English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates: Theoretical, Empirical and Practical Perspectives (English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy) 9811688877, 9789811688874

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English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy

Christine Coombe · Lana Hiasat · Georgia Daleure Editors

English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates Theoretical, Empirical and Practical Perspectives

English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy Series Editor Christine Coombe , Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai Men’s College, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

This series publishes latest research-based developments in English language teaching in selected geographical areas around the world. The series seeks to engage with three main areas, namely theory, research and pedagogy/teaching. The aim of the series is to connect ‘research’ and ‘practice’ through all types of research from action research to more theoretical studies on aspects of English language teaching that inform classroom practice. The series will feature relevant localized research conducted by teachers of English at all levels in their particular geographical context.The series will publish latest theoretical, empirical and pedagogical developments in a specific ES/FL geographical area. Some of the volumes feature individual countries like Pakistan, Iran and China. Other volumes comprise recognized geographical areas like South America, Asia, Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Gulf, Australia and New Zealand and/or MENA/Middle East etc.The series is truly international, with each volume providing the opportunity to compare and learn from experiences of researchers and teachers around the world. Each volume is edited by key figures in the field, while contributors are drawn from across the globe and from a variety of backgrounds. The series is intended for students, scholars and practitioners in the field of English Language Teaching.

More information about this series at https://link.springer.com/bookseries/16403

Christine Coombe · Lana Hiasat · Georgia Daleure Editors

English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates Theoretical, Empirical and Practical Perspectives

Editors Christine Coombe Dubai Men’s College Higher Colleges of Technology Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Lana Hiasat Dubai Men’s College Higher Colleges of Technology Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Georgia Daleure Higher Colleges of Technology Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

ISSN 2662-432X ISSN 2662-4338 (electronic) English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy ISBN 978-981-16-8887-4 ISBN 978-981-16-8888-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Foreword

As the President and CEO of the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Personalized Learning is becoming more implementable during the on-line mode of instruction (COVID-19). Student-centred learning, as opposed to teacher-centred, learning is where students’ learning objectives are heterogeneous in character and content, and where the method and pace of learning differs for each student and are not controlled by the teacher. As shown through the studies featured in this book, educators must continue to move away from homogenized learning objectives based on teacher preferences, interests, and aspirations with the teacher controlling all aspects of learning, from content to assessment and with the student the passive recipient of knowledge. Educators must empower learners to take more control over what and how they learn, from being passive to active learners. The editors of this book, Dr. Christine Coombe, an Associate Professor of General Studies, Dr. Lana Hiasat, Senior Lecturer of General Studies and Program Team Leader, and Dr. Georgia Daleure, Dean of General Studies, have carefully evaluated and selected interesting, informative, and timely studies representing the best of research in general education and language learning in the UAE. The book titled English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates: Theoretical, Empirical and Practical Perspectives features contributions from the three public and multiple private higher education institutions in the UAE and gives a robust perspective of theoretical, empirical, and practical research studies illustrating creativity, innovation, and the application of best practices in the UAE. Studies in general education and language learning are especially important in the UAE because higher education in the three federal tertiary institutions, as well as most private tertiary institutions, use English as the mode of instruction rather than Arabic, the native language of most students. In the theoretical perspectives section, studies include characteristics of effective general education and language instruction programs. In the empirical perspectives section, studies describe the shift from traditional classroom-based learning to hybrid and online learning, introduction of STEM for efficiency and effectiveness, and other topics. In the practical perspectives section, studies present evidence-based v

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innovations in English language and General Studies and practical applications of best practices of English language and general education. When HCT introduced the concept of Uber-like education in April 2018 at the Ellucian Annual Conference in San Diego, USA, we laid out the groundwork for future education in HCT to be delivered anywhere with a personalized learning approach for every student. COVID-19 has accelerated the process of establishing online learning as an integrated part of our education system bringing many benefits to our students, students in the UAE, and students around the Globe. The studies in this book show that the future of education is evolving, becoming more exciting for the Gen-Z, and making learning more fun and interesting, something the Gen-Zs have been awaiting for a long time! Abdullatif AlShamsi Central Services Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Acknowledgements

This book resulted from our personal reflections and experiences as foreign/second language and General Studies teachers over the years in the United Arab Emirates where research and evidence-based teaching and learning are of profound importance. It would not have been possible without the help and guidance of many people we have encountered along the way. We would like to thank our teaching colleagues and the leadership at the Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE, for their support and encouragement. We also recognize and thank thousands of students and teacher participants who have participated in the research studies described in this volume. All three of us would like to thank our friends and family who have been so important in the completion of this book project. Christine is particularly grateful to her father Carl, sister Cindy, mother Marion, and stepfather Howard. Lana appreciates the support of her husband Muawieh, and children Leilani, Serena, Fahed, and Khalid as well as her mom Meta who has inspired her professional journey. Georgia is grateful for the constant support of her husband, Ahmad, the thoughtful upbringing of her parents Vasilios and Diana, and the unfathomable love of her children and grandchildren. Lastly, special thanks go to our editors at Springer as well as the anonymous reviewers who provided helpful comments on this manuscript.

