress that reflects the “urgency with which a task needs to be completed” (p. 100). The operationalization of the time variable proceeded into two levels: the first 60 seconds (Time 1) and the last 60 seconds (Time 2) of each narrative performance. Time 1 was presumed to mark pressure-free and well planned oral production (i.e., 15 minutes were allotted to plan the tasks) while Time 2 was believed to underline the mounting difficulty occasioned by time pressure. It should be mentioned here that some of the participants were interviewed after the experiment and they unanimously reported their focus in their planning on the first pictures to ensure a good start and their belief that the rest of their performance would become easier to handle.

performed on formulaicity data (i.e., indicating holistic processing) and pausing and reformulation data (i.e., signifying analytic processing). Results reported in Table 1 are entirely significant. Positive correlations are particularly located between the measures representative of either processing mode as with pauses and reformulations (r = .59). However, a pattern of negative correlations is manifest between measures belonging to different processing modes. For instance, the analytic processing measure of Pauses demonstrates substantial but negative correlation with the three holistic processing measures of formulaicity [i.e., Number of FLSs (r = .61); Words per FLS (r = -.36); Percent of FLS (r = 57)]. These results confirm that the relationship between the two processing modes is marked by conspicuous competition, where gains in one processing mode echo decrements in the other processing mode.

Table 1 Correlational Results for Analytic and Holistic Measures

As far as the dependent variables are concerned, both discourse analytical measures of fluency, complexity, and accuracy and measures of formulaicity were implemented. On the one hand, the performance areas of fluency, complexity and accuracy were respectively represented by (a) Speech rate/Second (number of syllables divided by 60), Number of Pauses (1 pause > 0.5 second), and Reformulations, (b) Subordinate clauses/T-unit, and (c) Errors/T-unit. These measures were chosen for analysis by virtue of their construct validity and wide use in output-focused research. On the other hand, the formulaicity variable was operationalized into three dimensions of formulaic sequences (FLS): their frequency of use, size, and proportion in the narrative output of the informants, corresponding to the measures of Number of FLSs/Min., Words per FLS, and Percentage of FLS (i.e., the proportion of formulaicity in one’s spoken output). The FLS measures were purported to attest to a holistic-processing mode while the attentioncalling measures of Pauses and Reformulations were identified under the analytic-processing mode.

Results In order to define the nature of interaction between the processing modes of accessibility and analyzability, a Pearson correlation analysis was

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Variable

1. FLS/Min.

.33*

.79*

-.61*

-.64*

.45*

-.36*

-.28*

-.57*

-.55*

.59*

2. Words/FLS 3. FLS % 4. Pauses

5. Reformulations * Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

The results above do not, however, provide any patterns of attentional focus on either processing system. Instead, allocation patterns can be distinguished through the distribution of formulaicity data across the two levels of the time pressure variable. Table 2 illustrates formulaicity through three dimensions: frequency of use, lexical density of formulaic units, and proportion of use in total performance. The mean distribution of formulaicity under the three measures is marked by a substantial decrease at the level of Time 1, an indicator of high time pressure. That is, the more the speakers advanced in the task of narrating, the less they drew on their exemplar-based depository. The difference margins across the three measures are almost invariable even though the rate of FLS frequency in Task 1 (M = 20.00) appears to be comparatively lower than in the TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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other tasks (M =23.07 for Task 2; M = 23.53 for Task 3). The least instance of variation is at the level of formulaic density (i.e., the dwindling size of the formulaic units was not proportionate with the decrease in frequency of use).

implying the trade-off concept and confirming Hypothesis 2.

Table 3 Correlational Results for FLS and Oral Performance

Table 2 Distribution of Formulaicity Data Across the Two Time Intervals

1. FLS/Min.

.33*

.79*

.80*

-.46*

.72*

.45*

.43*

-.33*

.29*

.51*

-.45*

.62*

-.46*

.69*

-.60*

2. Words/FLS FLS/Min. FLS/Min.

Words/FLS Words/FLS FLS %

FLS %

3. FLS %

Time 1

Time 2

Time 1

Time 2

Time 1

Time 2

4. Fluency

Task 1

20.00

13.47

2.42

2.11

.41

.32

5. Complexity

Task 2

23.07

12.67

2.32

2.18

.45

.32

6. Accuracy

Task 3

23.53

15.40

2.47

2.27

.43

.33

Total

22.20

13.84

2.40

2.19

.43

.32

Discussion This study validated Widdowson’s (1989) assertion that analyzability overrides accessibility when task difficulty intensifies as predicted in Hypothesis 1. It also replicates somewhat the results in Foster (2001) that L2 learners’ size of lexical repository interacts with the pre-task planning variable in its effect on oral performance. Consistent with Foster (2001), it is the availability of and access to formulaic language which lie behind choosing one processing mode over the other. Accordingly, the trade-off relationship between performance areas is only a surface reflection of how the capacity-stretched L2 learners exploit their formulaic supplies. When given the opportunity to plan their tasks, L2 learners draw on pre-fabricated word combinations which spare them enough attentional resources to be ultimately allocated to monitoring their output. Complexity, however, is less important at this point due to the total focus on the formulaic constructions which bear some ready-made syntactic properties, hence allowing only a little syntactic animation in speech. In contrast, when pressed by time and thus unable to automatically retrieve from the memory-based system, the under-resourced informants had to process output analytically, meaning that complexity improved as a function of the focus on the rule-based system to the detriment of fluency and accuracy.

The speaker participants seemed to fall back on the analytic processing system when time pressure peaked. This behavioral course is exemplified by the increase of instances of pausing and reformulations which are indicative of explicit use of language and high degrees of control. Overall, these results suggest that there is an on-off relationship between the two processing modes, thus confirming Hypothesis 1: When L2 speakers plan their tasks ahead, they resort to their memory-based knowledge; and when they are capacity-stretched by time pressure, they resort to their rule-based knowledge. Based on the results displayed in Table 1, it follows that FLS use is at its highest when time pressure is low (Time 1) and dwindles away when time pressure peaks (Time 2). Furthermore, there are internal correlations between the FLS dimensions. Table 3 indicates significant correlation coefficients between the three FLS dimensions and the three performance areas. The strongest of the correlations is FLS frequency (Fluency: r = .80; Complexity: r = -.46; Accuracy: r = .72). A pattern of correlations seems to organize these results: Formulaicity is Mohamed Ridha Ben Maad is a permanent Assistant Professor at the positively Higher Institute for Childhood Education, correlated with University of Carthage, Tunisia. His main fluency and research interests are in applied linguistics, psycholinguistics, and accuracy yet language literacy. He actively contributes negatively to research projects related to early associated with childhood education. He can be contacted at ridhamaad@hotmail.com. complexity, thus Volume 18

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As predicted in Hypothesis 2, it is the size and the quality of one’s examplar-based system which decidedly determines one’s processing behavior. These results concur with Foster (2001) and Temple

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(2000) over their assertion that NSs and NNSs engage in different processing patterns due to the differences in terms of their formulaic repertoires and speaking goals. As to NSs, they have a larger and more sophisticated range of formulaic language and they distinguish grammatical regularities from chunks. Much of their speech is not rule-based although they tend to use their analytic-processing mode when tasks are not demanding so as to be creative since the formulaic language does not meet the originality requirements of novel ideas. Their use of the holistic-processing mode is, however, associated with demanding/unfamiliar tasks where formulaicity serves as a communication strategy to maintain continuous yet less complex speech. The organizational advantage of FLSs (e.g., discourse fillers) provides them with opportunities for simultaneous planning (Yuan & Ellis, 2003).

performance of narrative tasks. Analysis of the findings indicated that a trade-off relationship between fluency and complexity existed as a function of the competition between the holisticprocessing system (accessibility) and the analyticprocessing system (analyzability). When pressed by time, the informants exhausted their formulaic depository to ultimately switch to a more syntactically convoluted performance punctuated by a large number of pauses and reformulations. Contrary to the assumptions of previous L2 processing-based research that L2 learners’ limitedcapacity is mobilized by task difficulty, the findings suggested that the quality of L2 learners’ formulaic language was equally influential in defining the nature of the fluency-complexity trade-off.

References

The significance of these results consists in revisiting the long-established account of limited attention resources being simplistically manoeuvred by the competition between the three areas of performance. Indeed, this study showed that these areas are in turn mobilized by two competing processing modes. For an account of trade-offs (e.g., between complexity and fluency as in this study and in Foster, 2001) to be tenable, it needs to consider the extent of the development of L2 speakers’ knowledge system in terms of formulaic storage and automaticity of rules. As in the abovementioned difference between NNSs and NSs, one’s range of formulaic language, together with variation ensuing from task conditions, may suggest a more fine-grained account of the capacity concept and task difficulty. Researching formulaicity alongside task effect may well offset the deterministic frame of mind in the processing-based approach which, according to Ellis (2000), “assumes that there are properties in a task that will predispose, even induce, learners to engage in certain types of language use” (p. 197).Yet, it remains unclear whether these results apply to variable learner groups given the size (n = 30) and homogeneity of the target sample. Follow-up research with larger samples under various experimental conditions is then required so as to further the generalizability of this study.

Conclusion The present study investigated how L2 learners employed their dual-mode system in real-time

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Ellis, R. (2000). Task-based research and language pedagogy. Language Teaching Research, 4, 193-220. Foster, P. (2001). Rules and routines: A consideration of their role in the task-based language production of native and non-native speakers. In M. Bygate, P. Skehan, & M. Swain (Eds.), Researching pedagogic tasks: Second language learning, teaching and testing (pp. 75-93). Harlow: Longman. Foster, P., & Skehan, P. (1996). The influence of planning and task type on second language performance. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18, 299-323. Ortega, L. (2005). What do learners plan? Learnerdriven attention to form during pre-task planning. In R. Ellis (Ed.), Planning and task performance in a second language (pp. 77-110). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Skehan, P. (1998). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Temple, L. (2000). Second language learner speech production. Studia Linguistica, 54(2), 288-297. Wray, A., & Perkins, M. (2000). The functions of formulaic language: An integrated model. Language and Communication, 20, 1-28. Widdowson, H. (1989). Knowledge of language and ability for use. Applied linguistics, 10(2), 128-37. Yuan, F., & Ellis, R. (2003). The effects of pre-task planning and on-line planning on fluency, complexity and accuracy in L2 monologic oral production. Applied linguistics, 24, 1-27. ❉

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Iranian Graduate Students’ Conceptions about English Language Teaching and Learning Individuals have concepts and beliefs in their minds that shape everyday actions. Our behavior reflects the metaphorical nature and understanding of the conceptualization of the world. This conceptual system that is metaphorical in nature rules the interpretation and understanding of the realities (Dornyei, 2005; Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). Nowadays, not only has the study of metaphor entered into linguistics and cognitive psychology but also scholars believe that metaphor analysis has applications in many fields of study such as language teaching and learning. Besides, it provides the opportunity to carry out a wide range of research (Hong-mei, 2010). Metaphors are the linguistic presentations of implicit knowledge that can be used and analyzed reliably. Since metaphors are learned through social interactions, they can reflect on the cultural and social processes in which they are learned, so they can be part of the subconscious level of language which is used automatically (Lakoff, 1993). Metaphor is perceived as a powerful mental tool that individuals use to understand abstract and complex phenomena and as a result these metaphors can explain key cognitive concepts (Gurol & Donmus, 2010). Analysis of the use of metaphors about teaching and learning has the potential for understanding the nature and meaning of learning (Haggis, 2004). Therefore, the aim of the present study is to analyze the metaphors MA students select about themselves and their professors in both current and ideal situations, and also to examine them carefully in order to provide the opportunity to delve into the beliefs hidden in these metaphors.

Theoretical Background There is no doubt that individuals’ beliefs have Volume 18

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Reza Pishghadam Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran

Shahrzad Pourali Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran

major impacts on their lives because these beliefs are rooted in their minds. Analyzing these beliefs through metaphors can be an effective way of understanding the underlying concepts in people’s mind because they emerge out of their experiences and help us understand highly complex concepts (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). Lakoff and Johnson (1980) explained the conceptual metaphor theory in Metaphors We Live By. They claimed that metaphor is a main component of human thinking, in spite of former theories which supported the idea that metaphor was far from an acceptable form of language (Li-qun & Guo-hua, 2010). Lakoff (1993) claimed that in classical theories, metaphorical expressions were seen as elements of literature and poetic language that left no space for metaphor in the everyday language. While the contemporary theory of metaphor stresses the existence of the metaphorical expressions as a matter of thought and cognition, the theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) supported the fact that metaphors are prevalent in speech, and individuals use them unconsciously. They believe that an individual’s conceptual system which controls actions and thoughts is metaphorical in nature. Lakoff (1993, pp. 4-5) referred to metaphor as a “cross-domain mapping” in the conceptual system and metaphorical expression as “a linguistic expression” (a word, phrase or sentence) that is the surface realization of such cross-domain mapping. A set of linguistic expressions like our relationship has hit a dead end street, look how far we’ve come, and we cannot turn back now can be used to describe a love relationship. All of these expressions are common in everyday English. The general principle governing all these expression is a part of the conceptual system TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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of English. This principle can help us understand the target domain (love) in terms of the source domain (journey). The Love as Journey metaphor is a mapping across these conceptual domains. Martinez, Sauleda, and Huber (2001) studied the metaphors about learning based on the reflections of 50 experienced teachers. They focused on categorizing the metaphors into three main dimensions: behavioristic/empiricist, cognitive/constructive, and situative/socio-historic. The behavioristic/ empiricist approach views learning as the process of stimulus-response formation. This category describes learners as passive recipients and teachers as transmitters of knowledge (molder, preacher, and provider). The second group (cognitive/constructive) defines teachers as facilitators and learners as active participants reconstructing knowledge (mother, parent, and father). Finally, the situative/socio-historic approach views learning as being situated in contexts and being produced by social participation (researcher and shepherd). The results of this study revealed that the majority of the participants define teaching and learning as the transmission of knowledge. Only a minority conceptualized teaching and learning as a social process. Oxford (2001, as cited in Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005) examined the narratives of 473 foreign/second language learners about three teaching approaches. Metaphors like teacher as manufacturer, tyrant, and hanging judge were taken from the “Autocratic Approach.” The “Participatory/Democratic Approach” included metaphors like teacher as challenger, catalyst, and family member. The “LaisserFaire Approach” produced metaphors like teacher as blind and bad baby-sitter. The researcher found that different learners favored different metaphors, and they also varied to the extent they used metaphors to talk about their learning and teaching. Sommers (2003) employed a questionnaire, interviews and the children’s classic, The Velveteen Rabbit, as metaphors to depict efficient middle school teachers. Using interviews, observations, and gathering documents, the researcher analyzed teachers’ beliefs and practices. The study revealed that when teachers develop mentally, they can be more creative, transferring this sense of creativity to their students. Brown, Parsons and Worley (2005) collected and Volume 18

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analyzed the essays written by 100 senior-level elementary pre-service teachers. Metaphor analysis was used to interpret the students’ understandings and attitudes about diversity and teaching in diverse settings with diverse populations. They identified metaphors which pictured diversity as an object of value, a guest in the inn, a construction project; and the participants described teachers as taxonomist, archaeologist, connoisseur, or voyeur; and students were portrayed as voyeur. Groth and Bergner (2005) investigated 54 preservice teachers’ metaphors which were elicited through writing prompts about the concept of statistical sample. These metaphors help understand the individuals’ content knowledge, and how the teachers practice their knowledge during teaching. The findings indicated seven different concepts. They pointed out some of the aspects of the studied concept that teacher educators need to take into consideration while instructing their learners. McGrath (2006) studied the metaphors which 75 teachers in Hong Kong created about Englishlanguage course books and attempted to draw a comparison with the metaphors several hundred school learners provided on the same subject. Learners showed both positive and negative attitudes toward their course books, such as the importance of the book to the learners and also the cultural inappropriateness of the textbook. This study concluded that the existing difference between teachers’ and learners’ concepts of their course books should encourage teachers to stimulate self-awareness, leading to professional development. The existence of metaphors in university lectures has been shown to be misleading, especially for international students. Low, Littlemore and Koester (2008) analyzed university lectures to discover lecturing styles, to identify how metaphors are used to mark the beginnings and ends of sections, and to predict the emergence of metaphors from the discourse. Hong-mei (2010) suggested that the study of metaphor can have a number of applications in language teaching. First, teachers should inform their learners of the significance of conceptual metaphors in language learning. Second, teachers can use metaphorical theories to explain the relationship TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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between forms and meanings so that students can have a general idea of word formation. Third, conceptual metaphors can explain the collocation of words in the sense that some aspects of a word can be used to define other words. Fourth, many language phenomena can be simplified through conceptual metaphors, and finally, metaphors help students to learn about different cultures. Li-qun and Guo-hua (2010) investigated the vocabulary learning strategies of non-English freshmen and instructors of English, and the effect of metaphor awareness-raising on vocabulary acquisition and retention. The results showed that the participants seem to favor the application of sound, image, and rote learning in their vocabulary learning and teaching. They concluded that English teachers should be encouraged to develop metaphor awareness in order to choose the best method for teaching vocabulary, and also that the differences between metaphorical themes should be discussed in the classroom so that students face less difficulty in understanding these concepts. Gurol and Donmus (2010) conducted a study on the metaphors produced by 159 prospective teachers related to social networks. The participants included prospective teachers from 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades in the Computer Teacher Department. The researchers obtained the data from the completion of the sentence “Social networks are similar to…; because….” The results of the study suggested that the metaphors related to the concept of social network created by the participants are grouped under eight conceptual categories: rapidly developing and changing, communication, correspondence and sharing, addictive, positive, negative, both positive and negative, and an indispensible platform. The findings showed that the concept of social networks cannot be explained by just one metaphor, and the gender and grade level of the Reza Pishghadam is associate professor of participants do not TEFL in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, make a significant Iran. He has published more than 70 articles and books in different domains of TEFL. His difference in major research interests are psychology and their choice of sociology of language education. He can be metaphors. contacted at pishghadam@um.ac.ir. Shahrzad Pourali holds an MA in TEFL. She graduated from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Her main research interests are language teaching and psycholinguistics.

