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Second language teacher education is an important agency with a powerful capacity to impact student teachers’ socialization. Like all other prospective teachers, second language student teachers go through various experiences while... more
Second language teacher education is an important agency with a powerful capacity to impact student teachers’ socialization. Like all other prospective teachers, second language student teachers go through various experiences while attending their initial training program and these experiences impact their beliefs, images, and thinking in relation to teaching and learning (foreign) languages. This paper, hence, triangulates data from the Philosophy and Guidelines for the Omani English Language School Curriculum document (Nunan, Tyacke & Walton, 1987), which I will herewith refer to as the National English Language Policy/Plan (NELP), other policy texts, the pertinent literature, and semi-structured interviews conducted with various agents involved in the Omani English language teaching (ELT) system. The paper critically discusses the different ideologies embodied in the various statements and draws conclusions about their implications to initial English language teacher education in...
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Ever since its establishment in 1997, the College of Law formerly known as the College of Sharia and Law at Sultan Qaboos University has been heavily criticized for the lack of English language skills of its graduates, who have either... more
Ever since its establishment in 1997, the College of Law formerly known as the College of Sharia and Law at Sultan Qaboos University has been heavily criticized for the lack of English language skills of its graduates, who have either failed to impress their employers or struggled to find jobs related to the legal field which has had negative implications for the Omanization process. English language in Oman is the only official foreign language and a significant tool for achieving multiple uses and values. This triggered a strong call for change by Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) and the College of Law administration to integrate English language into various legal courses offered at the college. This article discusses the steps and decisions taken by the decision makers at SQU and the College of Law to introduce the necessary changes to cater for the needs of the job market to help contribute to the development of Oman’s economy. The discussion may have implications for change in o...
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The current study aimed to reveal the extent of the use of reflective practices tools among undergraduate students from the science curriculum majors at the College of Education at Sultan Qaboos University. To achieve the objective of the... more
The current study aimed to reveal the extent of the use of reflective practices tools among undergraduate students from the science curriculum majors at the College of Education at Sultan Qaboos University. To achieve the objective of the study, the quantitative approach was used to answer the main question: What is the degree of use of reflective practice tools among undergraduate students from the science curriculum majors at the College of Education at Sultan Qaboos University? An electronic questionnaire prepared by the researcher was applied to determine the degree of practice (high - medium - weak - non-existent) for several reflection tools, namely: action research, portfolio, reflective reports, self-assessment of performance, listening thinking, peer observation, ideas record, and learning groups. The study sample consisted of (58) undergraduate students from the science curriculum majors at the College of Education at Sultan Qaboos University, (48) of them were female, and...
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Ever since its establishment in 1997, the College of Law formerly known as the College of Sharia and Law at Sultan Qaboos University has been heavily criticized for the lack of English language skills of its graduates, who have either... more
Ever since its establishment in 1997, the College of Law formerly known as the College of Sharia and Law at Sultan Qaboos University has been heavily criticized for the lack of English language skills of its graduates, who have either failed to impress their employers or struggled to find jobs related to the legal field which has had negative implications for the Omanization process. English language in Oman is the only official foreign language and a significant tool for achieving multiple uses and values. This triggered a strong call for change by Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) and the College of Law administration to integrate English language into various legal courses offered at the college. This article discusses the steps and decisions taken by the decision makers at SQU and the College of Law to introduce the necessary changes to cater for the needs of the job market to help contribute to the development of Oman's economy. The discussion may have implications for change ...
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Historically and as a developing country, the Sultanate of Oman has always been culturally dependent on Britain to plan and implement its English Language Teaching (ELT) and in-service teacher education. This dependency has negatively... more
Historically and as a developing country, the Sultanate of Oman has always been culturally dependent on Britain to plan and implement its English Language Teaching (ELT) and in-service teacher education. This dependency has negatively affected preparing English language teachers with a new global professional identity capable of introducing change to the Omani ELT system. This argument is at the heart of my response to Wyatt and Sargeant’s article in this issue of Changing English. I argue for professionalism as a political ideology capable of resisting and challenging the ELT cultural imperialism.