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Volume Introduction

Educators all over the world have long debated the importance of a General Studies education and degree because advanced study is only part of what makes an undergraduate university degree worthy and prestigious. For centuries, the hallmark of university education has also been the nurturing of every student’s capacity to develop, assess, and communicate their understanding of the world in which they live. In most modern universities, humanities and arts electives are on offer in an attempt to help students achieve these goals. General Studies education in the United Arab Emirates is a more consciously structured pursuit of the aims of what has traditionally been known as ‘general education.’ These UAE-based programs, often combined with English language content, ensure that students acquire the requisite skills and knowledge that are relevant to the real-world context in which they will live and one day work. Both English language and General Studies programs in the UAE continue to provide students with the opportunity to enhance their critical thinking skills, bolster their communication, numerical, and digital literacy, and stimulate their capacities for creativity and innovative thinking. At the same time, these programs help enrich students’ knowledge of the wider social, cultural, and natural worlds in which they will have to function. General Studies programs are founded on the belief that students will live and work in a changing, often unpredictable world, one very much like the environment we find ourselves in at present. Given the changes witnessed in careers, employment, and the future workforce, together with the various unforeseen and often unknown directions that our development may take, English language and General Studies education in the UAE are dedicated to students’ need for lifelong learning and a knowledge base that is interdisciplinary and transferable across academic disciplines and workplace contexts. Nowhere has this been more important than the current environment due to the March 2020 global pandemic where everyone’s world changed in a matter of days, most especially the world of education. In our view, English language and General Studies educators in the UAE were and continue to be at the forefront in coping with the challenges brought on by the pandemic. The global and countrywide transition to online, blended, and in some ix

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places hybrid teaching and learning environments was facilitated by the proactive work done by many of the researchers included in this volume who started work prior to the pandemic and who were ahead of the game when educational institution closures occurred and the shift to online learning was made. The studies in the volume serve to guide and prompt the creation of new and improved ideas that will carry both English language and General Education teaching and learning into the next phase of development in this ‘New Norm’.

Who This Book is For This 29-chapter volume features theoretical research and research-based chapters authored by English language and General Studies educators in the UAE at all levels of instruction and in a variety of different contexts. The majority of the chapters showcase research that has been done at the tertiary level from both federally funded and private institutions. This volume is therefore intended for researchers with a keen interest in some of the latest research trends in English language and General Studies education.

How the Book is Organized This volume is divided into three major sections: theoretical perspectives, empirical perspectives, and practical perspectives. Each section presents exemplars of some of the excellent research and research-based empirical and practical work being done by English language and General Studies teachers in the United Arab Emirates.

Theoretical Perspectives The five chapters in the first section, Theoretical Perspectives, feature work done by educators on providing a rationale for a General Studies program as well as denoting the seven essential elements of good General Studies programs. Other chapters in this section feature the new workplace demands of UAE students, bilingualism, and bilingual readers. A chapter reviewing a decade of journal article research on English language teaching in the UAE rounds out this section of the volume. In the opening chapter, Richard Peel and Patrick Devitt provide a general overview of the current status of Liberal Arts courses and present a case for a dedicated General Studies degree that includes elective STEM credits. This chapter contemplates what such a degree designed for the UAE market might resemble and how it could add value to the cohorts of Emirati graduates entering the workforce, whilst at the same time acknowledging the challenges to its implementation.

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In Seven Characteristics of Effective General Studies Programs in the UAE, Gillian Zammel and Alma Piric Mesic look at 7 key characteristics of how to deliver effective general education classes in the twenty-first century. The areas that they focus on are as follows: conveying the knowledge through effective teaching, introducing and applying new teaching methods, using scoring rubrics to evaluate students’ work, fostering critical thinking through classroom discussion, active learning, incorporating technology, staying current, and interdisciplinary collaboration. These areas focus on the role of the faculty member in ensuring that students receive a relevant learning experience and that they are engaged throughout their learning journey. In the next chapter of this section, Catherine Nickerson focuses on an important aspect of English language education at the tertiary level in the UAE, that of the need to prepare learners to meet the demands of what is likely to be a bilingual workplace. In her chapter entitled Teaching Business English in the UAE to Undergraduate Learners: A Learner-Centred Approach, this means equipping learners who have no prior experience of their chosen profession, with a specific set of language skills which will help them to communicate effectively in their future working life. In her chapter, Huda Jamal reviews the theme of bilingualism in general, and the effectiveness of bilingual reading in education in particular. It provides an analysis, together with examples, of how the bilingual elements in the story Children and Heroes can enhance literacy in the UAE. The chapter advocates strongly for bilingualism in education, which is seen as an efficient, modern, and reliable approach in the current educational landscape. To round out this section on empirical perspectives, Shifa Desai examines a decade of “Research on English Language Teaching in Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates, 2010–2020: An Overview of Journal Articles.” This review article opens up a discussion about what has been studied and published and what direction future research might take. It focuses on research articles that were published in peer-reviewed journals and influential edited books on the most recent research in education in the Gulf as a whole. This overview reports on both student voices and teacher voices as important aspects of the state of higher education in the past decade. The guiding question for this review is, what has driven research in language teaching in higher education in the UAE in the past 10 years?