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ideal situations of language teaching and learning in Iran’s formal and informal educational context through metaphor analysis. The findings showed that behavoristic beliefs have complete control of the Iranian educational context. The metaphors produced by students at high schools and language institutes were teacher as conduit, provider, facilitator, scaffolder, and learner as recipient, developing organism, and interactor. The researchers reported a significant difference between learners at language institutes and learners at schools in the understanding of English education.

Purpose of the Study The present study aimed to analyze the selected metaphors of MA students majoring in English teaching to talk about university students and professors in both the current and ideal situations in Iranian universities, and also to address the following questions: (a) Are there any significant differences between the behaviorist, cognitive, and situative metaphors selected by the MA students about professors in the current and ideal situations in the universities? (b) Are there any significant differences between the behaviorist, cognitive, and situative metaphors selected by the MA students about students in the current and ideal situation in the universities?

Participants and Setting A total of 50 MA students participated in this study, all majoring in English language teaching (female=34, male=16). The age of the participants ranged from 23 to 50. They were studying in Mashhad, Iran. The students were in their first or second year of study at university. The MA program in Iran is both course and project-based.

Instrument The participants were provided with two checklists (see Appendix) that were adapted by Pishghadam, Askarzadeh Torghabeh, and Navari (2009).The first checklist consisted of 27 metaphors about teachers, and the second checklist contained 18 metaphors about learners, comprising three types of metaphors which explain three important paradigms in psychology: behaviourism, cognitivism, and situative learning. The checklist for the professors was comprised of 8 TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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behaviouristic metaphors, 7 cognitive metaphors and 12 metaphors for situative learning. The checklist for the university students included 9 behaviouristic metaphors, 6 cognitive metaphors, and 4 metaphors for situative learning. The MA students were asked to choose the metaphors which depicted their attitudes, first toward the current situation, and then towards the ideal situation of teaching and learning English in Iranian universities. To describe the current situation, the stem of the question was: “In my opinion, a university professor/student is like….,” and to describe the ideal situation, the stem of the question was: “In my opinion, a university professor/ student should be like….” The content validity of the checklist was substantiated in a previous study (Pishghadam et al., 2009). The reliability of the checklist was computed by the Cronbach’s Alpha which was found to be 0.83 for the whole sample. It showed that the results of the checklist are satisfactorily reliable in terms of their internal consistency as shown in Table 1.

Table 1

Reliability of the Variables in the Checklists Variable

Cronbach’s Alpha

Students’ metaphors about how professors are

0.84

Students’ metaphors about how professors should be

0.85

Students’ metaphors about how students are

0.82

Students’ metaphors about how students should be

0.84

Procedure

Results As illustrated in Table 2, there is a significant difference between the behaviorist, cognitive, and situative metaphors MA students selected to talk about university students in the current situation (= 98.637, p<.05).

Table 2 The Results of Chi-square for the Metaphors Selected by MA Students about Students in the Current Situation Paradigms

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Observed Expected N N

Behaviorist

109

53.3

Cognitive

53.3

Situative

53.3

Total

160

Sig.

98.637 .000

Table 2 shows that the behaviorist metaphors (N=109) occur more often than expected (N=53.3). The results reveal that MA students consider themselves to be the followers of behaviorist ideas in the current situation, which means they do not question the professors’ authority and they cannot take control of their learning. Cognitive and situative metaphors do not occupy a noteworthy place among the students’ dominant beliefs.

Table 3 The Results of Chi-square for the Metaphors Selected by MA Students about Students in the Ideal Situation Paradigms

The process of data collection started in September, 2010 and continued until February, 2011. All participants received both checklists, and were asked to select as many metaphors that portrayed their view about the present and ideal situations of English language teaching and learning in Iranian universities. For the purpose of analyzing the data, the randomly placed metaphors chosen by the participants were grouped under the three educational perspectives (behaviourist, cognitive, situative) suggested by Martinez et al. (2001). A Chi-square test was run to Volume 18

compare the metaphors selected by the MA students to talk about professors and university students in both current and ideal situations.

Observed Expected N N

Sig.

22.089

.000

Behaviorist

37.3

Cognitive

37.3

Situative

37.3

Total

112

According to Table 3, there is a significant difference between the metaphors chosen by MA students about university students in the ideal situation (22.089, p<.05). The metaphors related to the TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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cognitive view of learning (N=51) seem to occur more often than expected (N=37.3). Students would like to be active constructors of knowledge, while having the support of their professors as their guides to lead them through the correct path. Situative metaphors were the second general attitude among MA students describing an ideal student (observed N=47, expected N=37.3). Finally, behaviorist metaphors were found to be the least selected ones by students (observed N=14, expected N=37.3).

Table 4

The Results of the Chi-square for the Metaphors Selected by MA Students about Professors in the Current Situation Paradigms

Observed Expected df N N

Sig.

Behaviorist

107

71.0

2 29.662 .000

Cognitive

71.0

Situative

71.0

Total

213

Table 4 reports the results of the Chi-square for the metaphors chosen by MA students about professors in the current situation. As can be seen in Table 4, there is a significant difference among the behaviorist, cognitive, and situative metaphors (29.662, p<.05). Behaviorist metaphors (N=107) are selected more often than expected (N=71.0). This implies that students interpret their professors’ role as leaders who order learners what to do regardless of their feelings and learning styles. The next prevailing group of metaphors was attributed to situative notions (observed N=62, expected N=71.0).

Table 5

The Results of the Chi-square for the Metaphors Selected by MA Students about Professors in the Ideal Situation Paradigms

Observed Expected df N N

Sig.

Behaviorist

66.0

2 73.121 .000

Cognitive

66.0

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Situative

119

Total

198

66.0

As Table 5 shows, there is a significant difference between the metaphors MA students selected to describe professors in the ideal situation 73.121, p<.05). Situative metaphors (N=119) occur more often than expected (N=66.0). These results clarify the belief that MA students would prefer their professors to follow the guidelines of the situative paradigm and act as facilitators rather than controllers of their actions. Students want to enjoy a learning environment in which they can do collaborative activities and construct knowledge socially. Cognitive and behaviorist metaphors are the next selected metaphors.

Conclusion The metaphors selected by the participants to express their ideas about English language teaching and learning in both the current and ideal situations were grouped according to the three paradigms of behaviorist, cognitive, and situative as laid out by Martinez et al. (2001). Uncovering learners’ hidden beliefs about both university students and professors has the potential to help learners fill the gap between their implicit and explicit knowledge which could enable them to develop their teaching and learning. The results revealed that in the current situation the MA students participating in this study view themselves as followers of the behaviorist/empiricist approach to learning. Apparently, they define their roles as passive learners who are dictated to by the professors. They portray a learner who absorbs information with no control over it. Typical metaphors of this group are sheep and recipient, emphasizing the conceptual metaphor of Learner as Recipient, which demotivates students to act as active agents of learning. However, the metaphors used to describe students in the ideal situation disclose the participants’ strong desire to move toward the cognitive paradigm, in which they are the active constructors of knowledge. The most dominant metaphors in this group are partner and friend which are the manifestation of the conceptual metaphor of Learner as Significant Being. These metaphors draw attention to the fact that professors should act as counselors who provide TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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students with the necessary support.

towards the cognitive and situative paradigms.

In the same vein, students depicted their professors as loyal followers of behaviorism. The selected metaphors such as leader, book, and provider exemplify the conceptual metaphor of Teacher as Conduit and Authoritative Figure. They conceptualize their teachers as dictators who exert power and influence and control what and how students want to study. Moreover, under such conditions, students are seen as Empty Vessels who need to be filled by their professors (Saban, Kocbeker & Saban, 2007).

In this study the gender and age of the participants were not taken into account, so another study is required to take these points into consideration. Moreover, this study was done in only a few universities in Iran, so more research could be conducted in other universities in Iran or in other countries to compare the results.

The metaphors used for the professors in the ideal situation show that students prefer their professors to provide them with necessary guidance and help construct knowledge socially. Metaphors such as sunshine, travel guide, and researcher prove the existence of this attitude among students. Such professors view their students as Developing Organisms who need support to grow (Saban, 2010). This study suggests that the participants believed that behaviorism was the dominating influence in the current context of university education while indicating a desire to study and research in mainly situative and cognitive learning environments. The reason for the domination of behaviorism can be traced back to the beginning years of the participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; education in Iran, which has been overshadowed by a national high-stakes test. Based on the situation, both teachers and learners consider test results as the predicting factor of success at schools. Teachers only expect their students to achieve the highest marks, without considering whether these students actually understand their lessons. Therefore, the main aim of teaching is for testing, which is manifested in the university entrance exams in Iran. Later, this trend of education is continued in higher education. University students and professors have formed the belief that testing is the reason they study, so students still work hard to succeed in the several tests they have and professors just teach the points they are going to cover in exams. This means that collecting knowledge is considered the primary goal of teaching and learning, not its application and full understanding. According to the results, the MA students in this study unanimously expressed the belief that behaviorist notions control the current situation in universities, but they wish to move Volume 18

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Finally, by becoming aware of their underlying beliefs, professors and university students can reflect on the current situation of teaching and learning. They can also look for the main causes of their success and failure based on their viewpoint towards their roles. This self-awareness can assist professors in the modification of their method and their assumed position. In fact, if professors and university students do not ponder their assumptions, they can become counter-productive which may lead to making incorrect decisions for both students and professors in selecting the right path for education.

References Brown, P. U., Parsons, S. C., & Worley,V. (2005). Pre-service teachers write about diversity: A metaphor analysis. A Journal for the ScholarPractitioner Leader, 3(1), 87-102. Dornyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Ellis, R., & Barkhuizen, G. (2005). Analyzing learner language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Groth, R. E., & Bergner, J. A. (2005). Pre-service elementary school teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; metaphors for the concept of statistical sample. Statistics Education Research Journal, 4(2), 27-42. Gurol, M., & Donmus,V. (2010). Metaphors created by prospective teachers related to the concept of social network. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 9, 1489â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1496. Haggis, T. (2004). Constructions of learning in higher education: Metaphor, epistemology, and complexity. In J. Satterthwaite & E. Atkinson (Eds.), The disciplining of education: New languages of power and resistance (pp. 34-67). Stoke on Trent, UK: Trentham.

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Hong-mei, S. (2010). The cognitive study of metaphor and its application in English language teaching. Canadian Social Science, 6(4), 175-179. Lakoff, G. (1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought (pp. 57-86). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Li-qun, G., & Guo-hua, M. (2010). A study on the effect of metaphor awareness raising on Chinese EFL learners’ vocabulary acquisition and retention. Canadian Social Science, 6(2), 110-124. Low, G., Littlemore, J., & Koester, A. (2008). Metaphor use in three UK university lectures. Applied Linguistics, 29(3), 428–455. Martinez, M.A., Sauleda, N., & Huber, G.L. (2001). Metaphors as blueprints of thinking about teaching and learning. Journal of Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 965-977. McGrath, I. (2006). Teachers’ and learners’ images for course books. ELT Journal, 60(2), 171-180. Oxford, R. (2001). The bleached bones of a story: Learners’ construction of language teachers. In M. Breen (Ed.), Learners contributions to language learning (pp. 35-65). London: Longman. Pishghadam, R., Askarzadeh Torghabeh, R., & Navari, S. (2009). Metaphor analysis of teachers’ beliefs and conceptions of language teaching and learning in Iranian high schools and language institutes: A qualitative study. Iranian EFL Journal, 4, 6-40. Pishghadam, R., & Navari, S. (2010). Examining Iranian language learners’ perceptions of language education in formal and informal contexts: A quantitative study. Modern Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2(1), 171-185. Saban, A. (2010). Prospective teachers’ metaphorical conceptualizations of learner. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(2), 290-305. Saban, A., Kocbeker, B. N., & Saban, A. (2007). Prospective teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning revealed through metaphor analysis. Learning and Instruction, 17, 123-139. Sommers, R. (2003). Real middle school teachers. The Qualitative Report, 8(4), 530-538. Volume 18

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Appendix

Tick as many of these words which reflect your idea of the university professors. In my opinion, a university professor is like……

Entertainer

Nurturer

Parent

Gatekeeper

Innovator

Mother

Gardener

Artist

Leader

Travel guide

Repairer

Provider

Candle

Manufacturer

Challenger

Preacher

Book

Magician

Policeman

Sunshine

Comedian

Molder

Researcher

Friend

Ladder

Shepherd

Computer

Tick as many of these words which reflect your idea of the university student. In my opinion, a university student is like……

Friend

Player

Recipient

Constructor

Sheep

Raw material

Partner

Employee

Computer

Traveler

Observant

Plant

Viewer

Building

Magic bean

Mechanic ❉ ❉ trainee

Pottery

Child

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Learning Preferences of Saudi University Students with Native English Speaking Teachers

Whitney Moores-Abdool, Kutztown University Pennsylvania, USA NoorchayaYahya Florida Atlantic University Caridad H. Unzueta Florida International University

Noorchaya Yahya, Associate Professor in the Curriculum, Culture and Educational Inquiry at Florida Atlantic University, teaches TESOL method courses to pre-service and in-service K-12 teachers. She has taught ESL at the tertiary level in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and the US. Her research interests include second language acquisition, teacher education and English Language Learners’ learning styles.

Caridad Unzueta received her doctorate in Special Education from Florida International University. She has published articles in various educational fields including, technology, writing, higher learning, global learning, and specific learning disabilities. Currently an adjunct for Florida International University, she is conducting research on the use of technology for writing and on cohorts as a learning model for higher education.

Whitney Moores-Abdool holds an Educational Doctorate in Exceptional Student Education with a cognate in Urban Education from Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida. She currently works as a special education associate professor at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. Her professional experiences include K-12 general and special education teaching, as well as university teaching, mental health counseling for children, and a variety of social work experiences. Her research interests include pre-service teaching, student centered teaching and inclusion. For information regarding this article, she can be contacted at whtny36@yahoo.com.

The confluence of globalization and an increasingly technological world has created a strong demand for English language learning around the world. The current practice of outsourcing telecommunication jobs, customer service centers, and many other jobs accelerates the speed for the demand of proficient English language speakers around the world. There is no sign of the Teaching English as a Foreign Language education trend (TEFL) ebbing. On the contrary, the English language remains strong as the world business lingua franca. Many developing countries believe that if their citizens are fluent in English, there will be expanded business and educational opportunities. Saudi Arabia is no exception to the global English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning phenomenon. The Saudi Ministry of Education’s current goals mention the need to increase the acceptance rate Volume 18

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at teacher colleges for both genders specializing in English, in addition to Arabic, Math, Science and Computer Science (Saudi Arabia, 2005). The Saudi Ministry of Education endeavors to create English language proficiency; it also recognizes that the cultural invasion resulting from low cost access to mass media (i.e., satellite television, video/DVD sales, the internet) poses a threat to the national and religious identity of its citizens (Saudi Arabia, 2005). Often, native English speaking teachers (NESTs) bring divergent ways of thinking and interacting that can be at odds with the host country. For example, Saito and Ebsworth’s (2004) study explored the views of Japanese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students and Japanese English as a Second Language (ESL) students concerning NESTs. The results revealed that while both groups of students viewed their NESTs positively, the EFL students in general were uncomfortable with active classroom TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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participation demands, and appreciated native language support in the classroom. In addition, the NESTs’ demands did not match the Japanese students’ expectations about coursework and appropriate teaching methodology. Differences in teaching and learning across cultures can result in cultural misunderstandings for both NESTs and their students. Cultural concerns, whether related to pedagogical behavior or cultural understanding, have been expressed in many countries that adopt TEFL programs using NESTs (Liu & Zhang, 2007; Putintseva, 2003; Xiao, 2006). Since the Saudi Ministry of Education has only mandated TEFL university programs within the past four years, relatively little is known about Saudi students’ experiences with NESTs in the TEFL classroom. In order to determine if there is cultural dissonance in the context of Saudi TEFL university programs, and if so to what degree, this study examines the learning preferences of Saudi preparatory year female students at one English language center in Saudi Arabia.