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The education system in general and ELT in particular are rigidly controlled in the Sultanate of Oman, which gives teachers little room to supplement the mandated textbook. This article, hence, discusses ideologies about the ‘flexible’... more
The education system in general and ELT in particular are rigidly controlled in the Sultanate of Oman, which gives teachers little room to supplement the mandated textbook. This article, hence, discusses ideologies about the ‘flexible’ ELT syllabus and the role of the teacher’s professionalism in the syllabus implementation process. One of the powerful ‘ideologies’ that govern ELT in the Sultanate of Oman is thus the ‘neocolonial/communicative’. Another powerful ideology is the ‘professional’, which is exclusively concerned with the teacher’s professionalism. These two ideologies complement each other and are present in the various statements made by different agents involved in the Omani ELT system, the pertinent literature and the Philosophy and Guidelines for the Omani English Language School Curriculum (Nunan et al. 1987), herewith referred to as the National English Language Policy/ Plan (NELP). However, these seem to conflict with the ‘colonialist/culturalist’ ideologies incorporated in the content of the materials produced locally by the Ministry Education—Our World through English (OWTE) and its suggested means of implementation. This is considered to negatively impact ‘Omanization’. This research paper, therefore, critically examines and discusses this state of ideological conflict via triangulating data from semi-structured interviews conducted with different agents involved in the implementation of ELT in Oman, pertinent literature and policy texts and NELP. Such examination and discussion have their implications for second language policy implementation.
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Critical Pedagogy (CP) has been proposed as an alternative pedagogy capable of meeting the complex demands of teaching English within a particular sociopolitical context. Despite the fact that CP has been present in education since the... more
Critical Pedagogy (CP) has been proposed as an alternative pedagogy capable of meeting the complex demands of teaching English within a particular sociopolitical context. Despite the fact that CP has been present in education since the 1960s, much of the research on CP has been conducted recently in Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) contexts. There is a growing but as yet small amount of research that addresses the usage of CP in TESOL contexts, to which this study hopes to make a useful contribution. Therefore, this study investigates the extent to which TESOL teachers from four higher education institutions in the Sultanate of Oman are aware of CP. In order to achieve this, a questionnaire is administered to 178 English Language Teachers. The main findings reveal a widespread lack of awareness of the concept of CP among TESOL teachers. Nonetheless, minorities of teachers are aware of CP and implement it in a limited fashion in their classes. On the other h...
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The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in English language educational settings often improves teaching and learning (Tinio, 2016). English language teaching and technology have been seen as interesting new... more
The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in English language educational settings often improves teaching and learning (Tinio, 2016). English language teaching and technology have been seen as interesting new research era. This article reviewed studies on ICT integration in teaching from ten different countries. The aim of this review is to analyze cross cultural findings in order to determine what factors might be best applied to the Indonesia situation to improve English language learning and teaching as well as types of technology might be best adopted for ELT improvement. The articles for the study were found through internet search engine, Google scholar and ERIC in the area of technology integration and technology tools in English language teaching. Thus, the data taken is carefully investigated using inclusion and exclusion criteria. The result of analysis showed that the integration of technology in teaching can improve the experience for students a...
Research Interests: Sociology, Computer Science, Educational Technology, Digital Literacy, English language, and 9 moreICT in Education, Applied Linguistics, The Internet, English language teaching, English linguistics, Technology Integration, Information and Communications Technology, English Language Teaching, and English Language
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ABSTRACT
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Teacher trainers/educators (the two terms will be used interchangeably) at the pre‐service level are important agents and influential raw models for their trainee teachers. They can contribute positively to the student teacher's... more
Teacher trainers/educators (the two terms will be used interchangeably) at the pre‐service level are important agents and influential raw models for their trainee teachers. They can contribute positively to the student teacher's socialization process via the progressive training modes they adopt, the informed decisions they make, the critical reflection and analytical thinking abilities they demonstrate, and the epistemic power and experience they possess and exhibit. In rigidly centralized and hegemonic educational systems, like Oman for instance, educators should be in a position to equip their prospective teachers with theoretical and practical tools to help them become efficient agents of change.
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The education system in general and ELT in particular are rigidly controlled in the Sultanate of Oman, which gives teachers little room to supplement the mandated textbook. This article, hence, discusses ideologies about the... more
The education system in general and ELT in particular are rigidly controlled in the Sultanate of Oman, which gives teachers little room to supplement the mandated textbook. This article, hence, discusses ideologies about the `flexible' ELT syllabus and the role of the teacher's professionalism in the syllabus implementation process. One of the powerful `ideologies' that govern ELT in the Sultanate of Oman is thus the `neocolonial/communicative'. Another powerful ideology is the `professional', which is exclusively concerned with the teacher's professionalism. These two ideologies complement each other and are present in the various statements made by different agents involved in the Omani ELT system, the pertinent literature and the Philosophy and Guidelines for the Omani English Language School Curriculum (Nunan et al. 1987), herewith referred to as the National English Language Policy/ Plan (NELP). However, these seem to conflict with the `colonialist/cultu...