Empirical Perspectives The sixteen chapters in the second part of this volume feature examples of primary research being done in the UAE. Although most of the chapters are derived from the tertiary context, research done with students at the secondary school level is also included. The first chapter in this section of the book is an exploratory study by Abderrazak Dammak, conducted in a vocational institute in the United Arab Emirates, which aims at exploring the issue of teachers’ participation in the decision-making process

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on assessment and their satisfaction with their actual participation in this decisionmaking process. This issue is a controversial one which cannot be explored without situating it in the power conflict between the different stakeholders involved in the assessment process. In this study, the researcher used a variety of different data collection tools including questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Results of this exploratory study showed that most teachers are not permitted to participate in decision-making about assessment. Results also revealed teachers’ dissatisfaction with their lack of participation in the decision-making process. In his chapter, David Knott examines Educational Influx: Socialization of New English Teachers in UAE State Schools. By analysing rich, qualitative data collected in a series of semi-structured interviews with several participants situated around the UAE, this research delves deeply into teachers’ experiences and how they construct and interpret their realities within the cross-cultural dynamic of their professional lives. Making the Transition from Blended Learning to Fully Online learning is the topic under discussion by Lana Hiasat and Ghada Ali. This chapter is a descriptive research study based on a reflective theoretical framework. The chapter authors collected reflective data from two different divisions at their institution, Engineering and General Studies, during an eight-week transition period that saw the institution move from a blended learning environment to full online learning due to the global lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic starting in March 2020. As a result of this move from blended to fully online teaching and learning, the researchers propose six recommendations for effective online teaching in higher education. A team of researchers in the General Studies department of a tertiary-level institution in the UAE, Hisham Hanfy, Georgia Daleure, Kamal Abuquad, and Suhaila Al Hosani, explored the feasibility of using computer simulation software, easily sourced by the institution and easily administered by the math teacher, to replace the human engineering expert in the STEM versus STeM (Science Technology [without Engineering] Technology) dichotomy. A quasi-experimental design was utilized with 80 students from three intact math classes at a federal post-secondary institution in the United Arab Emirates. The findings indicated that the STEM (using Engineering Expert) and STeM (using computer simulation administered by math teacher) yielded similar results, both of which were higher than using traditional math teaching methods. The chapter author, James McLaughlin, describes an investigation into student learning and course delivery at a tertiary institution in the United Arab Emirates. Using interviews as his primary data collection method, thirteen male students who required English for academic purposes courses at the college participated in the study. Analysis of the interview data indicates strong use of social-affective strategies aimed at objective outcomes. Differences were noted between those classified as deep or surface-oriented learners in terms of their goals and the extent to which they described engaging in independent learning. In her chapter, entitled “Students’ Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Using Blogs as a Supplementary Learning Tool to Enhance Writing Skills at a Private University in Dubai,” Jessica Saba explored and investigated students’ perceptions and attitudes

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towards using blogs as a supplementary learning tool to enhance writing. The findings of this study showed positive attitudes towards this learning tool that was used to improve students’ writing skills in an English Communication Skills course. In her study, Larysa Nikolayeva explores current research on the response of female Emirati undergraduate students to text adaptation. Incorporated at the time of developing learning aids, students’ response can serve as one of the tools for enhancing students’ language skills for academic success. The analysis is based on the response of two groups of students obtained through a test and a text difficulty survey addressing their comprehension skills of authentic versus adapted texts. The effect of the text and sentence length, grammatical complexity, vocabulary, and cohesion on students’ comprehension were considered as variables in the study. The research reveals what is needed to amend the text for Emirati female students, and the areas of concern that help material designers based in the Arab world to choose the most appropriate approach to text manipulation. The focus of the next chapter by Luke Mawer examined the beliefs of fortyfour General Studies teachers through their acceptance and use of technology at a higher education institute within the UAE. The data was collected via a questionnaire. As current educational polices within the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education recommend incorporation of technology into the teaching and learning environment, it is important to identify potential issues concerning its implementation. This research was conducted on the understanding that in order for a proposed reform to be enacted effectively, teachers’ beliefs must align with those of their social context. The results indicate that the teachers’ beliefs, their intentions, and practices align with those of the policy. In the next chapter, Mazhar Azeem and Georgia Daleure explore the perspectives of students and teachers regarding factors for motivation and engagement in core program courses in a federal tertiary institution. Specifically, the study compared the perceptions of students and teachers regarding factors for motivation and engagement, as well as challenges, to determine whether the perceptions were similar or different and to determine factors for student disengagement or low motivation. In this quantitative study, students and teachers ranked factors for student disengagement and low motivation using a survey with both closed- and open-ended questions. Findings indicated that both students and teachers perceived that the most effective teaching practices were experiential, practical, and interactive lessons, however, both groups responded that those lessons were not necessarily the delivery norm. The chapter authors, Mouna Abou Assali and Salah Troudi, report on a qualitative study which explores the emotional experiences of EFL student teachers during their practice teaching in the United Arab Emirates. Sixteen pre-service teachers participated in focus group interviews as the primary data collection method. The data indicated that participants experienced a wide range of emotions, both positive and negative, which were mainly focused on areas related to their classroom practices, language proficiency, professional knowledge, and support received during their teaching practice. The findings also show an urgent need for more coordination and collaboration between the college and the schools of training.