Studies on EFL/ESL Students’ Learning Preferences University EFL programs are relatively new in Saudi Arabia. For this reason, there is a lack of research available on Saudi university students’ perceptions of NESTs.The majority of studies found on this topic are specific to Asian TEFL programs in countries such as Japan and China (Liu & Zhang, 2007; Saito & Ebsworth, 2004; Xiao, 2006). A general language learning preference study with a focus on Turkish students is Bada and Okan’s (2000). In general, these studies indicated that there was cultural dissonance present in most TEFL classrooms related to teacher/ student expectations and behaviors. Bada and Okan used a 13-item questionnaire surveying 230 EFL students 18-25 years old and 23 instructors of EFL at the University of Cukurova in Turkey.The categories used to classify the results included learning, error correction, and assessment/evaluation. Results indicated that these students preferred to work independently or in pairs. Students believed that activities outside of the classroom would help increase their proficiency and would have preferred other teaching modalities apart from direct instruction. Receiving corrections from either the professor or their peers was not a concern. However, the study did not differentiate between the types of teachers these students had, non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs) or NESTs, nor whether there were any cultural differences between the students’ learning preferences and the professors’ Volume 18

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teaching styles (Bada & Okan). Saito and Ebsworth (2004) used a 49-item questionnaire to survey 50 ESL students in New York University and 50 EFL students in a private Tokyo university on their views of their NESTs and classroom activities. They also performed 50-minute qualitative interviews of three survey respondents from each group. The researchers found that Japanese ESL students had slightly higher English proficiency than Japanese EFL students, and Japanese ESL students expected teachers to be on time to class and utilize all class time allotted for instruction. Japanese EFL students showed a preference for Japanese NNESTs as opposed to American NESTs mainly due to the fact that these teachers could explain certain concepts in Japanese when needed (Saito & Ebsworth, 2004). Both groups expressed positive regard for teachers that were open to other cultures, showed them respect, and exhibited a willingness to meet student needs by modifying classroom content. Saito and Ebsworth revealed that cultural differences in learning and teaching expectations have the potential to create friction between NESTs and their students. Similarly, Liu and Zhang (2007) investigated Chinese university students’ perceived differences between NESTs and NNESTs. In their study, they used a 20item survey in Chinese to find the perceived differences between NESTs and NNESTs. Results showed that two-thirds of Chinese university students did not feel there were significant differences between NESTs and NNESTs (Liu & Zhang, 2007). Additionally, a majority of students felt that they were able to learn more with NNESTs. Students also believed that NNESTs did more preparation for class and tended to use more technology. In contrast, students reported that NESTs were more approachable and flexible in assessments. They used varied approaches in delivering instructional materials, but tended to rely on older technology.The authors concluded that both NESTs and NNESTs had positive attributes that would complement each other’s work in the classroom (Liu & Zhang, 2007). In general, there appears to be contrasting views on the teaching behaviors of NESTs in the context of the Chinese university setting, and cultural expectations play a central role in student perceptions of teacher performance. Xiao (2006) investigated the mismatch between NESTs’ teaching and cultural expectations and Chinese students’ attitudes towards learning at two foreign language institutes in Ireland. The methodology included 34-item questionnaires that incorporated a 5-point Likert scale. Results showed that Chinese students had ambivalent attitudes TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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towards the communicative approach to learning, and showed a preference for teacher-centered classes. The researcher concluded with suggestions for NESTs to be aware of the influence culture has on teaching and learning so they can better handle possible conflicts in the classroom (Xiao, 2006). Cross-cultural differences were displayed in the selected studies, and resulted in cultural misunderstandings for both NESTs and EFL students. Based on student feedback, both NESTs and NNESTs each have their own advantages in the EFL classroom. Clearly, culture plays an important role in student learning preferences and it should be given consideration when NESTs teach in other cultural contexts. In the Saudi context, relatively little is known about Saudi female students’ experiences with NESTs in the EFL classroom. Furthermore, no other study has investigated students’ preferences towards student-centered learning in the Arabian Gulf region.Therefore, this study examines the following research questions: Do Saudi female students prefer studentcentered learning? Are there cultural differences with Saudi female students’ learning styles and their NESTs’ teaching styles?

Participants This study surveyed 310 female preparatory year students at a university in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Students were from the medical and computer science fields. They had studied EFL in schools for a period of ten years prior to enrollment in this intensive English program. In this program, they received 20 hours per week of English language instruction.

Data Collection The student questionnaire consisted of 30 fivepoint Likert scale questions in Arabic (see Table 1). The questions in the survey were divided into the following six categories, with each category consisting of a minimum of four questions: (a) general questions about a student-centered approach; (b) a student-centered approach to teaching reading; (c) a student-centered approach to teaching writing; (d) a student-centered approach to teaching speaking; (e) a student-centered approach to teaching listening; and (f) cultural aspects of learning EFL in Saudi Arabia. In early February of 2009 at the end of the first semester of learning EFL in a preparatory year program, students were given about 15-minutes to finish the survey.

Table 1

Results of English Version of Saudi Female University Student Questionnaire Survey Questions

Cumulative Percentages of SA and A

1. I like to be involved in decision-making about selection of materials.

2. I like my teacher to consider my opinion about lessons during our discussions.

3. I like my teacher to let me make my own choices for group-work.

4. I like my teacher to allow me to share or display my work for others in class.

5. I think it’s important for teachers to let us read passages with a partner.

6. I like to act out parts of what I have read in class.

7. I believe that teachers should let students share the knowledge they have on various reading topics before we read.

8. It is good when teachers let students choose other students to read classroom passages out loud.

9. I think that teachers should let us brainstorm topics in small groups before we write.

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Survey Questions

21 SA

Cumulative Percentages of SA and A

10. I like it when we use graphic organizers, or concept maps in pairs or groups before we write.

11. It is good when I can read my partnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; writing and give them feedback.

12. I like it when we get to write research projects with other students.

13. Speaking class is fun when we can do role-plays with partners.

14. It is fun to interview other students about topics in the chapter.

15. I like it when students get the chance to make their own presentations for the class.

16. I think students learn more when they can participate in dramas on topics in class.

17. I like to make and ask questions to other students after completing a role-play.

18. I would like my teacher to let me bring in my own recorded conversations for listening activities in class.

19. I like it when my teacher allows me to give a presentation, and others take notes.

20. I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important for students to present and others to listen to their conversations while identifying main ideas or specific details in pairs.

21. I think that my teacher makes learning fun by letting us choose and plan our own activities.

22. I believe that students should be dependent on their teachers for information.

23. I think my teacher wants me to do too much work.

24. I like my teacher to teach English using the Arabic language.

25. I prefer classroom activities that are unplanned.

26. I think it is acceptable for me to talk with others while my teacher is talking.

27. I think there needs to be more emphasis on memorization in class.

28. I believe teachers should embarrass misbehaving students to get them to follow directions.

29. I have a higher respect for teachers that come from my own region or tribe.

30. I believe that students should not question their teachers during class lectures.

Note: SA = Strongly Agree, A = Agree, N = Neutral, D = Disagree, SD = Strongly Disagree Volume 18

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22 Results General-All skills (Questions 1-4) Results from the survey showed that most students generally wanted to take ownership of their learning and make decisions regarding with whom they worked and presented with during class. Approximately an average of 83% surveyed agreed that having a say in the selection of class materials, having their opinions validated, and having freedom in the selection of groups were important to them.

Reading (Questions 5-8) Pertaining to reading, a mean of approximately 57% of those surveyed felt that it was relatively important for the teacher to allow partners for oral practice. A preference for student classroom involvement versus teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lecturing was yet another trait of studentcentered learning. However, the same was not true in regards to acting out parts of what was read in class. Only 30% agreed or somewhat agreed that this was necessary and 28% had no opinion on this teaching modality.Validation of their prior knowledge on topics before reading about them was important to these students as 70% agreed.

Writing (Questions 9-12) Over 77% of the students surveyed felt that being allowed to plan their writing, whether through a small group discussion or concept mapping using a graphic organizer was an integral part of their writing. However, the need to discuss their ideas and thoughts before writing did not necessarily transfer to the editing or writing of the papers. Approximately 49% of the students felt that peer editing their work was relevant to helping improve their own writing. Moreover, 33% of those surveyed felt indifferent to writing their papers with a partner.

Speaking (Questions 13-16) Compared to the reading and writing responses, speaking was not necessarily viewed as a welcomed activity. Only 46% of those surveyed felt that practicing speech when role-playing was a fun method of learning. About an equal percentage enjoyed presenting their work orally to the class. However, 56% felt that interviewing another student on the chapter was a good way of practicing their speaking skills and 54% felt that participating in dramatic parts in class was helpful.

Listening (Questions 17-20) When asked about their preference on making and Volume 18

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asking questions after a role-playing assignment, 58% felt that it was a good activity. . Of those surveyed, 53% found it enjoyable and important when the teacher allowed them to present as others took notes. However, only 42% wanted to bring their own recorded conversations to class for listening activities.

Cultural Education Questions (Questions 21-30) According to students, 61% felt that when the teacher allowed them to choose and plan their activities, learning became more enjoyable. However, 81% of those surveyed felt that they should be dependent on their teachers for information. Additionally, 56% believed that there was too much work given in class demonstrating that the students are being asked to be more involved in their own learning process. Nevertheless, this is a more challenging task and thus perceived as more work for students. More than half of the students, 66%, preferred that their English teacher use the Arabic language to teach them English. Additionally, approximately 60% of students expressed a preference for having a set of structured classroom activities. Under half of the students surveyed, 41%, found it acceptable to talk while the teacher is speaking and 30% have no opinion on the matter. Surprisingly, only 28% felt that there needed to be more emphasis on memorization activities. Upwards of 57% of those surveyed felt that the teacher should embarrass students who were misbehaving.Only 27% of the students surveyed said they had a higher respect for teachers that belonged to their own religion or tribe. Approximately 31% of those surveyed had no opinion on questioning their teachers during a class lecture and 21% stated that teachers should not be questioned during the lecture. Half of the respondents in the study still subscribe to the teacher-centered learning model when it comes to viewing teachers as depositories of knowledgeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; they are the authority figure and should not be questioned.

Discussion In the General Skills category, studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; responses displayed several significant points. These included the use of native language, preference for structured teacher-centered instruction, and the importance of memorization, and classroom etiquette. The findings of the study indicated that Saudi female students prefer to have someone who can explain concepts to TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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them in their native language. This concurred with the findings of Saito and Ebsworth (2004) who found that Japanese students also preferred explanations in their native language. Students expressed a preference for having a set of structured classroom activities as also evidenced in Xiao’s (2006) study with Chinese students. Typically, students in a teacher-centered classroom adhere to the mindset that the teacher is the dispenser of knowledge. Although Saudi female students welcomed the student-centered activities, they still believe that memorization is an effective learning tool when learning English. It is not surprising to find that students believe that memorization is critical in their learning process since it is a predominant method used in most of their schooling experience at elementary and secondary levels change to (United Nations, 2003). In the reading category, students’ responses indicated their preferences towards a student-centered approach. Students acknowledged the value of selfcontribution in regards to knowledge acquisition during reading activities. Although relevant research in adult settings is limited with regards to a studentcentered approach for reading, the results of this study corroborate current evidence-based practices for ESL and TEFL students (Peyton, Moore, & Young, 2007). Giving students opportunities to read in student-centered activities could improve their skills and seems to be preferred by TEFL students. Student responses about writing were not consistent. For example, students stated that they were comfortable brainstorming writing ideas together while being uncomfortable with peer editing. This could be due to the fact that brainstorming is a non-threatening social activity while peer editing requires critical analysis of another student’s work. Considering that Saudi society values the group over the individual, activities like peer editing singles a person out. Students are apprehensive about their peers looking at their written work. Peer editing is a learnt skill and students need time to adjust to this type of strategy and to learn how to give and receive appropriate feedback (Hansen & Liu, 2005). Factors that might influence such behavior are lack of selfconfidence, low proficiency skills, shyness, and not wanting to appear foolish in front of peers. These factors can be reduced by proper implementation of peer editing from the teacher (Hansen & Liu, 2005). Similar to the responses in the writing category, student responses in speaking illustrated a clear Volume 18

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23 preference for social group activities in lieu of individual performance activities that place students in the center stage. A preference was shown for interviewing and role-playing over individual class presentations. A similar result to a lesser extent was present in Reid’s (1987) study with ESL students from Arab backgrounds. Reid found that there was a slight preference towards group work, although the major learning style was visual. For the listening category, students’ responses indicated an indifference towards non-traditional tasks. They appeared to be more comfortable with pencil and paper tasks than bringing in their own tape-recorded conversations. From a previous study with learning styles, it was found that students from Arab backgrounds preferred visual over auditory learning (Reid). Additionally, roughly half the students were amenable to giving oral presentations while others took notes. This was a surprising result since in writing and speaking the students preferred non-threatening social activities. However, in listening activities they do not mind giving individual oral presentations. While this appears to be a contradiction requiring further study, it could be that in this scenario the student would be in a leadership role similar to that of the teacher, possibly making it more appealing. One key conclusion drawn from the cultural category in the survey is that Saudi female students have an inclination towards Arabic speaking English teachers. This correlates to previous studies that also state that students like having NNESTs (Liu & Zhang, 2007; Saito & Ebsworth, 2004 ). However, only a small percentage of students indicated that they would have a higher regard for NNESTs from their own region or tribe. NESTs and NNESTs should be aware that tribalism is a cultural factor that is present in Saudi TEFL academic settings as it could possibly influence the student/teacher relationship in TEFL classes there.

Conclusion The findings of this study show that while Saudi students showed acceptance toward the studentcentered learning approach, not all student-centered activities are well-liked. There are certain activities within the student centered learning approach that are not chosen as preferred activities, such as individually recording speech at home for listening to in class. While they welcome and enjoy partner and group activities, they are reluctant to participate in certain activities that would put them on center stage. In writing activities for example, students TESOL Arabia Perspectives

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24 found the verbalization of ideas through collective brainstorm activities beneficial. However, they were not ready to share or display their individual work with peers. This could be a result of the influences of a tribal culture, where the group is more highly valued than the individual. Saudi culture has an important influence in the learning of EFL as shown in this study. The teachercentered approach is thriving. The belief that teachers have absolute knowledge of their respective subject area is clear as more than 80% of students surveyed said that they should be dependent on their teachers for information. The preference for learning English through the use of Arabic can be attributed to the students’ experience of learning English in schools in Saudi Arabia, where the majority of EFL teachers teach English by using the Arabic language. Dependency on native language EFL learning appears to make students uncomfortable when they are asked to communicate in English in their classes with NESTs. This study demonstrated that while most Saudi educational settings often use a teacher-centered approach and memorization methodology, there is the possibility of using other pedagogical means such as discovery and problem-based learning. Although Saudi society is often perceived as closed and conservative, student willingness to participate in a Western model of learning such as studentcentered learning is gradually being accepted. While most students are accustomed to traditional ways of learning English in schools, they acknowledge that other ways of learning English can be fun and effective. Implications from this study indicate that the new generation of Saudi students are willing to experience a non-traditional teaching style. They find learning both from NESTs and NNESTs beneficial. English Language Centers in Saudi Arabia should employ NESTs as well as NNESTs who have experience in the use of a student-centered approach. Teacher-training programs should also examine and implement innovative ways of teaching English for their pre-service teachers by exposing them to a student-centered approach. The key lesson is that teachers have to be selective in their choice of student-centered activities taking into consideration their students’ cultural background and learning preferences.

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References Bada, E., & Okan, Z. (2000, May). Students’ language learning preferences.The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language, 4(3). Retrieved from http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/past-issues/ volume4/ej15/ej15a1/ Hansen, J. G., & Liu, J. (2005). Guiding principles for effective peer response. ELT Journal 59(1), 31-38. Liu, M., & Zhang, L. (2007). Student perceptions of native & non-native English teacher’s attitudes, teaching skills assessment and performance. Asian EFL Journal, 10. Retrieved from http://www. asian-efl-journal.com/Dec_2007_ml&lz.php Peyton, J. K., Moore, S. C. K., & Young, S. (2007). Evidence-based, student-based instructional practices. CAELA Network Brief. Retrieved from http://www.cal.org/caelanetwork/pdfs/ EvidenceBasedFinalWeb.pdf Putintseva, T. (2003). The importance of learning styles in ESL/EFL. The Internet TESL Journal, 7(3) 1-5. Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Articles/ Putintseva-LearningStyles.html Reid, J. M. (1987). The learning style preferences of ESL students. TESOL Quarterly, 21(1), 87-110. Saito, H., & Ebsworth, M. (2004). Seeing English language teaching and learning through the eyes of Japanese EFL and ESL students. Foreign Language Annals, 37(1) 111-122. Saudi Arabia Ministry of Education. (2005). The executive summary of the Ministry of Education tenyear plan, 2nded. Retrieved from http://planipolis. iiep.unesco.org/upload/Saudi%20Arabia/ Saudi%20Arabia%20Education%20Plan%20 English%20summary.pdf United Nations Development Programme. (2003). The Arab human development report 2003: Building a knowledge society. New York: United Nations Publications. Retrieved from http:// www.arab-hdr.org/publications/other/ahdr/ ahdr2003e.pdf Xiao, L. (2006). Bridging the gap between teaching styles and learning styles: A cross-cultural perspective. Journal for Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, 10(3) 1-15.

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Lesson Plan

Activities for Most Texts Julia Dudas

Andrew Wright

International Languages Institute Budapest and Godollo, Hungary Interesting authentic texts are fairly easy to find, particularly from the Internet, but it takes time to decide how to use them. We have evolved this list of generalizable activities to help get our minds going when we find an interesting text.

Reading and discussing 1 Students skim the article in no more than x seconds/minutes (e.g., 30 seconds per A4 page). The students say what they picked up. Explain the expression skim for the gist. Ask in which circumstances they must skim a text. 2 Students skim again and discuss. 3 Now the teacher chooses a particular fact which is in the text, summarizes it or refers to the topic, and asks the students to find it. Explain that we use the expression to scan the text when looking for a particular bit of information. 4 Having skimmed the text, the students read it more carefully. Ask them to note what is new information/interesting/useful/missing/ wrong, or from their point of view, which words or phrases they want to learn and use.

Before, During and After We find it helpful to be guided by the wellestablished plan of Before, During, and After. Here are some of our reasons for doing activities related to Before, During and After:

Before ◆

to help students understand new words which are important in the text ◆ to help students focus their minds on the topic and to raise interest ◆ to set students a task to do while they listen or read

The students can use phrases like: ◆ What I found most.... (interesting/surprising/shocking/ annoying/amusing/sensible/wrong/ inaccurate) was.... ◆ It says/suggests/implies that.... ◆ Generally, it is sensible/accurate/ok, but parts of it are wrong/not true/unbelievable. ◆ What I found wrong/good about the article is the idea of.... ◆ The general idea of the article is that....and this is argued by saying that.... ◆ According to the article....