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... colonisation of nations, as it was the case with the UK in the past, or via alternative means like the mass media and the Internet, for instance, as it has been the case with the USA (Al-Issa, 2002). ... Textbooks are devices for... more
... colonisation of nations, as it was the case with the UK in the past, or via alternative means like the mass media and the Internet, for instance, as it has been the case with the USA (Al-Issa, 2002). ... Textbooks are devices for putting ideas and beliefs above criticism (Olsen, 1989). ...
Research Interests: Sociology, Language Education, Literature, English language, Embodied Cognition, and 14 moreIdeology, Pedagogy, Linguistics, English Language Learning, Curriculum, Interviews, Second Language, Language Studies, Materials Design, Ministry of Education, Education System, English Language, Internet, and CLAC (culture & language across the curriculum)
The Sultanate of Oman is a developing country that has accepted the English language as a significant tool for modernization. This was best interpreted in the opening of Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in 1986, which has delivered its... more
The Sultanate of Oman is a developing country that has accepted the English language as a significant tool for modernization. This was best interpreted in the opening of Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in 1986, which has delivered its different academic programmes totally or partially through the English language. One of the colleges of SQU has been the College of Law. It was opened in 1997 to help contribute to effective implementation of nationalisation and national development in the Sultanate of Oman, which English language proficiency is a part and parcel of. However, graduates exiting the College so far have been unable to fulfil this strategic aim due to policy-practice drawbacks. Evident weaknesses in their English language and legal knowledge have provoked repeated complaints from the employers in both sectors. Accordingly, a decision was made to introduce a bilingual programme through which approximately 30 % of the subjects at the College of Law would be taught in English. This study, therefore, researches the uses of English language in the Law job market in the Sultanate of Oman and its implications for policy-practice improvement. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to 182 graduates of the College of Law, SQU. Findings have shown that while the new programme has the potential to serve national development and Omanisation, the College faculties have a pivotal role to play in influencing a positive implementation of the plan.
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This study investigated the reasons why Omani English language teachers at the Language Centre (LC) at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) tend not to publish in the English Language Teaching (ELT) field or a related one. Publishing has always... more
This study investigated the reasons why Omani English language teachers at the Language Centre (LC) at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) tend not to publish in the English Language Teaching (ELT) field or a related one. Publishing has always been one of ...
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This study asks questions and elicits answers about the importance of English language teaching (ELT) instruction time on the national curriculum in the Sultanate of Oman from an ideological perspective. It triangulates data from... more
This study asks questions and elicits answers about the importance of English language teaching (ELT) instruction time on the national curriculum in the Sultanate of Oman from an ideological perspective. It triangulates data from semi-structured interviews made with different agents involved in the Omani ELT system and representing different social, cultural, and academic backgrounds, the pertinent literature, the National English Language Policy/Plan, and other locally produced policy texts. The critical discussion, which aims at revealing and examining the degree of conflict and harmony, differences and similarities, and agreements and disagreements embodied in the various statements, has revealed variable ideologies and paradigms about the instruction time given to ELT on the national curriculum. The findings in this article have their direct implications for ELT policy in the Sultanate of Oman and other similar contexts where English and other equally important languages are taught as a foreign/second language.
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Proficiency of the English language has been described as central for determining Non-Native English Speaking Teachers (N-NESTs) selection for joining the profession. The Ministry of Education in the Sultanate of Oman decided to set the... more
Proficiency of the English language has been described as central for determining Non-Native English Speaking Teachers (N-NESTs) selection for joining the profession. The Ministry of Education in the Sultanate of Oman decided to set the score of Band 6 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) for accepting the English Language Teaching (ELT) graduates of Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) as full-time teachers. The decision has generated significant debate and controversy amongst those involved in the Omani ELT system. This qualitative content analysis study hence triangulates data from interviews and the relevant literature about the different language proficiency measurement devices to determine the selection of SQU graduates to join the ELT force. The findings show that the Ministry of Education needs to rethink the decision of opting for the IELTS as a valid and reliable selection criterion. The results have important implications for setting selection criteria ...