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The research team of Panagiotis Papadopoulos, Corne Lotter, and Nancy Fahnestock report on a study, which made comparisons between UAE student performance in face-to-face classes and online courses with one unique component; due to the pandemic, this research was an opportunity to examine half a semester in a blended format and the other half in a totally online environment. The student performance of three different General Studies courses where the performance, as well as the gender differences, were examined. The results showed more variability within the females’ marks and more consistency in the males. Neil Hunt examines the identity and investment in learning English from the perspective of young women studying English language courses integral to a Bachelor of Education in English Language Teaching at an institution in the United Arab Emirates. The students are first year undergraduates and as newcomer teachers and inexpert users of English, this study aims to explore the construction of their identities as both learners and potential teachers of English. Reflections on a Teacher Leadership Programme in the UAE by Phil Quirke is the topic under discussion in the next chapter. This chapter reviews the qualitative research analysis of teacher participant reflections on a professional development teacher leadership programme, DREAM Management, that the author has been running annually for the past decade. The chapter details the choice of research methodology and instruments whilst using examples to demonstrate the value of this on-going research to the refinement of both the DREAM Management course and the online teacher education methodology employed in delivering the programme to faculty across 17 different campuses throughout the UAE. In the next study, Shabana Kamal investigates how Arab learners of English in the United Arab Emirates perceive and overcome English academic reading difficulties while studying at a Dubai-based English medium school. The participants of the current study were fresh high school graduates. The study employed a qualitative methodology and semi-structured interviews to collect data about the students’ reading experiences. The analysis of the interview transcripts identified high difficulty level vocabulary, unfamiliar or irrelevant topics, weak foundational skills, and traditional learning settings as the most significant contributory factors to Arab students’ poor reading skills. In their chapter entitled “Developing Feedback Literacy in Emirati Undergraduates,” Tony Myers and Jaime Buchanan report on the results of an action research study intended to foster feedback literacy amongst students at an English medium institution. This was achieved by treating the feedback process as a genre embedded within the curriculum, and using some of the tools developed by Sydney School genre pedagogy, breaking the process down into stages where students were able to identify exactly what each part was trying to tell them with actionable and generalizable advice. A majority of students who engaged with the feedback achieved better results. This positively reinforced the students’ engagement with feedback, and led to greater take up in future assignments, thereby ameliorating their understanding of the feedback process and its value for them. The research team of Timothy White, Wasif Minhas, Georgia Daleure, Hisham Hanfy, Nadia Solovieva, and Corey Brandon share results of a major General Studies

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initiative that included the incorporation of technology tools, educational best practices, and innovative solutions to develop a simulated online delivery model, crosslisting courses in Blackboard Learn, and introducing a hybrid flipped class delivery approach. The effectiveness of the model was measured and compared to previous academic year data. The advanced preparation and experience of the General Studies programs contributed to the overall preparedness of the host institution’s successful transition to fully online delivery during the recent pandemic.

Practical Perspectives The remaining seven chapters in this volume promote evidence-based practical initiatives that were showcased in various institutions and educational contexts in the United Arab Emirates. Topics in this section of the volume run the gamut from curriculum renewal, task-based teaching and learning, learning-oriented assessment to innovations offered by General Studies and English language programs. The first chapter in this section looks at the rapid shift to remote online learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has resulted in a rethink of how education was, is, and should be delivered. Melanie Gobert describes her experience with a Life and Future Skills course at a large tertiary higher education institution in the United Arab Emirates which rethought changes in the delivery of the curriculum in a blended learning environment. This chapter recounts the timeline of the innovative changes in the curriculum and delivery of the course and some of the challenges and successes that occurred during this time of change. For Emirati students taking the IELTS exam, the reading component is arguably the biggest hurdle due to a large number of unfamiliar lexical items. The aim of the chapter author, Colin Michell, was to generate a suitable list of high-frequency lexical items common to the Academic IELTS reading. To accomplish this, he compiled a corpus of Academic IELTS readings and analysed them using WordSmith Tools to find the most commonly occurring vocabulary items. Once he had filtered out the decontextualized grammar words, he was able to produce a list of lexical items and then mapped it to the CEFR and AWL vocabulary list to ensure that students are taught vocabulary at the appropriate levels. The author believes that this method of compiling vocabulary lists will help teachers focus on the important lexical items needed for the Academic IELTS exam. Technical writing is sometimes thought of as an ESP genre only connected to professional communication, one at odds with the academic writing that students learn in a General Studies program. In truth, knowledge of technical writing is for more than just the IT professional. This chapter authored by Erik Thornquist proposes that General Studies programs require all students to take technical writing as its components connect to the needs of all writers. It is the author’s belief that in the end, the components of a technical writing course leave students well-prepared for the real-world demands of a professional setting.

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The chapter authors, Peter Davidson and Christine Coombe, explore ways in which testing can be used to facilitate learning or Learning-Oriented Assessment (LOA). The purpose of this chapter is to discuss how assessment at their respective tertiary-level institutions in the UAE can be constructed so as to maximize opportunities for meaningful student learning in the classroom and become an integral part of the learning process. They begin by examining the importance of ‘assessment for learning’ in order to better understand how it laid the foundation for LOA. After defining LOA, they turn to the main focus of the chapter, which is how to implement LOA in the classroom. They outline what teachers can do within an LOA framework before, during, and after an assessment, in order to facilitate learning. The final sections of this chapter address some of the criticisms that have been levelled against LOA, and outline the implications of taking an LOA approach. English Language Learning Teacher Preparation Program Curriculum Renewal Through TESOL Standards by Sadiq Midraj and Jessica Midraj describes the processes used by faculty in a teacher education unit to align their English Language Learning (ELL) program with TESOL standards. The alignment was required to support the Unit’s accreditation application from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). The accreditation process followed, the resulting curriculum changes, the program’s curriculum successes and challenges, and the impact of the accreditation process are analysed and shared. In this study, Nadine Jaffarawi highlights the teaching methodology (task-based teaching and learning) she uses in her ESL classroom in the UAE, using TPACK and three online educational tools. Moreover, the purpose of this study is to shed light on the importance of task-based learning in the context of online education and manifest the different phases and online tools utilized in a typical ESL classroom. Also discussed in this chapter is a methodological framework for implementing TBLT and a pedagogical and theoretical framework called TPACK. The author shares her input on how she used TBLT in her classroom, with emphasis on the online educational tools she used (mainly Padlet, Plickers, and Think-Pair-Share). This chapter also discusses unique challenges teachers and instructors face when implementing TBLT in its online form and proposes solutions for how these can be overcome to maximize language learning. Beth Wiens, Suha Karaki, and Laila Mohebi describe the innovative Al Jalila Foundation’s Ta’alouf Teachers’ Training Program. This annual initiative selects 70 teachers nationwide to participate in a training program for Inclusive Education and best practice. This training program includes five components: training sessions, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), school-wide initiatives, mentoring, and a self-reflective portfolio for assessment of participating teachers. In this chapter, the authors briefly describe the history of inclusive education and policies in the UAE, and then describe the Al Jalila Foundation Ta’alouf Program. In the final chapter of this volume, Christine Coombe and Lana Hiasat showcase the study of innovation in English language teaching and learning environments and General Studies programs at the university level in the United Arab Emirates. The innovative activities in this chapter draw on classroom, administrative, and learning experiences from one of the three federal higher education institutions in the UAE.