During ◆

to show their understanding as students hear or read ◆ to keep students’ attention ◆ to help students get more out of the text including surface meaning, implications of the text, and personal response

After ◆

to show understanding of apparent meanings and implied meanings ◆ to respond reflectively and creatively ◆ to encourage students to evaluate the text and to share their views with others

A Basic Procedure

5 Discuss who wrote it, employed by whom, for whom, with what purpose and to be read in what context. Discuss how the presentation and the text reflect this analysis. 6 After, we sometimes ask the students to read the

Here is one of our most common procedures which is closely modelled on what we normally do in real life: reading and using and/or reporting to others.

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Lesson Plan

text aloud for pronunciation practice and then ask them to give a rough translation into their mother tongue sentence by sentence.

Showing Understanding During or After Jumbled texts The students put jumbled bits of the text in the correct order. Alternatively, give each student one bit of text and all students must stand in sequence holding their bit of text.

Listening and discussing Instead of the students reading as in the above progression we might ask them to listen to us reading the text. They can make notes.You might want to introduce the idea of interrupting you by saying, “Sorry, could you say that again?”

Gapped text Students complete the text (gapped text) with words missing (e.g., prepositions).

Sometimes we do old fashioned dictation because it is really possible to see what they have heard. We use some techniques from Dictation: New Methods, New Possibilities (Davis & Rinvolucri, 1988), for example, allowing students to interrupt you and ask you to repeat what you said. Alternatively, say “bleep” to create an oral gapped text.

Reconstruction Students reconstruct a text which is in some way incomplete or defective (e.g., a gapped text/jumbled text, sequencing paragraphs/a selection of key words/removing parts of the text which do not belong there).

Retelling in writing or speaking

Activities for Use with Most Texts

Students re-tell in writing or speaking more or less accurately, for example, jokes and short stories, from memory only or from note taking.

Below are different activities according to purpose or type of text. They can be used in modified form at most proficiency levels. The students read and/or listen to the texts. Traditional comprehension tests such as true/false, matching, sequencing, gap filling, and so on, are to a greater or lesser extent incorporated into the activity types.

Inventing a title or subtitles Students invent a title or set of subtitles.

Reduction Students reduce the text but keep the essential content information by omitting words, phrases and sentences; combining sentences; turning it into “telegraphese” (the gist of the text).

Helping Understanding Before Reading New words Teach new words by mime, picture, example, mother tongue, synonyms, antonyms, or dictionary.

Summarizing To practice summarizing, Student A selects 3 words from his/her text and Student B asks questions to find out what the text is about.

Focus on the topic before the text Focus on the topic before the text by discussion of the students’ experience, pictures, prediction from the title or accompanying picture or from one or two sentences taken out of the text or from a few key words taken out of the text, questions from the teacher, or brainstorming a mind map of associations with the topic.

Comparing and contrasting Students compare and contrast two or more texts to find the differences and similarities in content and/or in style, for example, by identifying words and expressions which are common to both, ideas common or different in both, facts present in both or different in both.

Predicting

Matching

Show students the text if it is a published in a magazine or newspaper. Let them see the title. Ask them to guess the sort of things the writer is probably saying. Ask them to write the questions they would like to be answered by the text. Jumble bits of the text and ask the students to put them in the correct order.

Students match several headlines with several articles.

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Preparing questions for other students Students prepare questions for other students such as comprehension questions, interpretation questions, true/false questions, and so on, which they themselves can answer.

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Lesson Plan

Running dictation

Using all varieties of question, for example, who, what, where, when, why, which, how, put several texts of different types on the wall and then ask the students to devise ten questions which are pooled and each group has to answer them all as a competition.

The text is displayed on a wall. Student A runs to the text, remembers what he/she can, runs back to Student B and tries to dictate it (Davis & Rinvolucri, 1988).

Evaluating Texts

Give the students answers and ask them to write the questions.

Selection and ranking

The teacher reads out the text in a normal voice making changes to the factual information in the text. The students put up their hand when they think there is a change.

Students select and/or rank items of content according to a specified purpose (i.e., reader/listener, aim, expected outcome, context), for example, for inclusion in a school magazine, choosing the most difficult, original, contentious, personal, formal, or informal. Students can do it from their point of view and then from five different points of view (e.g., editor, parent, director of the school, teacher).

Pass the message

Analyzing

Each student silently reads a short text, memorizes the gist of it and then tells his/her neighbor who writes it down and then, without reading it, tells their neighbor, and so on, along a line of 8 people. Finally compare all messages with the originals and try to account for changes. Hypothesize how this activity relates to the workplace.

Students analyze the medium, and hypothesize the intended audience (age, sex, nationality, economic status, specialist, casual, etc.), nature and purpose of the writer and of the publisher (inform, amuse, persuade, shock, deceive, advise), context of reading, when the text was written and how it relates to the society of the times.

Discussing content Discuss content with a “for and against” debate or through a simulation based on the text.

True/false listening

Students can also analyze the basic ordering of ideas in the text in order to achieve the likely aims of the writer.

Titles and what they imply Each student reads a text and gets to know it well. Student B is then given the title of Student A’s text, and tries to guess the content of the text by asking questions of Student A.

Cultural analysis Based on a text, ask students what they can hypothesize about the culture from a text (e.g., an advertisement) from that culture (e.g., men/women relationships).

Jumbled listening Each student is given a text, divides it into three, reads out each part in the wrong order and the other students try to decide what sequence the sections should be in.

Comparing Students compare two texts with similar content but intended for different purposes, different readers, different contexts.

Dictation Dictation 1

Responding Creatively

The students listen to a continuously spoken and repeated text and slowly build up the whole thing (Davis & Rinvolucri, 1988).

Re-telling in a different medium This means understanding the text and then being able to re-conceive it through a different medium which will inevitably change its character. Give time and length restrictions as well as form. The media might be other text media, such as an oral story or in writing, poetry, a play for video or audio recording, a newspaper article, headline, letter,

Dictation 2 The student writes things he/she agrees with at the top of the page and disagrees with at the bottom of the page (Davis & Rinvolucri, 1988).

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Lesson Plan

advertisement, or a non-verbal medium such as pictures or mime.

Re-telling for a different audience Students can re-tell for an audience such as a 12-year-old foreign learner of English or a 4 to 5-year-old English native speaker.

Re-tell as a different writer

Role play Students take on the role of either the writer, a protagonist or an antagonist, or somebody affected by the content of the text. The role play can be done either by exchange writing or through letter writing or through oral dialogue role play. An example might be one person complaining about the misfortune indicated in the text and another person giving advice which is then disputed by the complainer.

Give each student about 10 small pieces of paper. Each student reads the article and writes a bit of information from the article on each piece of paper. Then the student tells his/her neighbor, who then rearranges the pieces of paper, and then rewrites the article.

An example might be that a company meeting is held to discuss the effect of the content of the article on their work (the company could be invented or an existing company could be used).

Expansion Concentrate on content by having students add information about people's appearance or reasons for their actions, or what happened before or after the given text. Concentrate on form by adding adjectives, adverbs, sentences, subordinate clauses.

An example based on catalogues, brochures, advertisements, and so on, might be that the students speculate about what they would buy and why. A specific example might be where to house their head office from the advertisements of real estate in the local English newspaper.

Personal response Have students say what the text reminds them of, the images or feelings it gives them, the things they would like to know more about and the questions they would like to ask the author. Ask them what is good about the text for them and not so good.

An example based on adverts for jobs might be writing a job description, writing a person profile, planning the interview, planning being the interviewee, simulating the interview, deciding on the applicant, and analyzing the whole procedure.

Springboard writing

If a role play is sustained from lesson to lesson it takes on the form of a soap opera. Through the form of soap operas any aspect whatsoever of business, from interviews to office gossip to the effect of take overs, can be lived out and talked through.

Use the text as a starting point for students’ own writing, perhaps a parallel text set in a different time or place, using one part of the text as a starting point for their own text, or using the same title but nothing else, or using a selection of words or phrases as a starting point.

Rewrite as true/false Students rewrite the text changing some bits of information. Other students must decide what is true and what is false.

Ask students to write what happened before and/or after the text. Ask students to write an interview based on the text.

Select phrases and rewrite

Extend the text and relate it to other texts, pictures, or experiences of the students, perhaps making use of questionnaires.

The students select 5 to 10 phrases which they think are important to the text. When they have done this, take the original text from them and ask them to write a completely new text using the phrases they have selected.

The craft of journalism

Personal

Topic extension

Students try to improve a text by rewriting it five times in five ways.

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Students think about the relationship between the text and their job responsibilities for a few

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minutes. Then Student B asks questions to find out what the relevance is. (A related non text based idea is bringing in an object or other artefact which is key in the person’s job and talking about it.)

intermediate more and advanced the full subtlety.

Subtracting Students rewrite a text and remove all slang, idioms and jargon.

Explicitly Studying the Language

Word by word

Underlining

A student reads out from his/her text word by word. The other students must hypothesize about the meaning of the word, meaning of the word related to previous words, content, implication, subject, style, purpose, writer, aim, reader, context of reading, text type and/or type of publication, and so on.

Students underline: ◆ words they know (or don’t know) ◆ specialist vocabulary ◆ collocations and lexical chunks ◆ metaphors ◆ formal and informal items ◆ grammar points the teacher specifies ◆ the words and phrases which are typically journalistic (if it is an article) ◆ the words and phrases which signal the direction the writer wants to go ◆ collocations ◆ metaphors

Jumbled words Jumble three sentences from a text. In groups, students put them together. They hypothesize about the text (i.e., writer, reader, content, purpose, style, register, formality/informality). Students compare their ideas with the complete text.

Hypothesize

Analysing formality/informality level

Students hypothesize about a grammatical generalization in English based on examples given in the text.

Students analyze the text according to passive/impassive language (to de-personalise responsibility or to focus more on action than protagonist), nominalise verbs (e.g., maximisation of resources instead of to maximise resources), Latin or Greek derived vocabulary (e.g., my definitive response instead of my last answer), compound conjunctions and time expressions (e.g., moreover, therefore, etc.).

Analysing Students analyze the thinking in terms of ideas and of the language they are expressed in, for example, clarity, logic, cohesion of ideas and formal/informal style, sentence complexity, word precision, tense frequency, ratio of content and function words, or listing content words of a certain type.

Students analyze a text according to level of formality and appropriacy related to written or oral form or discuss the reason for the choice of level. Experiment with moving the level up or down but saying the same thing.

Rewriting for different proficiency levels Students rewrite a text so that elementary learners could get the main sense of it,

Julia Dudas is director of the International Languages Institute (ILI) in Budapest and Godollo, Hungary which has contracts with the Ministry of the Interior, Bosch, Sony, Procter and Gamble, Lear Corporation, Aegon Insurance, and Glaxo Smith Kline. ILI has also run the Trinity College London Teachers Certificate Course and the Trinity Business English Course Certificate (IBET) for the last ten years. Dudas has done short courses for teachers in fifteen countries including Japan, Pakistan and Brazil. She was a senior lecturer in English Language Teaching at the universities of Budapest and Godollo, Hungary, from 1985 to 1995. Julia can be contacted at Julia@ili.hu. Andrew Wright is an author, illustrator, teacher trainer and storyteller. As an author he has published with Oxford University Press, Storytelling with Children, Creating Stories with Children, Arts and Crafts in the resource book series, and with Cambridge University Press, he has published Games for Language Learning, Five Minute Activities and Pictures for Language Learning, and with Pearson Longman, 1000 Pictures for Teachers to Copy, and with Helbling Languages, Writing Stories. As a teacher trainer, he has worked with teachers in over thirty countries. As a storyteller, he has worked with approximately 40,000 students during the last fifteen years in about twenty countries. He runs the International Languages Institute (ILI) in Hungary with his wife Julia Dudas. He can be contacted at Andrew@ili.hu.

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Studying reading

Students can also compare the visual design of two or more texts from different publications.

Ask the students to reflect on how they went about their reading, that is, predicting content, ideas, purpose, style from the form of the publication, predicting from the title, skimming the text for gist, or scanning it to find particular things, noticing signals, picking up on things they agree/disagree with or which surprised them or which they expected, reading implications between the lines, deciding on the gist of the idea, or deciding on their own standpoint related to the text.

Conclusion Sometimes it is enriching if the students work out the activities and give their questions, challenges, and so on to other students to do (or even back to themselves). For example, students can write out ten comprehension questions, photocopy, cut up and muddle up a text, or evaluate which is the best summary of a text done by other groups. These activities can be done without too much preparation, with most short texts such as short stories, newspaper articles, poems, lyrics, letters, advertisements, publicity material, and propaganda. The ideas apply, principally, to written texts but can also be applied to spoken texts.

Pronunciation Stressed word Students read the text and underline stressed words and then listen to the teacher reading the text and discuss which words are stressed and why.

Acknowledgement

Pitch

Some of these ideas have been taken from or adapted from Mark Powell’s Trinity Cert IBET course, next course, August 2012. See www.teachertraining.hu. See also www.andrewarticlesandstories.wordpress.com.

Students read the text and underline words that have a different pitch and then listen to the teacher reading the text and discuss which words have a different pitch and why.

References

Chunks

Davis, P., & Rinvolucri, M. (1988). Dictation: New methods, new possibilities. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Students read the text and underline chunks of words and then listen to the teacher reading the text and discuss which words are chunked and why.

Wright, A., Betteridge, D., & Buckby, M. (1983). Games for language learning. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Presentation and delivery Read the text in different ways and discuss what each way might mean.

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Explicitly Studying the Graphic and Typographic Expression of the Text Students can examine the:

❉

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Design (i.e., medium, e.g., paper/card character, colour, tone, line, texture, illustration style, photo, typeface, size, setting, etc.)

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Purpose (i.e., clarity, readability, expression of content, expression of writer status, etc.)

Overall visual design (of the publication related to publisher, purpose, reader etc.)

Pictures, design and texts (their character, roles and relationships) Volume 18

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Voices of Saudi Women Bloggers The Internet has played an unexpected role in the educational processes in the Middle East, where online institutions such as the Arab Open University, Saudi Arabia, and Lootah University, United Arab Emirates, suit the stay-at-home lifestyle. The practical yet innovative methods of practicing English offered by the Internet are what I harnessed when beginning my ESL blog in 2006 for Saudi female students, Philosophy Café. I also wanted to give women a global platform to discuss the social issues that they chose to talk about, while providing them with the opportunity to explain what they—women behind the mysterious veil of Saudi Arabia—have to say. This desire to clarify the Saudi lifestyle to the global community is predominant for my students who often tell me about their interrogations in airports or how they often feel mocked or belittled when in other countries. The scenarios they describe in hotels, restaurants and airports in countries such as America, England, France and other countries are humiliating at worst and misunderstandings based on stereotypes at best. All my students are too young to remember 9-11, but they have all faced the after effects: tougher visa restrictions on Saudis and stereotypes that all Saudis are terrorists. Then there are the Hollywood-inspired delusions about living in tents with faucets that pump out oil and pet camels. Blogging provides the means for traditionally reserved female Saudi students to be able to express themselves to a global audience.

reading, or ignore that it is happening and stick to the same old methods. If we don’t catch up with technology, it threatens to reduce ELT methods to a mere duty that students are not motivated to participate in. In fact, the regional impetus to use the World Wide Web and the power of social media demonstrate the raw desires, and in some cases, needs of people to express themselves. In addition, we should also not miss the fact that in many Middle Eastern countries, the Internet is a major pastime and way to meet others. This passion for technology combined with the prestige of having an online identity is a powerful combination which people in the Middle East, and beyond, are drawn to. The technological context in the Gulf countries, and certainly Saudi Arabia where I teach, is a comfortable one, with several ipads, laptops and innumerable blackberries in every classroom. Getting online is never an issue and the fact that students get updates when comments are made on their blogs in real-time via their mobiles, creates a sense of urgency to respond. Students are immersed in the English language, use critical thinking and tune in to their tolerance and debating skills when they respond to comments left on their blogs.