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Students’ expectations have seldom received any attention in English Language Teaching (ELT) education research in the Arab World in general and in Integrated Content and Language in Higher Education (ICLHE)/English Medium Instruction... more
Students’ expectations have seldom received any attention in English Language Teaching (ELT) education research in the Arab World in general and in Integrated Content and Language in Higher Education (ICLHE)/English Medium Instruction (EMI) English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in particular, despite their importance for policy and practice. This mixed-method study investigates the expectations of 50 students attending an ICLHE/EMI EAP course at College of Law, Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in the Sultanate of Oman. The results have shown that the students had course materials and content and course pedagogy and design implementation expectations. The results have further revealed that the teacher played a key role in meeting his students’ expectations through his effective teaching. The findings have important implications for ICLHE/EMI policy implementation in other similar local, regional and global contexts. Keywords: Students’ expectations; English Language for Law (1); Integrat...
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Knowledge of English to the non-native speaker English teachers (NNSET) is crucial and fundamental, and its importance has been highlighted by various writers over the past few decades. This research paper, therefore, examines from an... more
Knowledge of English to the non-native speaker English teachers (NNSET) is crucial and fundamental, and its importance has been highlighted by various writers over the past few decades. This research paper, therefore, examines from an ideological perspective the importance of English language knowledge to the NNEST and the implications it has for English as a second language (ESL) education design, teacher education and policy implementation in the Sultanate of Oman. The paper triangulates data from the Philosophy and Guidelines for the Omani English Language School Curriculum document, which I will herewith refer to as the National English Language Policy/Plan (NELP) (Nunan, Tyacke & Walton, 1987), some other relevant policy texts, semi-structured interviews conducted with different agents involved in the Omani language education system and the pertinent literature. The paper draws conclusions about the powerful impact of the linguistically incompetent English teacher, as produced ...
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Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) has been the sole English Language Teaching (ELT) research enterprise in the Sultanate of Oman through the Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Curriculum and Methods of Teaching English degree program it launched... more
Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) has been the sole English Language Teaching (ELT) research enterprise in the Sultanate of Oman through the Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Curriculum and Methods of Teaching English degree program it launched in the early 1990s. Eighty-two theses have been completed so far about topics pertinent to ELT in the Sultanate of Oman. However, a review of those theses has shown that the discussion of these topics lacks a critical dimension that can advance Omani ELT at the micro and macro levels. This critical qualitative study, therefore, sets out to make a case for new directions in ELT research at the M.Ed. in ELT program at SQU. The discussion should lead to better understanding of the multiple ELT problems in the Sultanate of Oman and have implications for other similar contexts.
Research Interests: Sociology, Higher Education, Mathematics Education, Social Statistics, Critical Discourse Analysis, and 11 moreQualitative Research, Research, Curriculum, English language teaching, The qualitative report, Qualitative Content Analysis, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Theses, English Language Teaching, Sultan Qaboos University, and Master of Education
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Communicative Language Proficiency (CLP) in the target language is critical for the teachers joining English language teaching for different reasons. The Ministry of Education in the Sultanate of Oman has sanctioned the score of Band 6 on... more
Communicative Language Proficiency (CLP) in the target language is critical for the teachers joining English language teaching for different reasons. The Ministry of Education in the Sultanate of Oman has sanctioned the score of Band 6 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) as the main criterion for accepting English language teachers graduating from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). Nonetheless, some fourth-year Student Teachers (STs) have failed to achieve the specified score due to reasons pertinent to the choices made in the initial English language teacher education program content knowledge and methods. This qualitative study, hence, investigates the perspectives of purposively selected STs and faculty members about the effect of SQU English Language Teaching (ELT) content knowledge and methods on the STs’ IELTS band scores. Results have shown that there is a need to reconsider the content knowledge and methods to create more opportunities for the program p...
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Foreign language learning is a complex process determined by several explicit and implicit factors and strategies. The literature on the field has highlighted the importance of foreign language strategies in improving learners’ command of... more
Foreign language learning is a complex process determined by several explicit and implicit factors and strategies. The literature on the field has highlighted the importance of foreign language strategies in improving learners’ command of the target language and has shown that learners employ different strategies to foster their learning of a target language. Today, English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in Oman and elsewhere are surrounded more than ever by various out-of-class English sources that can potentially influence their English language learning, but which may have negative implications for EFL policy implementation in the country. This study investigates the use of out-of-class strategies by Omani EFL learners as a means to identify means of formulating the ELT policy. A 33-item questionnaire was developed, validated, piloted and e-mailed to all Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) first year students to investigate their perceptions about the strategies they employed when they were at school and which they thought had helped them improve their English. Analysis of the data showed that participants adopted certain passive/receptive and active/productive strategies that were counter to the ELT policy in Oman. The findings have implications for teacher practices and roles and for the EFL policy in the Omani and other similar EFL contexts.