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This chapter begins with a look at possible definitions of innovation and what it means to be innovative in General Studies education and English language teaching. What follows is a description of the current status of innovation in English language and General Studies education in the region and then looks at innovations that are currently being implemented at their institution. The chapter concludes with future innovations on the educational horizon in their educational context. Christine Coombe Lana Hiasat Georgia Daleure

Praise for English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates

“This edited volume by Christine Coombe, Lana Hiasat, and Georgia Daleure is unique in several ways. First, this is the first volume to date to focus exclusively on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) educational setting. Second, it examines education in the UAE from the three main perspectives: theoretical, empirical, and practical. Third, it brings the two different and independent disciplines of the English language and General Studies education closer together, showing how these feed into each other and into the wider picture of tertiary education in the UAE. Fourth, it examines the important issue of transition from high school to tertiary education including the challenges and students’ readiness for this transition. And five, it examines the three main modes of delivery currently in use, face-to-face, blended, and online teaching, investigating the similarities and differences between these as well as the challenges in the (rather sudden) transition to complete online learning with the worldwide outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Although the volume focuses on the UAE educational setting, most of the topics and issues investigated and discussed apply to other Gulf countries, and indeed to any educational setting that subscribes to English Language and General Studies education in its tertiary education system. These topics and issues include lifelong learning, interdisciplinary knowledge, incorporation of technology into the teaching and learning environment, motivation and engagement, emotional experiences of student teachers, comparisons between student performance in face-to-face and online courses, identity, and professional development teacher leadership programs, amongst others. I am confident that the volume will appeal to any researcher or language professional interested in gaining first-hand knowledge of the current issues relating to the English language and General Studies education at the tertiary level.” —Ali Shehadeh, Professor of Applied Linguistics and TESOL, UAE University

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Contents

Part I 1

2

3

4

5

The Case for a Dedicated General Studies Programme in the UAE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Richard Peel and Patrick Devitt

3

Seven Characteristics of Effective General Studies Programs in the UAE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gillian Zammel and Alma Piric Mesic

17

Teaching Business English in the UAE to Undergraduate Learners: A Learner-Centred Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Catherine Nickerson

31

Enhancing Literacy in Young Readers Through Bilingual Literature in the UAE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Huda Jamal

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Research on English Language Teaching in Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates, 2010–2020: An Overview of Journal Articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shifa Desai

Part II 6

7

Theoretical Perspectives

59

Empirical Perspectives

Exploring Teachers’ Satisfaction with Their Participation in Assessment Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Abderrazak Dammak

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Educational Influx: Socialization of New English Teachers in UAE State Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Knott

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Contents

8

Making the Transition from Blended Learning to Fully Online: Reflections from Two-Tertiary Level Teaching Professionals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Lana Hiasat and Ghada Ali

9

Enhancing Critical and Creative Thinking Skills in Math at Post-secondary Level: Examining STEM Versus STeM for Efficiency and Effectiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Hisham Hanfy, Georgia Daleure, Kamal Abuquad, and Suhaila Al Hosani

10 Tertiary Students in the UAE: Learning for Outcomes and the Social Affective Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 James McLaughlin 11 Students’ Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Using Blogs as a Supplementary Learning Tool to Enhance Writing Skills at a Private University in Dubai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Jessica Saba 12 Reader Response to Text Adaptation: A Study of Female Emirati Undergraduate Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Larysa Nikolayeva 13 General Studies Teachers’ Acceptance of Technology Use in the Classroom Within UAE Higher-Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Luke Mawer 14 Teaching and Learning Post-secondary Content Through Non-native Language in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) . . . . . . . . . 207 Mazhar Azeem and Georgia Daleure 15 Positive and Negative Emotions of Emirati Student-Teachers During an EFL Practicum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Mouna Abou Assali and Salah Troudi 16 A Comparative Analysis of UAE Student Performance in Face-To-Face Versus Online Instruction and the Effect of Gender Difference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 Panagiotis Papadopoulos, Corne Lotter, and Nancy Fahnestock 17 An Exploratory Study of Women Learners’ Identity and Investment in Learning English in the United Arab Emirates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Neil Hunt 18 Reflections on a Teacher Leadership Programme in the UAE . . . . . . 267 Phil Quirke