Saudi Women and Social Media If there is one tool that teachers have in the classroom, which is dynamic, diverse and offers something for everyone, it is the Internet. In fact, according to Dieu and Stevens (2007), collaborative online tools can be used as a part of an ESL course to foster reading and writing. Blogging and

ESL teachers can either use this passion, shaping it in a way that encourages creative writing and Volume 18

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blended learning methods that use the Internet are particularly useful for Saudi women, who, due to cultural norms, lead private lives, as well as for those students who wish to remain quiet in class. Alebeikan and Troudi (2010) explain that students who do not usually participate in class have a chance to be involved online by posting comments and questions. Blogging can encourage students to develop learner autonomy by giving them permission to express their opinions. It frees and helps develop critical opinions while encouraging the self-expression of women who have traditionally been kept under the radar. In fact, Saudi women were not able to register in Saudi colleges and universities until 1961 when King Saud enabled women to take classes and, later in 1975, allowed them to be enrolled in degree programs (Hamdan, 2005). In Saudi Arabia, female literacy is estimated to be at 50 percent, and male literacy at 72 per cent (UNDP, 2003 as cited in Hamdan, 2005). In addition, for Saudi women, freedom of expression and their overall attraction to social media is different and possibly stronger than Saudi men because they live more restricted lives. To elaborate, most Saudi bloggers and writers are men, thus Saudi women have not traditionally been asked on a public platform what they think of local or global social issues. Their commentary has not been sought after; thus, their voices have been restricted to private conversations, or the classroom, when and if student-centered methods are used.

aggregate them into similar groups. When I created Philosophy Café five years ago on xanga, I was inspired to do so as I maintained a personal blog to keep my family and friends updated about my life abroad. I selected xanga because it offered some privacy features for the less outgoing students, and the ability to create a blog-circle which links all the participants’ blogs together. In starting Philosophy Café, I was fueled by the Saudi love of technology, so I created a motivational way to foster good reading and writing habits amongst my upper level students. However, I did not realize that there would be so much interest in what Saudi women have to say from the local and international community. Out of this blogging circle of students, who write about local and global social issues, we have received encouragement from local newspaper editors, international journalists, other bloggers, and a women’s group aimed at building bridges between East and West. Through blogging Saudi women have gained a public presence, and gained web development skills. They also relish the experience of being heard and display the desire to express themselves online, whereas they may be more reserved and less critical in person. “Our websites may be the only time someone hears about a Saudi, so we need to write well,” commented one student in an anonymous survey on motivation that I gave my students. Saudi women are a quietly developing part of society who are making headway into a developing academic and professional environment for women in the country. Thus, using blended learning methods enables them to develop their skills and opens another door for them to communicate while developing their skills in technology.

Creating a Blog Web logs can be made for free or at a low cost on many different platforms including blogger, wordpress, edublogs, xanga, and others. Features of blogs usually include Lobat Asadi is an American-Iranian who a writing area, a has been teaching ESOL in Saudi Arabia for comment area, seven years. Her areas of research include options to add English as a global language, linguistic imperialism, critical pedagogy and corpus permalinks such as linguistics. Lobat has contributed as the articles, videos or Middle East sociolinguistic advisor to LIFE, pictures related to the Cengage National Geographic ELT course for adult learners, which will be the post, tracking published in 2012. how many people For further information contact the author visit the post and at: loloasadi@gmail.com or blog, and options to www.xanga.com/philosophy_cafe. tag entries to

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After a couple of semesters of collaborative blogging, Philosophy Café took on a life of its own. Mona El Tahawy, a well-known AmericanEgyptian writer, and Tariq AlMaeena of the Arab News newspaper began sending me their articles for my students to read and review. AlMaeena (Asadi, 2007) sent us an article to read about Saudi women in the workplace and how ineffective they can be. It was ironic that many students agreed with his sentiments, and blogger Rahaf1988 (2007) added: “To be honest I would also prefer a male

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doctor.” Yet students were optimistic that women would improve their work ethics and skills and would eventually surpass men in Saudi society:

the article they read in class. After peer editing and teacher editing, the students were given a deadline to post their edited writing on their individual blogs. Then they were encouraged to visit each others’ blogs and leave comments about others’ posts. However, Philosophy Café has not been a replacement for academic writing. Blogging seems best used as a creative writing medium where critical thinking, freedom of expression and positive, tolerant exchanges of ideas are encouraged.

“Had an interview with a Saudi woman and she taught me a lot of things such as I can do anything if I just keep working to achieve it no matter what. For example she is 38 years old, has 4 children and is working in a bank, too. Besides all of that she started her own business without support from her husband. So that is an example that shows you that Saudi women can work and be productive and do much better than Saudi men.” (Rahaf1988 in Philosophy Café, 2007)

Blogging and Motivation Education and technology combined with blogging as the process begins with a student-selected article that is read in class. Then critical discussion about all sides of the issue is encouraged, which leads to an outline, draft, and a final draft that becomes the blog entry which is published online. Blogging also creates a sense of being followed and well-known on the Internet. As a result, students demonstrate a willingness to improve their spelling and grammar, so their weaknesses are not exposed to the general public online. This intrinsic motivation is coupled with extrinsic motivation as students realize they are being recognized for their opinions and actually sought out by editors from locally read and respected newspapers such as the Arab News, which occasionally sends them articles to comment on. The motivation to write, especially amongst Saudi students who are usually more adept in speaking and communication activities, is a pleasant part of the blogging atmosphere that I assessed in an online student survey in 2010 at Al Yamamah University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Fifty-six percent of the 30 female Saudi students surveyed said they wanted to learn English to get a good job, while 43 percent said it was to improve their self-confidence. Likewise, Dörnyei (1994) explains that the relationship between social attitudes and motivation is present when learning a second language because there is an embedded cultural filter. Having an online presence can be motivating for the average person, as it boosts self-confidence and importance. This was demonstrated in student blogs when the students’ blogs created public attention, both within and out of the university. The blogs gave the students ownership of their opinions and built their confidence in their ability to express themselves

Utilizing social media is a two-way learning method, and my students have not only been pleased to use the Internet as a means to do their homework, but they have been able to write about their lives and Saudi Arabia in the process. For example, at one point we connected with a women’s organization, Peace X Peace, and began a blogging project with web-based pen-pals from the United States. What began as a method to engage students in collaborative homework while granting me easy access to their writing led to journalists and peace-makers asking me to have my students write about various topics they found interesting such as women working, driving, and education. In addition, Saudi students I have taught have been motivated by writing about their country and customs, as well as sharing their opinions. Hot topic issues such as interracial marriages, Muslims serving in the U.S. military and the Islamic version of a bathing suit, the burqini, have all been student selected subjects of web posts.

Creative Writing and Blogging The blogging project has worked well as a student social commentary log about current events with the topics being student generated. Therefore, the students were asked to bring in articles that they thought would be interesting to write about for the class to read and to ask the class several critical questions related to the article. After some discussion, the students gained enough knowledge so that they could form an opinion about the topic. The students then wrote a commentary style article of at least one paragraph with reference to Volume 18

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articulately which motivated them to write more. A personal blog grants a person an online presence and the sense that readers care about their opinions, even if that opinion is contrary to their own, and this has encouraged students to write longer, and engage in brief debates via the comments feature of their blogs. When there have been comments after a posting, the students have demonstrated more motivation to comment, and they engage in spirited discussions in class about their blog comments, which rarely occurs in traditional homework assignments. In addition, the students do not resent the writing assignment even though it may involve reading, drafting, posting and following-up on the comments. The process is more time-consuming and engaging than time spent on most other types of homework. In fact, when given the choice to blog directly without a first draft in class, the students said they would rather compose a draft before writing directly on their blogs. “I don’t want to make any mistakes and look uneducated to people online – this may be the only time they speak with a Saudi person!” said an anonymous survey respondent. Not all the interaction with the global community was positive, for example, in web blogs the students wrote in reaction to an article on “Islamophobia” (Kristof, 2010). Some students ended up explaining their faith to a man who did not care for Muslims. Some critical discussion and debate emerged in class one morning when a new subscriber to the blog circle asked a student on her blog:

The students were interested in reading the comments the student had received and they helped her compose an appropriate response. They were interested in letting the person know that Islam is a peaceful religion and they felt they needed to explain the context of the Quranic verses that NewerThanNow had referred to.

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Language Teaching Implications While issues such as e-plagiarism may arise when assigning web logs as homework, it is easily manageable if the piece is drafted in class before the final approval is granted for students to post their entries on their blogs. Alebeikan and Troudi (2010, p. 512) explain that Saudi undergraduate students are not familiar with plagiarism. Thus, it is important to explain and encourage students to do their own writing and avoid cutting and pasting. By guiding the students through the process of article selection, reading and identifying the different points of view therein, and leading them in developing and writing their opinions, plagiarism is avoided and critical thinking is fostered. In addition, it can be challenging at first to teach the students how to create the blog, but once they gain confidence and start visiting other blogs, they gain momentum and are less intimidated by technicality. If the entire blogging activity begins with face-to-face instruction, followed by blogging, the student loses any inhibition about writing online while gaining confidence in the task and writing process. Another pedagogical difficulty that arose was with the student-selected articles for the web blogs. The articles were not always interesting to the students or appropriate for commentary on their blogs. For example, an article about organ donation was selected one week by a student but it did not elicit much critique amongst the students, whose responses were generic and often medical in nature. However, when a student selected a more socially stimulating topic, the students’ writing was longer and the replies to their blogs increased. This was demonstrated when a student brought in an article about the arrest of an unrelated man and woman by the religious police of Saudi Arabia (Verma, 2008). While most of the girls thought it was unfortunate that the Jordanian woman, Yara,

Are you really going to be friends with Jews and Christians when the Quran says not to? When the Quran tells you to be harsh to us and kind to each other? When the Quran says we are the most vile of creatures? How can you say Islam promotes peaceful coexistence of religions? (NewerThanNow, 2011 in Aliaalrasheed, 2011).

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Although fueled by some disturbing comments, the students were eager to respond and felt obliged to explain the situation to the best of their abilities. They worked together and collaboratively responded with more energy and motivation than I had ever seen them do for another homework assignment.

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2005), a book that exposed many inner secrets of young Saudi women and which was banned in Saudi Arabia until 2008. Fajoor said she agreed with the inner private lifestyle that was revealed in the book:

was arrested, they also felt it was within the rights of the Saudi judicial system to arrest the woman. Madaawi AlSaadi (2010) explained that in her opinion, “residents should respect the law of the country that they live in,” yet she added that the religious police in Saudi Arabia should be respectful and polite when approaching people for offenses.

But the only problem was that her book was about girls from the velvet class and they are only about 20% of the Saudi community that’s why it was hard to publish her book in Riyadh and most of the community has rejected it. I just want to congratulate this girl for what she has done because it takes a lot of courage to write a book that reveals all of these secrets about a community that doesn’t reveal any secrets. (Fajoor, 2007)

In addition, I observed that using socially relevant material in class has helped me as a teacher to better understand the perspectives of Saudi women. This has enabled me to become a more empathetic teacher. For example, I noted that while all the students felt sorry for the woman who was arrested, most students stated that she created the problem for herself when she chose to meet with her male colleague in public. Through these observations, my personal opinions about sociocultural topics in Saudi Arabia became irrelevant and I have learned to remain a guest observer of my Saudi students’ opinions. I learned that my students benefit the most from critically analyzing and applying their opinions within their own social contexts.

Socio-linguistic Benefits of Student Blogging By tracking students’ attitudes in their blog posts, it was apparent students were more motivated when the course content was relevant to them socioculturally. In addition, the fact that people outside the classroom would be able to read their blogs was a concern to students. Thus, students were concerned with bringing an educated and intelligent face to their web blogs. In addition, the fact that their web blogs may be the only interaction that some people were to have with Saudis was noted as a strong motivational factor for students to improve grammar and sentence structure.

Motivation and Culture The readings that were the most relevant to the young Saudi female students created more of an online buzz and motivated the students to write. For example, while I noted that the article about Yara was from 2008, so it may have been used in another class before, the topic led to better critical writing on the students’ web blogs. Thus, it became irrelevant if the article was recycled or not as the students avoided plagiarizing and were willing to write about the topic because they were motivated by the sociocultural topic. In fact, Gardner and MacIntyre (as cited in Dörnyei 1994, p. 275) concluded that “it is simplistic not to recognize explicitly the fact that sociocultural context has an overriding factor on all aspects of the L2 learning process, including motivation.”

Beyond motivating students to write, maintaining student blogs has also helped me evaluate my teaching methods as well as gain a better cultural understanding of my students. In fact, culture cannot be separated from the communication that instructors have with speakers of other languages asserts Kramsch (1993). Similarly, I learned that the Saudi female students I instructed have been interested in current events and social issues in their society. I have also noted that while welltraveled and educated, Saudi students remain conservative enough to accept the traditional systems in Saudi Arabia. These insights have shown me that while culture cannot be separated from the classroom, it need not be ignored out of fear that it will upset the students either. In fact, when the

Another example is of students being particularly motivated to write and consequently share their opinions even when it may go against the grain of their society. Topics that students care the most about have been from within the context of their social media such as The Girls of Riyadh (Al Sanaee,

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teacher is open and receptive to being educated by the students about their views, their culture and their opinions, the students happily engage in the English language in order to make their point of view understood. As an instructor, you have nothing to lose and potentially a classroom of English language revolutionaries to gain.

ej.org/ej41/int.html Dörnyei, Z. (1994). Motivation and motivating in the foreign language classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 78(3), 273-284. Fajoor. (2007). Girls of Riyadh. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://fajoor.xanga.com/ Hamdan, A. (2005). Women and education in Saudi Arabia: Challenges and achievements. International Education Journal, 6(1), 42-64. Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Kristof, N. (2010, September 4). Is Islamophobia the new hysteria? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/is -islamophobia-the-new-hysteria/ Rahaf1988. (2007). Philosophy Café. Saudi women at work. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://philosophycafe.xanga.com/597346329/saudi-women-atwork/ Verma, S. (2008, February 7). Religious police in Saudi Arabia arrest mother for sitting with a man. The Times, The Sunday Times. Retrieved from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/ world/middle_east/article3321637.ece

References Aliaalrasheed. (2011, April 29). [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://aliaalrasheed.xanga.com/746686240/item/ Alsanea, R. (2007). Girls of Riyadh. NY: Penguin Press. Alebeikan, R., & Troudi, S. (2010). Online discussion in blended education in Saudi Arabia universities. Procedia Social and Behavourial Sciences Direct, 2, 507-514 Asadi, L. (2007, June 6). Philosophy Café. The Flipside of Saudization by Tariq AlMaeena. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://philosophycafe.xanga.com/595834823/item/ Dieu, B., & Stevens, V. (2007). Pedagogical affordances of syndication, aggregation, and mash-up of content on the web. TESL-EJ, 11(1), 1-15. Retrieved from http://tesl❉

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q CONNECT q OBSERVE q CONTRIBUTE q LEARN q GROW

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.... as an instructor, practitioner and professional. Join the TAEDTECH Sig's - Ning for online social networking. We're busy building an online community of best practice in the use of ICT in EFL instruction here in the Gulf region. Learn more about us by visiting

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Reviews

Practise and Pass Starters Pupil’s Book Cheryl Pelteret and Viv Lambert Delta Publishing, 2010 ISBN: 978-1-905085-36-1 64 pp Practise and Pass Starters is the first book in the threelevel series. The other two books of the series are Practise and Pass Movers and Practise and Pass Flyers. Practise and Pass Starters is an activity-based practical book for children aged 7-9 and primarily intended to prepare young learners for the Cambridge Young Learners English Test. The book is mainly made up of tests and practice assignments and is divided into three main sections: listening, reading and writing, and speaking. These sections strive to prepare students for every aspect of the test by offering helpful practical activities. The material presented in the textbook is divided into 14 smaller parts along with a comprehensive practice test. The practice test offers further opportunities for practice on the required three examinations of the test. The organization of this book is based on a three-step program: Prepare, Practice and Pass. The Prepare section of each chapter introduces key aspects of the language, while the Practice section allows students to practice the language, and finally the Pass section tests the students’ grasp of the language in a similar format to the Cambridge Young Learners English Test. All of these activities are intended to help students practice and interact with the text in meaningful and enjoyable ways. This three-step program provides an easy-to-follow pace that most students should be able to handle comfortably.

The pages show children how words have meaning through pictures. The 67 pages of vivid and colorful illustrations are instantly eye catching and worthy of a child’s attention. Thus, they help to decrease the everpresent risk of boredom. I particularly like the book because the content and activities are attractively laid out in a very appealing fashion which is student friendly and culturally acceptable for children aged 7-9 in the Middle East. The book uses carefully chosen practical, daily-life activities, and tries to illustrate various examples that can catch the attention of many young learners. For example, topics include introducing family members, sports activities, names of toys, transport words, clothes’ names, favorite food words, parts of the body, and so on. The language used in the book is clear-cut and simple enough that the book should be understood by the respective audience. In addition, there are “Remember” boxes scattered throughout the book which give funbased hints and tips on grammar techniques. Students can benefit from these tips, which greatly reduce the boredom factor in learning grammar. Although the book is very versatile, it cannot be used in language classes as the main text of the course. However, it can comfortably supplement an existing course book, or complement test preparation classes, or can simply be utilized as self-study test material. Hence, I particularly recommend this book to students who still need practice besides what they learn in school. Students will probably be happy to practice from this book as its listening, reading and writing, and speaking skills are complete, useful, enjoyable, and above all, it presents the material in a similar format to the Cambridge Young Learners English Test.