Contents

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19 Arabic-Speaking Learners’ Perceptions of English Academic Reading Difficulties: A Study on High School Graduates in the UAE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 Shabana Kamal 20 Developing Feedback Literacy in Emirati Undergraduates . . . . . . . . 305 Tony Myers and Jaime Buchanan 21 Transitioning from Classroom Delivery to Simulated Online Delivery Across Campuses: General Education in the UAE . . . . . . . . 321 Timothy White, Wasif Minhas, Georgia Daleure, Hisham Hanfy, Nadia Solovieva, and Corey Brandon Part III Practical Perspectives 22 The Development of a Large Online Cross-Listed Course to Teach Life and Study Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 Melanie Gobert 23 Using Corpus Linguistics to Better Prepare Students for the IELTS Reading Exam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 Colin Michell 24 How Technical Writing Fits a General Studies Program . . . . . . . . . . 385 Erik Thornquist 25 Practical Applications of Learning-Oriented Assessment (LOA) in the UAE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 Peter Davidson and Christine Coombe 26 English Language Learning Teacher Preparation Program Curriculum Renewal Through TESOL Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419 Sadiq Midraj and Jessica Midraj 27 The Journey of Task-Based Learning and TPACK in Higher Education in the UAE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 Nadine Jaafarawi 28 Teacher Training in Inclusive Education: Project Collaboration Between Al Jalila Foundation—Ta’alouf Program and Zayed University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445 Beth Wiens, Suha Karaki, and Laila Mohebi 29 Innovations in English Language Teaching and General Studies Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 Christine Coombe and Lana Hiasat Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485 Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Editors and Contributors

About the Editors Christine Coombe has a Ph.D in Foreign/Second Language Education from the Ohio State University. She is currently Associate Professor of General Studies at Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai Men’s Campus. Christine has over 50 books in various topics in TESOL/ELT. Dr Coombe serves as the editor of the SCOPUS-indexed Q1 Brief Reports section of the Asia TEFL Journal (2016 to present). Christine has lived and worked in the Gulf for the past 28 years. She served on the TESOL Board of Directors as Convention Chair for Tampa 2006. Christine served as TESOL President (2011-2012). Christine’s recent honors include the British Council’s International Assessment Award (2013), being named to TESOL’s 50@50 which “recognizes professionals who have made significant contributions to the TESOL profession within the past 50 years” and receiving the 2018 James E. Alatis Award which recognizes exemplary service to TESOL. Her most recent honor was being named to the US Department of State’s 30@30 English language specialists in 2021. This list recognizes English Language Specialists who have made an impact on the teaching and training of English language teachers around the world in the last 30 years. Lana Hiasat has a doctoral degree in educational leadership with a specialization in educational technology. She is currently Program Team Leader of the General Studies department at Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai Men’s Campus in addition to being Senior Lecturer. Lana is Senior Fellow HEA (SFHEA) and certified in future foresight, intercultural intelligence, emotional intelligence, and Kaizen Creativity. Lana has published in the areas of future foresight, emotional intelligence, smart learning, blended learning, educational leadership, intercultural intelligence, and online teaching and learning. Lana has served as the co-chair for several international conferences. She is a member of the Social Science Curriculum Development team, a taskforce to develop the national social sciences curriculum in the UAE and has developed a certified leadership course on emotional intelligence for educational leaders. She is a proud Toastmasters communicator and leader.

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Georgia Daleure is General Studies Dean at the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) and Social Studies (KG1-G12 Advanced) Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the UAE Ministry of Education. Combining her love of history, social science, and humanities with an Ed. D. in Educational Leadership and professional certifications including future strategic foresight, forensic genealogy, and others, she leads projects to develop motivating curricula and engaging technology infused learning materials and delivery methods for students from KG through higher education.

Contributors Kamal Abuquad Sharjah, UAE Ghada Ali Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Suhaila Al Hosani Sharjah, UAE Mouna Abou Assali Abu Dhabi, UAE Mazhar Azeem Higher Colleges of Technology, Sharjah, UAE Corey Brandon Sharjah Colleges, Higher Colleges of Technology, University City, Sharjah, UAE Jaime Buchanan Abu Dhabi, UAE Christine Coombe Dubai Men’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai, UAE Georgia Daleure Sharjah Colleges, Higher Colleges of Technology, University City, Sharjah, UAE Abderrazak Dammak Abu Dhabi, UAE Peter Davidson Zayed University, Dubai, UAE Shifa Desai Higher Colleges of Technology, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates Patrick Devitt Cardiff, UK Nancy Fahnestock Higher Colleges of Technology, Al Ain, UAE Melanie Gobert Oostende, Belgium Hisham Hanfy Sharjah Colleges, Higher Colleges of Technology, University City, Sharjah, UAE Lana Hiasat Dubai Men’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai, UAE Neil Hunt Hong Kong, China Nadine Jaafarawi Abu Dhabi, UAE