All the sections and parts of the books are useful and interesting to the students as well as reflective of the actual themes found on the Cambridge Young Learners English Test. Thus, the book guides students through the exam preparation content via a variety of interesting and engaging exercises and activities. These include true and false questions, word scrambling, crosswords, fill-in-the-blank questions, circle the correct words, and listening exercises. The parts provide a wide range of motivating topics and fascinating pictures. The pictures are undoubtedly attractive to the young students who make up the target audience, and support the text in ways that can be effective with young learners. All activities seem to have been taken from real life experiences and focus on topics which are appealing and motivating to students. Volume 18

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Reviewed by Emine Genc American University Of Sharjah Alumna Sharjah, UAE

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Page Turners: Original Readers for Learners of English Heinle Cengage Learning, 2011

Roommates Sue Leather and Julian Thomlinson ISBN: 978-1-4240-4897-7 45 pp Hacker Sue Leather and Julian Thomlinson ISBN: 978-1-4240-4649-2 38 pp A Kitchen Love Story Sue Leather and Julian Thomlinson ISBN: 978-1-4240-4639-3 44 pp Trust Sue Leather and Julian Thomlinson ISBN: 978-1-4240-4644-7 46 pp The Long Road to Lucca Irene Barrall ISBN: 978-1-4240-4876-2 94 pp Page Turners is a 12-level series of original readers for different levels of learners of English published by Heinle Cengage Learning. Unlike classic graded readers—readers which are adaptations of classics— the readers in the Page Turners series have not been adopted or simplified to be used with EFL/ESL learners, nor has the language of the story been sacrificed due to simplification. Rather the stories have been originally written for the intended audience. Page Turners readers are written in simple, straightforward language and include a variety of different genres such as action, romance, drama, thriller, crime, mystery, and so on. Each reader’s level, genre, and length are indicated on the back cover of

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the book. The readers are the perfect size and shape for college and university students; they are small, light, and easy to carry around. Each reader has a very attractive picture on the cover, a table of contents, and a page containing illustrations where the characters of the story are introduced to the reader.

finished each. I read five books from the series including Roommates (Level 1), Hacker (Level 2), A Kitchen Love Story (Level 3), Trust (Level 4), and The Long Road to Lucca (Level 9). The stories are all very interesting and involve a variety of different topics appealing to different levels of learners of English. The stories revolve around different themes to which different students, particularly college students, can relate. For example, three out of five readers that I reviewed, Roommates, Hacker, and Trust, have to do with college life. Roommates is a story of a new college student who has difficulty in dealing with his noisy and messy roommate. Hacker is about a college student who hacks into the college computer system in order to change his grades. Trust is the story of a college student and editor of the college’s online newspaper who is faced with a scandal involving her own father.

The stories are divided into chapters and each chapter contains black and white illustrations depicting different scenes of the stories. Following each story, there is a “Review” page containing different practices such as matching activities, multiple choice questions, true/false statements, crossword puzzles, and fill in the blanks exercises all accompanied by an answer key. The questions in the review section are to check the reader’s understanding of the story and the new vocabulary introduced in the story. This is followed by a “Background Reading” section where the reader is provided with some background or relevant information on the topic or main idea of the story. For instance, in the background reading section of Hacker the reader can find true and interesting information about a young hacker, Kevin Poulsen, who hacked the telephone lines of a radio contest show in order to win the prize. In addition to that, the reader is provided with some very useful information on Internet security. In the background reading section, the reader is also given some questions to think about. For example, in Roommates, the reader is asked, “Have you ever lived in a dorm with a roommate? What was it like?” The questions in this section are ideal for follow-up after reading discussions. They can also provide the students with speaking opportunities.

A very important point that is worth mentioning here is about the cultural appropriateness of the series. Most of the Page Turners readers are about college life and therefore, are culturally appropriate for college students (e.g., Hacker and Roommates). However, although the series’ authors have done their best to be very conservative when it comes to romance genre, teachers should be cautious and take into consideration their students’ age and culture when suggesting stories from this genre. Overall, Page Turners are interesting and enjoyable readers for a variety of different levels of English learners. They are simple and easy to read different genres. The series has 12 levels, and each level includes 1-3 original readers, which makes it easy for English teachers to find appropriate readers for a wide range of different tastes and backgrounds. So, if you are looking for some original readers for your students, do not hesitate to pick Page Turners!

Each reader also includes a glossary containing a list of words, their part of speech, and definitions. Moreover, Heinle Cengage Learning has a very comprehensive website (elt.heinle.com) where visitors can download free MP3 audio files and instructor worksheets for each of the Page Turners readers. This is where readers can also find information about additional resources on different topics such as grammar, vocabulary, speaking, listening, reading, writing, pronunciation, and exam preparation. Page Turners series promises to provide readers with “fun and easy to read” stories which “you won’t want to put down!” The claim is a real one since I could not put down any of the readers until I

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Q: Skills for Success Oxford University Press, 2011 Reading and Writing 1 Sarah Lynn ISBN: 978-0-19-475622-8 203 pp

Reading and Writing 1 Teacher’s Handbook Lawrence Lawson ISBN: 978-0-19-475627-3 110 pp

Reading and Writing 2 Joe McVeigh and Jennifer Bixby ISBN: 978-0-19-475623-5 205 pp

Reading and Writing 2, Teacher’s Handbook Jennifer Bixby ISBN: 978-0-19-475628-0 110 pp

Reading and Writing 3 Colin S. Ward and Margot F. Gramer ISBN: 978-0-19-475624-2 223 pp

Reading and Writing 3, Teacher’s Handbook Colin S. Ward and Margot F. Gramer ISBN: 978-0-19-475629-7 128 pp

Reading and Writing 4 Charl Norloff, Debra Daise and Paul Carne ISBN: 978-0-19-475625-9 253 pp A new series from a major publisher is always an event, and Oxford University Press’s Q series is an event of quite some size, covering, as it does, a range of language from beginner to the maximum that one might typically want for university entrance. The material is divided into six levels— introductory level, then levels 1 to 5—and the skills are paired, so each level has a student’s listening and speaking book (plus Teacher's Handbook) and a reading and writing book (plus Teacher's Handbook). There is listening material on CD, and on-line practice as well. The teacher’s book also contains customisable testing materials on CD. With Volume 18

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ten units per volume, this is, all in all, quite a fat package, and is a well-constructed, flagship product. While it does not directly identify a target audience, terms such as “academic success” and “mid-term exam” place it firmly in the highschool and tertiary classroom, and in the hands of young adults. A majority of the authoring team is American, and the rear of the students’ books promotes the Oxford American Dictionary series for academic support. Portions of the Q series are still in press. In view of the series’ size, only the reading and writing element is reviewed here, and only levels 1-4 have been seen by this reviewer. ◆

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The “Q” in the series title stands, of course, for “question,” and a question sets the theme for each unit. So, for example, in level 2 unit 6 reading and writing, the unit question is “Do you prefer to get help from a person or a machine?” The unit opens with discussion questions, then moves to a partnered discussion of four photos, a predictive vocabulary gap-fill, then a reading text on automated restaurant ordering, a brief pair of follow-up exercises (multiple choice to check comprehension, then sentence completion), in other words, a series of quite short, standard language exercises. There is a thematic link to all this: each even-numbered page has the unit question in a footer, and each unit section is topically linked to the question. This is nicely and consistently done throughout all the books, and cannot be faulted. Where we might find fault, however, is in the sometimes optimistic timings suggested in the teacher’s book for some of the exercises, though an experienced teacher will be unfazed by these. Perhaps more serious are some of the examples of language offered for vocabulary work. “I am waiting for prices to decrease before I buy a new laptop” (p. 105) is an improbable completion, as is “My brother is good with children. He likes to interact with them” (ibid.). Infelicities of usage are serious problems in books that attempt to teach language, but fortunately the Q series is no more blemished by such faults than any other student text.

anticipated, and inventiveness can often be in short supply. No effort is made to do anything more to link the skills, and this is perhaps regrettable. Might not the writing, for example, be presented as a reaction to the reading? Might the reading be an extension of a theme already written on? This does not happen, and instead we are exhorted to remind students of the unit question from time to time. Students often need more concrete guidance. Would I want to use the Q series with my students? The topic linking is good, and the topics are varied. Even on a dull day something can be made of them. There is a need for supplementation, but the series contains enough good ideas to tickle a teacher’s imagination, and in that respect it is better than many. There is progression of the right sort, though the TOEFL-hole is a niggling worry. The series supposes a commitment to the learning process that I believe can only come about as an outcome of learner-training, and I do not really see that the series provides that. I would answer my own question with a qualified “yes.”

Reviewed by Angus Graham University of Sharjah Sharjah, UAE

Let us sample some of the writing work and see if it fares differently. In level 1 unit 9, the unit question is “How are children and adults different?” The reading work, which always precedes the writing, has included a brief text on teenagers and another on rites of passage in three different countries. The writing task is “Write one or two paragraphs about events in your life” with a subsequent proviso that these events should be ones that made you feel like an adult. As usual, the approach is through model readings, the supposition being that students will immediately imitate them. We meet again the term “brainstorm,” which seems to be the key instruction for selecting writing topics in the Q series. This is ideal for the teacher who feels s/he can rely on students’ inventiveness, but other teachers might see this as another Q pothole to be Volume 18

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Donate to the TESOL Arabia Book Drive at TACON 2012. Contact: Ruth.Glasgow@zu.ac.ae

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The Business English Teacher: Professional Principles and Practical Procedures Debbie Barton, Jennifer Burkart, and Caireen Sever Delta Teacher Development Series Delta Publishing, UK, 2010 ISBN: 978-1-905085-34-7 120 pp

Though it may not immediately appeal as such, a book like The Business English Teacher constitutes a difficult and delicate balancing act. For the success of the undertaking must ultimately lie in its ability to strike the right balance between complexity and simplicity. Make it too simple, and the book will be dismissed as insubstantial. Too complex, and it will be deemed unusable. Can The Business English Teacher be said to achieve that subtle balance?

Once again, The Business English Teacher delivers. The working core of the book, Part B, is itself broken down into three subsections. The first of these, “Business from the Beginning” concerns itself with needs analysis, learner autonomy and the modus operandi of working with business people. The second, “The Language of Business,” adopts a broadly functional approach, setting out lesson activities devoted to staples such as telephoning, presenting and participating in meetings. Not only will a lesson plan in “The Language of Business” guide you through the essentials of writing an email, for example, but it will also offer alternative approaches and follow-up activities. Finally, “The Business of Language” focuses on the skills, materials, grammar, vocabulary and phonology that underpin the activities in the previous subsection.

In essence, what we have is a “teach yourself ” book, one which avowedly aims to “make you less reliant on course books and other published materials” (p. 3). Here is a hint of the complexity inherent in the endeavor. On offer here is teacher training without the trainer. That lack of human intermediary dictates that a book intending to steer the neophyte through something as inherently complex as teaching Business English must be paradoxically simple.

The Business English Teacher neatly dovetails everyday working practice with the fundamental theory that informs it. “What you need to start with,” the authors inform us early in Part A, “is a grasp of the ‘bigger picture’ of Business English, including what is involved in teaching Business English learners as well as the structure and content of Business English courses” (p.7).

A glance at the contents page is sufficient to assure us that this is so. The organizational principle behind it is ABC. Part A briefly surveys the pedagogical underpinnings of Business English, dedicating itself to such questions as who, what and how will you teach? Part B, the most extensive of the three sections, goes on to provide detailed lesson plans while Part C acts as a wrap-up, encouraging the user to reflect and build upon insights gained.

Reviewed by Colin Toms The Petroleum Institute Abu Dhabi, UAE

A “teach yourself ” book must also be simple in practical terms. Can I just pick it up, find what I want, learn how to do it and then take it into the classroom and make it work? Is the book simple to use as well as simple to navigate? Volume 18

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Teaching and Learning in the Arab World Christina Gitsaki (Ed.) 2011 Peter Lang, 2011 ISBN 978-3-0343-0408-5 473 pp

This is a collection of 21 papers, divided into three sections, but from the outset it has to be stated that the title of this book is somewhat misleading. The book is more concerned with the Arab Gulf than with the Arab World. The contributors come from the UAE (22), Qatar (5), Oman (2), Bahrain (1) and Saudi Arabia (1). There is also one contribution from Palestine, while four contributors are currently working in the USA, two in Singapore and one in Australia.

EFL practitioners attempt to force students into learning habits with which they are neither familiar nor comfortable, and then blame the students if the approach fails. This point is taken up in “Part II: Educational Reform in the Arabian Gulf ” (pp. 203-331) in papers from both Qatar and Oman. In “The Rush to Educate: A Discussion of the Elephant in the Room” (pp. 229-247), Nettie Boivin takes issue with Qatar’s 2001 decision to contract an assessment of the Emirate’s K-12 education system to the RAND Corporation. She suggests that the tests conducted by the RAND Corporation were culturally insensitive, and that they were based on a subtractive model of bilingualism that is questionable in even an assimilationist environment, and particularly inappropriate in an independent state where the L1 (in this case, Arabic) is both the language of government and religion. She concludes that “Instead of carelessly rushing to impose western standards of literacy, policy makers, educators and parents need to reflect on the current state of education in Qatar and carefully plan the next step” (p. 243). This is a good point, but it would have been stronger had she given an indication of what she feels that step ought to be.

The book is divided into three sections. “Part I: Current Practices and Challenges in Teaching and Learning in the Arab Gulf ” (pp. 3-202) offers nine papers, which address problems that include student attitudes to learning English, different varieties of English, motivation, teaching critical thinking skills, teacher coping strategies and attitudes to Arab culture. These last two points are of particular importance and discussed in two chapters. First, in Jonathan Aubrey and Christine Coombe’s paper “An Investigation of Occupational Stresses and Coping Strategies among EFL Teachers in the United Arab Emirates” (pp. 181201), they quote a teacher who worked in an innercity public school in the USA. This teacher puts the debate about poorly motivated and “difficult” Arab Gulf students into perspective, saying “I’ve had real stress. I taught in a school where teachers got taken out in ambulances” (p. 194). Second, in Khawlah Ahmed’s paper “Casting Arabic Culture as the ‘Other’: Cultural Issues in the English Curriculum” (pp. 119-137), she raises the problem of expatriate teachers, Arab and non-Arab, who bring a deficit model to the teaching of Arab Gulf students. Instead of searching for areas on which they can build, areas where the students have established strengths, these

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The Omani paper, “The Suitability of Imported Curricula for Learning in the Gulf States: An Oman Perspective” (pp. 275-292) by Iqtidar Ali Shah and Neeta Baporikar, explores the question of higher education institutes which move into the states of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council and bring their curricula with them. To support their position, the authors cite literature critical of the quality of AGCC tertiary education, particularly “the low research

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activities, the low level of knowledge attainment, the weak analytical and knowledge attainment abilities, the unclear goals and the lack of academic freedom” (p. 277). But at the same time, their own research in Oman leads them to conclude that “imported curricula adopted in Oman are unable to successfully fulfill the objectives as both the faculty and the students are dissatisfied the [sic.] suitability of these curricula” (p. 287). They suggest that one step forward would be to decrease student dependence on teachers, as self-directed learning would prepare students for the current globalized world.

“The Effect of Course Content on Student Motivation: A UAE Study” (pp. 377-398). Working with students at Sharjah Higher Colleges of Technology and Khalifa University respectively, these researchers found that experimental groups of students experienced no difficulties on an academic writing course based on Problem-Based Learning (PBL) principles, and that students responded equally well to coursebook passages and materials derived from local newspapers. Both findings may well surprise experienced EFL practitioners in the Arab Gulf, but to some extent they confirm what is simple common sense: the classroom has its own reality. If American and European students can cope with the artificial reality of the classroom, then why should Gulf Arab students be any different?

In “Part III: New Approaches to Teaching and Learning in the Arab World” (pp. 332-461), Rida Blaik Hourani, Ibrahima Diallo and Aleya Said present an excellent paper, “Teaching in the Arabian Gulf: Arguments for the Deconstruction of the Current Educational Model” (pp. 335-355), which points out that “contrary to common beliefs, the early Islamic education model has always enhanced the teaching of thinking, analogy and inquiry and has always been proactive in adopting and interpreting contributions from other cultures” (p. 352). The constructivist education model which developed in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries arose precisely at the time when Islamic education was retreating into recitation and memorization, but Hourani, Diallo and Said argue that the onus is now on the AGCC countries to reintegrate constructivist pedagogy, if only on the instrumental grounds of unleashing “the learning opportunities and potential needed to sustain the economic growth of the GCC countries” (p. 352).

This book, therefore, is important because it challenges stereotypes. Written by EFL practitioners who are working in the Arab Gulf, it explores the reality of that teaching situation, and offers some solutions to some of the difficulties that pertain to that particular socio-cultural setting. TESOL Arabia members and those who are interested in continuing professional development will probably gain a good deal from this collection of papers.

Reviewed by Neil McBeath Sultan Qaboos University Sultanate of Oman

This argument is also suggested by Mick King’s paper “Implementing Problem-based Learning in the Arabian Gulf ” (pp. 357-376) and Sabina Ostrowska’s ❉

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Upcoming Events

Calendar of Upcoming Events November 24-25, 2011

15th Annual Current Trends in English Language Testing (CTELT) Conference: “Back to Basics,” Dubai Men’s College, Dubai, UAE. Email: christine.coombe@hct.ac.ae

November 26-27, 2011

Dogus University 1st International ELT Conference: "Turning Challenges into Opportunities," Dogus University, Acibadem, Istanbul, Turkey. Website: http://elt.dogus.edu.tr/

December 2-3, 2011

Egypt TESOL, "Best Practices in TEFL," 12th Annual Convention, Venue TBA, Cairo, Egypt. Email: mariamghazala@mac.com Website: http://www.egyptesol.org/

December 15-16, 2011

3rd International Conference on Language and Communication, "Interdisciplinary Discourses in Language and Communication," Bangkok, Thailand. Website: http://lc.nida.ac.th/iclc2011/

December 17-18, 2011

TESOL Sudan, "Re-imagining ELT Practices: Contexts, Approaches, Challenges," Sudan International University, Khartoum, Sudan. Email: elsheikhaymen@hotmail.com Website: http://www.tesol-sudan.org/conference.html

December 28-30, 2011

International Conference on Languages, Literature and Linguistics - ICLLL 2011, Dubai, UAE. Email: iclll@iedrc.org Website: http://www.iclll.org/

January 27-28, 2012

32nd Annual Thailand TESOL International Conference on Teacher Collaboration: “Shaping the Classroom of the Future,” Bangkok, Thailand. Website: http://www.thaitesol.org/

January 31-Feb 2, 2012

NileTESOL, "Language Education in the 21st Century: Challenges & Opportunities," The American University of Cairo, Tahrir Campus, Cairo, Egypt. Email: jabr_r@aucegypt.edu Website: http://niletesol.org/web/index.html

February 25-26, 2012

8th Annual CamTESOL Conference on English Language Teaching, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Email: buneang.vinh@idp.com Website: http://www.camtesol.org/

March 8-10, 2012

18th International TESOL Arabia, “Achieving Excellence Through Life Skills Education,” Dubai Men’s College, Academic City, Dubai, UAE. Website: http://tesolarabia.org/conference

March 19-23, 2012

IATEFL 46th Annual Conference and Exhibition, Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre, Glasgow, Scotland. Website: http://www.iatefl.org/glasgow-2012/46th-annual-conference-and-exhibition

March 28-31, 2012

46th Annual TESOL Convention & Exhibit, "A Declaration of Excellence," Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Email: conventions@tesol.org Website: http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/convention2012/index.html

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Cutting Edges, Autonomy, and Community in Language Learning, Teaching and Training Christ Church University Canterbury, UK Language Course” suggested that it was possible to prepare students for independent learning, particularly if they were simultaneously exposed to the language and conventions of their future academic discipline. Trofodar’s “Autonomous Learning and the Role of the L1 Culture in a Saudi EFL Classroom,” by contrast, found that students lacked any interest in their studies, and this lack of interest acted as a barrier to the development of critical thinking. They were also unwilling to violate their cultural norms by challenging the omniscience of teachers, and were unwilling to activate higher order thinking skills because reliance on rote learning had, in their experience, been successful.