Editors and Contributors

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Huda Jamal Abu Dhabi, UAE Shabana Kamal Dubai, UAE Suha Karaki Dubai, UAE David Knott Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates Corne Lotter Higher Colleges of Technology, Al Ain, UAE Luke Mawer Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates James McLaughlin Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Colin Michell Fujairah, UAE Jessica Midraj Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE Sadiq Midraj Zayed University, Columbus, OH, USA Wasif Minhas Sharjah Colleges, Higher Colleges of Technology, University City, Sharjah, UAE Laila Mohebi Dubai, UAE Tony Myers Abu Dhabi, UAE Catherine Nickerson Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Larysa Nikolayeva College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zayed University, Khalifa city A, Abu Dhabi, UAE Panagiotis Papadopoulos Higher Colleges of Technology, Al Ain, UAE Richard Peel Dubai, UAE Alma Piric Mesic Sharjah, UAE Phil Quirke Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Jessica Saba Uptown Motor City, Dubai, UAE Nadia Solovieva Sharjah Colleges, Higher Colleges of Technology, University City, Sharjah, UAE Erik Thornquist Abu Dhabi, UAE Salah Troudi Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter, England, UK Timothy White Sharjah Colleges, Higher Colleges of Technology, University City, Sharjah, UAE Beth Wiens Dubai, UAE Gillian Zammel Fujairah, UAE

Part I

Theoretical Perspectives

Chapter 1

The Case for a Dedicated General Studies Programme in the UAE Richard Peel and Patrick Devitt

Abstract General Studies (GS), which encompasses a suite of Liberal Arts courses, has historically been viewed as separate from technical subjects. Yet there is increasing evidence the two should not be considered disparate entities, but as mutually beneficial. Fostering a holistic, hybrid education is being seen as offering solutions to technical challenges and innovative ideas in the twenty-first-century employment market. Soft skills are highly prized in today’s job market, which is increasingly concerned with human—rather than labour—capital. Students graduating with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees enter the workforce with some technical knowledge, but with liberal studies courses marginalized in their degrees, they may lack the skills that employers value most. Employers look at the ‘trainability’ and ‘adaptability’ of new employees more closely than their particular degree disciplines. Communication and critical thinking skills, intercultural intelligence, innovative thinking, global awareness, etc. are at a premium in today’s workplace. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with its unique demographics and employment market, such factors are foregrounded. While the concomitant advantages are clear, there is a compelling case for a specialized General Studies degree that includes elective STEM credits. This chapter considers what such a degree designed for the UAE market might look like, and how it could add value to the cohorts of Emirati graduates entering work, while acknowledging the challenges to its implementation. Keywords UAE national unemployment · Emiratization · Soft skills · General/liberal studies

R. Peel (B) Dubai, UAE P. Devitt Cardiff, UK © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_1

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Introduction The provision of employment to its citizens is the top concern of the UAE, as the Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed, has decreed (“Sheikh Mohammed’s warning”, 2019). However, in the past 20 years, the number of foreigners coming to the UAE to work has increased, while the indigenous population has seen a rise in unemployment. The paradox is clear. Public sector jobs, long seen as the domain of UAE nationals, are decreasing with increased automation and digitalization. As a consequence, more nationals will need to enter the private sector, displacing expatriates. Yet some question whether many nationals have the skills required to enter the private sector (e.g. Al-Ali, 2008; Swan, 2017). As national graduates enter the employment market, many complain they are passed over in favour of expatriates, leading to quotas being introduced in some sectors (Marchon & Toledo, 2014). Soft skills are seen as the most important skills nowadays; our graduates, studying narrow subjects, thus are not acquiring the skills of the expatriate— communication skills, adaptability, teamwork, critical thinking, problem-solving, time management, etc. A General Studies course would help address this.

Background The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a young country, founded in 1971, consisting of seven emirates, each with their own ruler, with the President, Sheikh Khalifa Al Nahyan, ruling the federation from the capital, Abu Dhabi. Federal higher education (HE) is comprised of three institutions—UAE University (UAEU) founded in 1976, the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) which was established in 1988, and Zayed University (ZU), opened in 1998. All three institutions are generally open only to UAE nationals. HCT is by far the largest of the three institutions, with over 22,000 students on 17 campuses across the country (HCT Factbook, 2017, 2018: 4). It offers bachelor’s degrees in a variety of subjects, including Applied Media, Business, Computer Information Science, Engineering, Health Sciences and Education, as well as courses in General Studies, and Arabic and Emirati Studies. Most students do not enter bachelor’s courses directly, as they do not have the required English language skills, so they spend up to 2 years in the GARD programme, an English-immersion course to bring them up to the standard of an Academic IELTS Band 5.0. The latter has traditionally been the gatekeeper of bachelor-level degree courses at the federal universities, though the local EMSAT examination has recently superseded IELTS. HCT claims its programmes are “… designed in consultation with business and industry leaders to ensure the students’ skills are job-relevant and to the highest standards” (op. cit., p. 6), and with over 53,000 graduates in a population of less than 950,000 nationals (UAE Government Portal, 2017), the reach of the institution in the local community is significant.

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Demographics In common with the other Gulf States, the country is mainly inhabited by expatriates, who constitute over 90% of the population (IMF, February, 2019); almost 60% are workers from the Indian subcontinent (CIA Factbook, 2017), but there are also substantial numbers of non-Gulf Arabs, Iranians, and Filipinos. Thus, the population of 10.1 million (IMF, February, 2019) consists of just 1 million nationals, with nationals outnumbered by foreigners 10: 1. The UAE has the highest number of immigrants globally (United Nations, 2015) and the heaviest dependence on foreign labour. From domestic servants to doctors, the vast majority of the labour force is imported, performing the jobs the indigenous population are disinclined or unqualified to undertake. Not all nationals are happy with the large number of foreigners, and the post-oil transformation has caused many nationals to feel threatened by an overwhelming foreign demographic, a loss of national identity and cultural degradation (e.g. Al Dabbagh & Gargani, 2011; Szuchman, 2012; UAE Vision, 2021, pp. 3–6). Though small, the indigenous population is increasing rapidly, with a birth rate far higher than non-nationals (Thomas, 2012). 45% of nationals are under the age of 15 and the population growth is 4%, one of the world’s highest. As increasing numbers of young nationals are entering the labour force, many are unable or unwilling to find work, which is being seen as increasingly problematic (Braxton, 2011). The government has been generous to its small indigenous population in terms of benefits and opportunities, with its ‘rentier’ or distributive state paradigm (Beblawi & Luciani, 1987), by which the government obtains the loyalty of citizens through lavish state benefits: free medical care, free education from primary to tertiary, subsidized/free housing and utilities, and until recently, almost guaranteed highly paid public sector jobs (Abdulla & Ridge, 2011; Minnis, 2006). As noted in the introduction, this ‘guarantee’ is being eroded, with the public sector no longer able to accommodate increasing numbers of national jobs seekers.