Neil McBeath Sultan Qaboos University Sultanate of Oman

Canterbury is a city famed not only for its cathedral, but also for its literary connections. It is closely associated with Chaucer, Marlowe, Dickens and, at another level, with Mary Tourtel—the lady who gave us Rupert the Bear.

There is, of course, an insane logic to this. If rote learning gets a student from the school system into tertiary education, then why should s/he change the habits of an educational lifetime because some new, unknown and foreign teacher claims that those habits are inefficient?

This year’s Cutting Edges Conference held on July 1-2, 2012, also worked at different levels. It was small, with only 70 delegates, but those delegates came from 19 different countries. More to the point, 64 of those delegates were also presenters, making this a conference at which the term “participant” was literally true.

This is one of the dilemmas facing the expatriate teachers who were the subject of Paul Hudson’s paper “Wearing the Golden Handcuffs—The English Teaching Community in Arabia.” The paper was actually concerned almost entirely with expatriate teachers in the UAE, but Hudson made some very telling points. There are teachers who compromise both their personal and pedagogical standards in exchange for a comfortable lifestyle, a tax-free income and a generally pleasant climate, yet despise themselves for having “sold out.” Others go into culture shock, react negatively, and then leave. Some, however, adapt so well to their new environment that they begin to identify with the host nation’s aspirations and problems. These are probably the most contented and successful teaching practitioners, and while they are probably over-represented in the membership of TESOL Arabia, they were, I think, under-represented in Hudson’s research.

From the perspective of a delegate from the Arab Gulf, moreover, a surprising number of presentations had direct relevance, being presented by delegates with either recent, or current, experience in the region, or being concerned with either Arab Gulf Learners or Teachers. As evidence of this, Ayesha Kamal’s “Social Context and Learner Autonomy: Looking at a Kuwaiti Context” and Zainab Azizi and Abbas Zare’ee’s (University of Kashan, Iran) “Fostering Autonomy as One of the Goals of Teaching English” offered accounts from broadly similar cultural backgrounds, demonstrating that autonomy could be fostered, but that it was extremely difficult to impose. By contrast, Shobha Nandagopal (Oman Medical College, Muscat) and Yusuf Torofdar (King Saud University, Riyadh) offered differing accounts. Nandagopal’s paper “Augmenting Independent Learning Through a Cross-Curriculum E-learning Volume 18

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IATEFL International Conference and Exhibit over difficulties and solutions facing associations in their attempt to start or even maintain their own organizations. Topics in the handbook range from financial management, fundraising and sponsorship, recruitment and retention of volunteers, newsletter editing and production, publications, event management, membership databases, marketing and PR, organizing and running online events and others. Copies of the book will be accessible through the IATEFL website (http://www.iatefl.org/component/option,com_phoc adownload/Itemid,94/id,7/view,category/) where it can be downloaded for free for associates. Finally, during the associates’ day, attendees were able to view how some teacher associations conduct their business, provide activities and market themselves. Many ideas were presented, and would be of help to any starting new or even working with existing associations.

Sufian Abu-Rmaileh United Arab Emirates University Al Ain, UAE

On behalf of TESOL Arabia, I had the privilege of attending the 45th Annual International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) Conference and Exhibition between from April 1519, 2011, in Brighton, UK. Friday, April 15 was a full day of activities during the Associates Day. IATEFL which boasts of having over 100 teacher associate affiliations gave attendees the chance to get together, network and discuss issues facing their teacher association affiliates, of which TESOL Arabia is one. Throughout the IATEFL Associates’ Day, teacher associates were able to attend a workshop led by Richard John who is an expert on marketing organizations. The title of his workshop was “Marketing on a Shoestring.” Richard was able to outline ways where associations can develop themselves, marketing their services with minimal costs. He talked about the importance of looking at the seven Ps of marketing: product, price, promotion, process, place, people and physical, and how each contributes in advancing an organization. He also talked about having complete communication by answering the main wh-s (who, how, what, where and when) to communicate. He looked at working in attention, interest, desire and action needed to develop the organization’s products and services.

Les Kirkham, Richard John and Sufian Abu-Rmaileh attend the Associated Day.

The 45th IATEFL conference was full of rewarding plenaries, presentations and workshops. The first plenary was presented by Peter Grundy. Peter looked at pragmatics and how we say something when we mean something else. He looked at metaphors, idioms, hedges and tongue twisters. He also looked at

During that day, IATEFL launched its latest associate’s handbook in collaboration with the British Council. This valued handbook Running an Association for Language Teachers: Directions and Opportunities! goes

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Another IATEFL Associates meeting I attended was the IATEFL Annual General Meeting, which took place on Sunday, April 17, 2011. What I liked about the meeting is that each committee chair introduced their committee team and then gave their reports. It was not the president alone who delivered the reports from different committees. Each committee chair and the president were available for questions. Finally, at the AGM, the new president of IATEFL Eric Baber, took over from the departing president, Herbert Puchta, and the meeting was adjourned.

how non-verbal communication like facial expressions, eyes, and so on are important in the way people interact with each other. Sue Palmer’s plenary looked at some developmental and behavioral issues facing school children. She looked at research about young children’s learning abilities in an atmosphere of a highly changing world affecting the children’s emotional, physical, social and cognitive development. Tom Farrell’s plenary looked at Reflective Practice for Language Teachers. He looked at evidence-based reflective practice differentiating between reflecting on and reflecting with. He also looked at question generating in class, noting that 6090% of all teacher classroom communication is done in the form of questions. He noted that some forms of questions were display questions, referential, comprehension, clarification requests, and so on. Two other plenaries were given, one by Catherine Walter on “Should We Be Planning to Teach Grammar? If So, How?” and the other was by Brian Palten on “Juggling with Gerbils-Poetry Off the Page.”

At the conference, I was able to attend sessions on peer observation, assessment, leadership and grammar. I was able to meet teachers and discuss professional matters related to teaching, leadership and running an association with a great number of people from different parts of the world. Many post conference discussions will also be generated so that relations between associations can be strengthened. ❉

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The new Teacher Training and Teacher Development SIG is a way of bringing together both experienced and less experienced professionals working in teacher training and development who can pool their resources, knowledge, experience and share in a systematic and organized way. The TTTD SIG aims to be an established and well-respected forum for sharing and working together in the field of training and development.

SIG Aims ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

To emphasize the concept of professionalism in relation to English language Teacher Training To promote Teacher Training (TT) and Development (TD) activities among educational institutions in the TESOL Arabia area To create a community of professionals involved in TT and TD To carry out TT and TD activities such as min-conferences, workshops, seminars on a variety of topics To carry out a needs analysis amongst TESOL Arabia members in terms of TT and TD To establish a culture of TT and TD amongst educational institutions in the TESOL Arabia area For more information contact: marion.engin@zu.ac.ae

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TESOL Arabia International Travel Grant Guidelines ◆

There is no absolute entitlement to money in any given year and when the funds are depleted no further applications will be accepted. ◆ Applicants may only be funded for one ITG per budget year. The budget year runs from October 1-September 30. ◆ No ITG Grant shall exceed 2,500 AED per year.

Overview TESOL Arabia offers International Travel Grants to assist members in travel, accommodation, and living expenses incurred in participating in conferences, conventions, seminars, symposia and similar professionally-related events, other than TESOL Arabia events, outside the UAE/GCC. This grant provides limited financial support for individual eligible TESOL Arabia members to present papers, or play a significant role in such events which are relevant to TESOL Arabia. The grant is administered by the International Travel Grant Committee which is composed of the Vice President, who acts as the Committee Chair, one other member of the TESOL Arabia Executive Council, and three ordinary members of TESOL Arabia in good standing appointed at the discretion of the Chair. This Committee fields all applications.

Eligibility All current active members of TESOL Arabia who have been a member 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.

Applying for an International Travel Grant

Types of Events for Which an International Travel Grant May Be Requested

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Applicants are requested to complete the online application in full. This will automatically be sent to the Chair of the International Travel Grant Committee when it is submitted. ◆ Documentation supporting your service to TESOL Arabia should be sent as an e-mail attachment to the Committee Chair on the same day as you submit your application online. Supporting documentation is required if your service to TESOL Arabia includes possibly undocumented assistance at Chapter or SIG activities, in which case you should submit a recommendation stating your service to TESOL Arabia at these events from the appropriate Chapter Representative or SIG Chair. ◆ Applications should only be submitted for the budget year in which the event will be held. The budget year runs from October 1September 30.

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Any professionally-related conference or similar event held outside the UAE/GCC. ◆ TESOL Arabia events such as the TESOL Arabia Annual International Conference are specifically excluded. Separate arrangements exist for offering grants to those events.

Current Limitations and Constraints Given funding limitations, the following constraints are necessary: ◆ Financial support available through the International Travel Grant (ITG) 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 funds and use some of their own resources. This enables the allocated resources to benefit more members. Volume 18

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Incomplete documentation will not be considered. ◆ Applications should be submitted at least three weeks before the event begins. The Committee will aim at giving the candidate its decision within two weeks of submission.

If applicable, provide proof of acceptance of a presentation, or their role in the event. ◆ Prove attendance. This would normally be in the form of a photocopy of the conference attendance certificate. ◆ Provide original receipts for registration, travel, accommodation and living expenses at least to the amount of the grant. ◆ Feed back to TESOL Arabia the knowledge gained from the event and its application to teaching English to speakers of other languages by a means agreed with the Chair. This may be one or more of the following: 1. Submitting a report of at least 500 words for Perspectives 2. Presenting a session for one of the TESOL Arabia Chapter or SIG events 3. Completing another activity agreed with the Committee All original receipts, photocopies of certificates, and the written report for Perspectives (or proof of the other activity agreed upon) should be sent within two weeks of the end of the event to:

Award Criteria Criteria for awarding the International Travel Grant funding is evaluated and awards made based on the following factors: ◆ Whether the applicant has previously received money from TESOL Arabia in the form of a TACon Travel Grant, an International Travel Grant, or a Professional Development Course Grant ◆ The relevance of the event to TESOL Arabia for which money is requested ◆ The applicant's service to TESOL Arabia ◆ Whether the candidate is presenting a paper or has a significant role in the event In all cases, decisions made by the Committee are final and no correspondence regarding decisions reached will be entered into.

Responsibilities of the Grantee

James McDonald TESOL Arabia International Travel Grant Chair travelgrants@tesolarabia.org

Before payment of the ITG can be made, the following conditions must be met. The grantee must: ◆ Provide proof of registration for the event. This would normally be in the form of original receipts or a letter of registration.

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Have you been to a professional development event or conference lately that you think TESOL Arabia members might benefit from? Consider writing a review of the event. Contact the editors for more information.

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TESOL, Inc., 2011 Annual Convention & Exhibit New Orleans, Louisiana Mohammad Azaza

the conference, including Alastair Pennycook, Thelma Meléndez, Jennifer Jenkins, James R. Martin and Christian Matthiessen. Apart from presenting, I was also able to attend some plenary sessions and workshops. However, I have to admit that there were many interesting concurrent presentations which made the choice of attending certain presentations quite difficult. One of the highlights of the conference was the election of Christine Coombe as the new TESOL, Inc., President 2011-2012. To my mind, this election is a great achievement not only for Dr Coombe but also for all of us in the UAE, especially since she has always been an indomitable advocate, supporter and active member of TESOL Arabia. As a member of the TESOL Arabia Executive Council, attending such an event was also an opportunity to compare the TESOL convention and TESOL Arabia conferences. Besides having the chance to talk to many people from different parts of the world, I was pleased to learn that TESEOL Arabia has a good reputation among all the people I talked to. I also had the opportunity to meet some of my old colleagues who had previously worked in the UAE and served TESOL Arabia for a long period of time such as Leo Schmitt and Phil Cozens.

Dr Christine Coombe, President of TESOL, Inc., pictured with Mohammad Azaza.

I had the privilege to present at the TESOL Annual Convention and Exhibit which was held in New Orleans in March, 2011, and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to both present and increase my professional development. Although I have presented at many local conferences and events this year, my participation in the TESOL Convention was special as it was the first overseas international conference I ever presented at. My presentation was entitled “Methodological and Ethical problems in Conducting Research with Young Learners.” The colloquium, which was moderated by Anne Burne and Sue Garton, presented different research perspectives, and addressed global and local issues, policies and practices in teaching English to young learners. Presenting with highly professional researchers like Anne Burne, Sue Garton, and Fiona Copland was a challenging and rewarding experience.

I would like to thank TESOL Arabia for the travel grant awarded to me to help defray the costs. It was a rewarding and successful trip and worth the effort and the money spent to get there. Finally, I would like to remind all TESOL Arabia members that one of the benefits of TESOL Arabia membership is that it makes you eligible to apply for an International Travel Grant. ❉

An impressive line-up of speakers was present at

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45th Annual International IATEFL Conference & Exhibition Brighton, UK Sally Ali The 45th Annual International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition took place in Brighton, UK from April 15-19, 2011. The conference team is to be commended for the excellent set up and organization. The conference was opened by the IATEFL President, Herbert Puchta, who started his opening speech with, “This is going to be a fantastic conference!” Then, he gave the audience a quick quiz to familiarize everyone with information about the conference, SIGs, exhibits, members, the year the Brighton Pier was opened (1899), and so on. This conference included preconference events organized by all 14 IATEFL Special Interest Groups. There were 26 sponsors with 49 exhibitors, and 1350 new IATEFL members and 513 sessions. Peter Grundy’s opening plenary referred to “Strange Seas of Thought –Literal Meaning and Language Teaching.” In his talk about pragmatics, thought and pedagogic implications, he considered three hypotheses: “Meaning comes from the use of language rather than from language itself; we use language to point to thoughts; the real meaning of an utterance isn’t the literal meaning of what we say but the unspoken thought that we intend to communicate and that our utterance points to.” Sue Palmer referred to her book, Toxic Childhood and discussed what is happening to children, the explosion in child developmental conditions, and how contemporary culture is damaging the next simple ways adults can work together to “detoxify” childhood. Tom Farrell referred to “Reflective Practice for Language Teachers” and discussed when teachers can reflect and collect evidence on practices. Catherine Walter asked, “Should We be Planning to Teach Grammar? If So, How?” In the last plenary, Brian Patten looked at “Juggling with Gerbils-Poetry off the Page.”

from a research presentation at the conference?” He suggested that, “We need to have realistic expectations; acknowledge different perspectives on research; ask reasonable questions; contact the speaker after the session; and critically appraise the relevance of research to our context.” Ana Chamot presented on “Differentiated Instruction in English Language Teaching” and referred to different ways in which language instruction can be varied to meet students’ learning approaches, needs, and abilities. She described practical examples of diagnostic activities and differentiated tasks and the need for diversity in knowledge and use of language learning strategies, as well as the need to model our thinking strategies. She also referred to her CALLA Handbook and to, “Complexity Ladder, Individual Agendas, Learning Contracts, Group Folders, and Learning Stations.” Keith Morrow, editor of ELT Journal, talked about, “How to Get Published in a Refereed Journal” and discussed, “Why you might want to get published in an academic journal and how to go about it.” He mentioned the process, the editor’s perspective, the acknowledgment, the initial decision, the choices, what is relevant and interesting to the readers of ELT and the need to have an appropriate balance between theory and practice with clear and practical applications.

In addition to the extraordinary plenary talks, there were interesting sessions. Simon Borg talked about “How to Reflect on Research Talks at the Conference” and asked, “What do we expect to obtain

To conclude, the above is just a glimpse into the great sessions that were offered at the IATEFL Conference. There were lots of other fabulous and stimulating sessions. It was indeed a “fantastic conference!”

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Professional Development: An Arab Perspective in the United States Molly McHarg

During summer 2011, I completed my doctoral coursework in English: Composition & TESOL at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). I took the following intensive courses: Writing Across Disciplines, Identity, Power, and the L2 Writer, Second Language Teaching, Writing Assessment, and Qualitative Methods. In addition to my coursework, I was able to engage in professional development opportunities available on campus. One of these opportunities was the Teacher-Scholar Symposium held on Friday, June 17, 2011.

level. Some of these selections included Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing (2004) by Colombo, Cullen and Lisle, and “Veiled Intentions: Don’t Judge a Muslim Girl by Her Covering” (2004) by Maysan Haydar. The authors offered a number of anecdotal stories of how some of the selected readings benefited their students. More importantly for me, their background and experience in the Arab world allowed a framework for discussion about how these same texts could be incorporated effectively into the American universities in Qatar or elsewhere in the Middle Eastern context. The presenters’ enthusiasm and experience allowed for a very engaging and fruitful workshop.

The Teacher-Scholar Symposium has the goal of “bringing a community of teacher-scholars into a comfortable and inviting intellectual space to discuss our theoretical perspectives and sound pedagogical innovations” (The 2nd Teacher Scholar Symposium, 2011.) This one-day event, organized by Dr Gloria Park, provided a forum for current students and faculty in various disciplines at IUP to showcase their research and teaching. I found great value in all of the activities in which I participated, from the keynote address by Katherine Sohn, to the concurrent sessions, and finally the teacher-scholar roundtables, which provided an open forum for the discussion of current research projects grouped thematically.

I am grateful for this opportunity, and I would like to thank the TESOL Arabia Professional Development Course Grant program. I encourage others members to apply and benefit from the opportunities afforded by our organization.

References Colombo, G., Cullen, R., & Lisle, B. (2004). Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. New York, NY: Bedford St. Martin’s. Haydar, M. (2004). Veiled intentions: Don’t judge a Muslim girl by her covering. In O. Edut (Ed.), Body outlaws: Rewriting the rules of beauty and body image (pp. 258-265). Emeryville, CA: Seal Press.

One of the concurrent sessions I attended was based on the theme “Power of Writing & Its Impact on Construction of Academic Identity.” Lilian Mina and Nancy Al-Doghmi, both doctoral candidates in IUP’s English Department, presented “Readings in the Writing Class: Their Role in Shaping Students’ Ideas.” These presenters, from Egypt and Jordan respectively, shared their experiences teaching college freshmen in the United States. In addition to offering general pedagogical strategies for incorporating reading into the writing classroom, they provided a useful reading list for students at this

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The 2nd Teacher Scholar Symposium. (2011, June 17). Conference Program. Frederick Douglass Institute and Composition & TESOL. The Eberly College of Business & Information Technology. Indiana University of Pennsylvania. ❉

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Supervision: An Educative Process Dana Kampman

I would like to take this opportunity to thank TESOL Arabia’s Professional Development Course grant program for financially supporting my enrollment in the World Learning School for International Training Graduate Institute’s on-line course entitled "Supervision: An Educative Process." The 6-week course offered through World Learning’s Teacher Training and Professional Development Institute ran from February 7-March 18, 2011.

asking the teacher their preference as to where you sit within the classroom during the actual observation or how they would like to proceed with your written observations. When there is choice, there is a sharing of control and a support of creativity and intuition. Through the course, I also learned that building community is of utmost importance. I learned this initially through the input loop. The first activity that we took part in during the on-line course was an icebreaker. This took precedent over everything else. To have a successful collaborative learning community it is essential to get to know each other and build a community of learners. The preobservation conference is all about defining and building a relationship that serves everyone involved. It only happens if you take the time to get to know the person you are working with as a teacher and fellow human being.

The course works from the premise that supervision is in fact teaching. It is a process of educating. In this regard, the course focused on understanding how supervision can serve the learning of the teacher being supervised. This is done by supervising a teacher using a three-phase process of supervision which includes a pre-observation conference, observation, and post-observation conference and by monitoring the teacher’s learning as she or he engages in this process.

"Supervision: An Educative Process." revealed to me a system of supervision that is built on mutual understanding and respect with a goal of creating a secure, supportive and productive supervisory relationship. It is a system that withholds judgment while valuing learning and self-reflection. The teachers’ learning is at the center of the work.

I would like to share my learning from the course with the wider TESOL Arabia community. I enrolled in this course just after having begun my first supervisory role as a teacher trainer in a private elementary school in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The learning I gained was crucial in shaping my identity as a supervisor and governed my supervision of the teachers. Ultimately the teachers benefitted from my view of supervision as a process of educating.

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Have you used a new piece of software or website with great success? Consider writing a submission for Emerging Technology.

The most important learning that I gained from the course is the importance of choice. I had previously understood the power of choice for students in a language learning classroom, but I had not transferred that knowledge to my supervision practice. Through the course, I learned that giving the teacher choice throughout the observation process is a powerful tool in creating a positive working relationship. Whether in a pre or post observation conference, offering teachers a choice in the proceedings is essential. It can be as simple as

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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(TARG) 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 TARG 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.

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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 TARG per budget year. The budget year runs from October 1-September 30.

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iv. No TARG shall exceed 5000 AED per year.

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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 (200-250 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.)

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iii.

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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, 2012.

ii.

iii.

iv. v. vi.

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 Grantee/s will have to

5. Criteria for Awarding the Research Grant

Submit six month progress reports to the TARG Committee Chair

Funding is evaluated and awards granted based on the following factors:

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The relevance of the research for which money is requested to TESOL Arabia 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 TESOL Arabia Conference Travel Grant. The applicant’s/s’ 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.

To apply for a TARG, contact peter.davidson@zu.ac.ae

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The TESOL Arabia Professional Development Course Grant Sandra Oddy, Member-at-Large

Courses come in various shapes and forms. They include, for example, studying for a master’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 believes that learning is a continuous and neverending 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.

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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.

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. Contact details are on the website.

So what kind of things can you do to serve TESOL Arabia?

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.

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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 Cindy Gunn at c.gunn@aus.edu, the Perspectives Reviews Editor 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 ❉

In the 2010-2011 academic year, TESOL Arabia awarded two PD Course Grant: Dana Kampman received a grant for the World Learning School for International Training Graduate Institute’s on-line course entitled "Supervision: An Educative Process." Molly McHarg attended the Teacher-Scholar Symposium at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. You can read their course reports in this issue of Perspectives. 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.

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BOOK NOW FOR TESOL ARABIA’S 2012 Pre-Conference Professional Development Courses Teaching and Learning Through the Arts Personalized Professional Development Online Learning in TESOL Certificate Courses Achieving Excellence Through Life Skills Education Young Learners

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TESOL ARABIA CONFERENCE 2012 TRAVEL GRANT GUIDELINES Overview

Applying for a TESOL Arabia Conference Travel Grant

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 TACon Travel Grant 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 TACon Travel Grant Committee when it is submitted. The deadline for applications is January 15 for this year’s conference.

Criteria for Awarding the TESOL Arabia Conference Travel Grant Funding is evaluated and awards made based on the following criteria:

Current Limitations and Constraints Given funding limitations, the following constraints are necessary:

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Financial support available through the TACon Travel Grant 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.

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There is no absolute entitlement to money in any given year and when the funds are depleted no further applications will be accepted.

The rating given the applicant’s proposal by the Proposals Committee The applicant’s number of years of membership in TESOL Arabia Whether the applicant has previously received money from TESOL Arabia in the form of a PDC Grant, a TACon Travel Grant or a TESOL Arabia International Travel Grant

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 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.

All grants will be paid in AED dirhams, at the conference.

Responsibilities of the Grantee Before the payment of the TACon Travel Grant can be made, the following condition must be met. The grantee must have: Submitted receipts to the value of AED 1,000.

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Special Interest Group Reports

Fundamentals of Language Assessment in Santiago, Chile Christine Coombe

The TESOL Arabia Testing, Assessment, and Evaluation SIG Committee officers , Dr Christine Coombe, Peter Davidson (co-chairs) and Konrad Cedro (webmaster), spent part of their summer break conducting two Fundamentals of Language Assessment (FLA) conferences in Santiago, Chile. Sponsored in part by the U.S. Department of State and Qatar Airlines, TAE SIG co-presenters delivered ten hours of basic level assessment training to approximately 80 teachers at the Universidad Alberto Hurtado and the Ministry of Education’s English Opens Doors program. These workshops were very well received and plans are underway for more FLAs in neighboring countries including Brazil and Uruguay next summer. Thanks go to Mary Jane Abrahams Sanchez and U.S. State Department Regional English Language Officer (RELO) Lisa Morgan who worked hard to help us organize these two successful events. ❉

The mission of the TESOL Arabia Testing SIG is to provide assessment training to English language teaching professionals with the goal of helping teachers develop assessment literacy. To date, FLAs have been held in every Emirate of the UAE and in Egypt, Nepal, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Peru, Armenia and Thailand. The next FLA is currently being scheduled for teachers in Sri Lanka.

Getting Students Motivated to ReadShare your ideas with the

READ SIG! Contact

yassersalem@yahoo.com and Daniel.Stebbins@moe.gov.ae

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Books Available for Review Contact cgunn@aus.edu New Headway Plus: Pre-Intermediate Oxford University Press, 2009

Writers at Work: From Sentence to Paragraph Cambridge, 2010

New Headway Plus: Pre-Intermediate (itools CD-ROM) Oxford University Press, 2009

English Unlimited: Pre-intermediate Course Book, Study Pack, Teacher’s Book Cambridge, 2010

Oxford English for Careers: Tourism 1 Oxford University Press, 2006

English for the Energy Industries: Course book and teacher’s book Garnet, 2007

English Explorer 2 & 4 Heinle Cengage Learning, 2011

Building Skills 2: Course book, CD study pack, teacher’s book Garnet, 2010

Outcomes (Elementary, Intermediate, & Advanced) Heinle Cengage Learning, 2011, 2010, 2012 Read This! 1, 2, & 3 Cambridge, 2010

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Special Interest Groups

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

Saad Rabia Chair

Leadership & Management SIG

Najaat Saadi Hezber Co-Chair

Sandra Zaher Co-Chair

Literature, Literacy & Language Arts SIG Phone: 050 527 7685 Email: tarabialit@gmail.com

Phone: 050 619 4796 Email: christine.coombe@hct.ac.ae Phone: 050 813 3148 Email: pquirke@hct.ac.ae Dr Christine Coombe Co-Chair

Hala El Muniawai Teamleader

Phil Quirke Co-Chair

Teacher Training & Teacher Development SIG

Email: tatdsig@gmail.com Radhika O’Sullivan Dr Marion Engin Webmaster Co-Chair/Editor

Helen Donaghue Co-Chair

Ranya Al Haddad Secretary

Samah El Shal Treasurer

Mary Mayall Treasurer

Learner Independence SIG Email: tailearn@yahoo.com Website: http://ilearn.20m.com

Testing, Assessment & Evaluation SIG

Amr El Zarka Chair

Read SIG

Phone: 050 619 4796 Email: christine.coombe@hct.ac.ae

Daniel Stebbins Phone: 050 464 5002 Email:Daniel.Stebbins@moe.gov.ae

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

Peter Davidson Co-Chair

Yasser Salem Phone: 0502668937 Email: yassersalem@yahoo.com

Daniel Stebbins Treasurer/Webmaster

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

Cindy Gunn

Vance Stevens

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

Mohammad Azaza Anouar Bennani Chair

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Sevhan Acar Hammudeh Helene Demirci

Proposals/Publications Secretary/Networking Proposals/Publications Coordinator Coordinator Coordinator

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Chapter Reports

Eastern Region Chapter Report Sally McQuinn I am honored to be the new Eastern Region Representative for Tesol Arabia. Living and working in Fujairah the past year, I have met so many wonderfully talented teachers whom I am really looking forward to getting to know better. I hope to see lots of you turn out for our upcoming events in Fujairah. Please feel free to contact us anytime concerning TESOL Arabia, especially if you have a good idea about future events. Our team of volunteers is working hard to make this a great chapter and a great year for teachers in the Eastern Region. If you hear an excellent presentation or attend a workshop somewhere that you think would work well in our region, please let us know. We welcome new presenters, volunteers and of course members. We are happy to have so many returning members join us for events to network, share ideas and lend their expertise.

The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Assessment was co-edited by Christine Coombe and Peter Davidson.

Our next event is Tuesday, November 15, 4.00-6.00 p.m. at Fujairah Women's College (Multi-Purpose Hall) "101 Things We Tell our Students Before Exams" presented by Dr Christine Coombe and Peter Davidson. Peter and Christine are internationally known presenters who recently co-edited The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Assessment (2012, Cambridge University Press).

Our current team includes: Hend Ghamri, Darcy Harris, Nicola Harris, Marcella Jones (Treasurer) and Sally McQuinn (Chapter Representative) Our local chapter email is: fjtesolarabia@yahoo.com. We are always very grateful to the Higher Colleges of Technology for their sponsorship and help with hosting these events.

They will outline advice they give students about exams in general and IELTS specifically. They will share assessment information that will help you in the classroom, as well as going over the advice they give students on Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. Our January event will be on Monday, January 16, 2012, from 4:00-5:30 p.m. at Fujairah Women’s College (Multi-Purpose Hall) "Helping Students Develop a Long-term Systematic Approach to Vocabulary Learning" by Bjorn Candel.

Please note our upcoming events and come join us in Fujairah!

❉

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 Peter Davidson at peter.davidson@zu.ac.ae Volume 18

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Chapter Represenatives

TESOL Arabia Chapter Representatives Abu Dhabi Representatives Mohammad Azaza ADNOC Technical Institute Abu Dhabi, UAE 050 780 3988 (mobile) amelki22@yahoo.com

Fathi Bin Mohamed ADNOC Technical Institute Abu Dhabi, UAE 050 441 2529 (mobile) fathibenmohamed@yahoo.com Fathi Bin Mohamed

Mohammad Azaza

Al Ain Representative Mouhamad Mouhanna UGRU United Arab Emirates University P. O. Box 17172 Al Ain, UAE 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 P. O. Box 124354 Dubai, UAE 050 637 5957 (mobile) rehabrajab@yahoo.com

RAK Representative Position Vacant! If interested, contact Les Kirkham at leskirkham@gmail.com or Sandra Oddy at sandra.oddy@hct.ac.ae

Eastern Region Representative Sally McQuinn Fujairah Women’s College, HCT P. O. Box 1626 Fujairah, UAE 056 120 9055 (mobile) smcquinn@hct.ac.ae

Western Region Representative Position Vacant! If interested, contact Les Kirkham at leskirkham@gmail.com or Sandra Oddy at sandra.oddy@hct.ac.ae

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Guidelines for Contributors

Guidelines for Contributors materials received for review will be made available periodically in 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.

Educational Technologies This section will document short articles of about 5002000 words that provide overviews of educational technologies, their utilities and incorporation into practice. This could include software, hardware, and web-based resources.

Networking This section will feature conference and country reports. Reports will be about 500 words. Conference reports should provide the readers with a good overview of the conference in question as well as some personal insights of how it impacted the author. Photos with captions must accompany the submission.

Submission Categories & Guidelines Feature Articles Features should generally be between 2000-4000 words in length, and address educational issues (theory leading to practice) relevant to the membership. The articles can document a critical survey of a particular aspect of the field, detail and analyze pedagogical issues, describe and discuss research findings, or highlight contextual factors and their implications for educational practice. All submissions should be thought through, organized, and clearly written. APA style format will be strictly adhered to regarding referencing. Submissions must be in Times New Roman, font size 12, double spaced. Submissions not meeting APA standards will not be reviewed. Every feature article will go through a review process where the reviewers consider how well it: ■ ■

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Reader’s Response Reader’s Response gives the readers a forum to respond to articles published in previous issues or respond to a critical issue in the region. Responses should focus on the content of an article and provide reasoned feedback. Responses should be between 500-2000 words.

Lesson Ideas Do you have a great lesson idea or an activity that others should know about? Lesson Ideas offers teachers the opportunity to share their activities in context. Submissions should be between 500-2000 words and detail the activity as well as provide a context for usage. Lesson ideas can be a one-off lesson or a series of lessons.

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 Reviews should evaluate any recent textbook, resource book, CD/DVD audio or video title, or website. Reviews should be 500–1000 words in length and evaluate materials for their approach, content, appropriateness, adaptability, and relevancy. A list of

Send your submissions to: Melanie Gobert & Tandy Bailey TESOL Arabia Perspectives Editors perspectives@tesolarabia.org

TESOL Arabia Perspectives is published three times a year: November, January and June

Deadline for next issues: November 15, 2011 and March 30, 2012 Volume 18

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Executive Council

TESOL Arabia Executive Council President/Membership Secretary

Past President

Les Kirkham c/o Al Ain Women’s College Higher College of Technology P. O. Box 17258, Al Ain, UAE leskirkham@gmail.com

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

Executive Secretary/Webmaster

Executive Treasurer/President Elect

Konrad A Cedro Dubai Men's College Dubai, UAE 050 144 7680 (mobile) konard.cedro@hct.ac.ae

James McDonald Academic Bridge Program Zayed University Dubai, UAE 04 402 1371 (office) james.mcdonald@zu.ac.ae

Conference Co-Chair

Conference Treasurer/Conference Co-Chair

Dr Christine Coombe Dubai Men's College Dubai, UAE 050 619 4796 (mobile) christine.coombe@hct.ac.ae

Beth Wiens Zayed University P. O. Box 19282, Dubai, UAE 04 402 1350 (office) 04 402 1003 (fax) 050 4620566 (mobile) beth.wiens@zu.ac.ae

Member-at-Large

SIG Coordinator

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

Heather Maria Baba Abu Dhabi Men's College Higher Colleges of Technology P. O. Box 25035 Abu Dhabi, UAE tasigscoord@yahoo.co.uk

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

Tandy Bailey Abu Dhabi Women's College Higher Colleges of Technology P.O. Box 41012 Abu Dhabi, UAE tbailey-seffar@hct.ac.ae

Conference Proceedings Editor / Publications Coordinator Peter Davidson Zayed University Dubai, UAE 050 843 8782 (mobile) peter.davidson@zu.ac.ae

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