Higher Education—Its Role in the Nation Producing an indigenous skilled labour force to replace the large expatriate population has long been a key government policy, with tertiary education seen as the means to achieve this aim. As Findlow declares (2006: 24), HE “… has always been central to the UAE’s … immediate needs: to train an indigenous skilled workforce.” Historically, it has employed largely Western native speakers (Mouhanna, 2009: 12), and embraces ‘modernism’ via instruction in English and state-of-the-art technology, with the primary goal of instigating employment. For example, the HCT Mission Statement declares:

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“Our programmes are designed to meet the employment needs of the UAE and support Emirati students in becoming innovative and work-ready” (HCT About, Overview, n.d.). Specifically, the HCT and ZU use Graduate Outcomes (Higher Colleges of Technology, 2018) developed with employers and industry and incorporate vocational skills to guide their teaching philosophy, in the hope that graduates will enter the labour market seamlessly.

Unemployment Emirati entry into the labour market has been relatively easy in the public sector, where jobs, once guaranteed due to the largesse of the state, are well-paid and working hours short (Daleure, 2017), but much harder in the private sector. The latter is dominated by the expatriate population, with Emiratis comprising less than 0.5% (Forstenlechner et al., 2012). As Ulrichsen (2011: 91) comments, there are “… deeplyembedded notions of entitlement amongst many Emiratis that the easier, lucrative public sector jobs are theirs, and that the private sector is the domain of expatriates.” Despite the massive skewing of the demographics in terms of expatriates, the fact that there are no longer sufficient public sector jobs for Emiratis means nationals must increasingly look to the private sector for employment. However, this is not something some nationals are comfortable with, being a tiny minority in a sector dominated by expatriates (Obeidat et al., 2012). In addition, many Emirati women demand workplaces with shorter/more flexible working hours, because Emirati “…women are expected to put their role in the family first” (Al-Ali, 2013: 49). In terms of unemployment amongst nationals, widely differing figures are given. Salem and Dajani (2013) writing in The National cite official government figures of 15%, while Trenwith (2013) writing in Arabian Business the same year gives a figure of almost double that, 28%. Whichever is accurate, the potential ‘unemployment tsunami’ brewing in the country (Braxton, 2011: 66) is a concern for the government, with the possibility that unemployed youth will become disaffected. Ulrichsen (2011: 91) cites a Gulf Minister of Labour describing the issue of unemployment amongst the indigenous population (amongst a paradoxically huge expatriate demographic) as “… a time bomb … that has already gone off”, and that the current status quo “… contains the seeds of considerable future discontent.” The 2014 introduction of military service, compulsory for young male Emiratis and optional for females (“UAE plans compulsory military service”, 2014) may be a way to engage Emirati youth—and indeed, reduce the numbers of unemployed (Croucher, 2014).

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Unemployment rose to nearly 12% in 2012, and experts consider Emirati underrepresentation in the private sector a prime contributing factor (e.g. Daleure & Al Shareef, 2015; Sherif, 2013). Al-Ali (2013: 71) added that, in 2012, the GCC region had the “highest unemployment of all regions in the world, with youth unemployment at almost 4 times the adult rate.” Emirati young adult unemployment is especially concerning as more than half (51% in 2012) of the Emirati population is under the age of 18 and increasing numbers of young Emirati adults enter the workforce each year. Unemployment statistics have not been published for several years. Even the Federal National Council (a federal authority partly elected, and partly chosen by the rulers) has expressed frustration at the lack of accurate and up-to-date statistics on fundamental issues such as unemployment (there have been no official figures since 2011) and health (Salem, 2015). The public sector is no longer able to absorb the number of nationals seeking work, and efforts to encourage the Emiratization of the private sector are not producing the results hoped for. As the Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: “We have heard numerous complaints about Emiratisation and the public has grown less satisfied about the way authorities have been managing this issue. We are monitoring the process. Providing job opportunities for citizens was and will remain a top priority, as is the case in countries of the East and the West. This season, we shall take serious actions in regards to Emiratisation and ensure regular follow-up and accountability. We shall issue new directives in the coming months” (“Sheikh Mohammed’s warning”, 2019).

The HCT Vocational Model When the HCT was first established, it was based on the Canadian Community College model (Burden-Leahy, 2005). Community Colleges provide a less academic means by which students can acquire professional and vocational qualifications as well as provide a way into academia for those who are unable to take the traditional route to a degree. It has to be said, however, that this latter purpose is not a primary one. In the same way, the HCT was established in its original iteration as an alternative to the academic route to further education provided by the region’s universities, and as such was charged with providing different human capital for the workforce: workready individuals with the practical and soft skills needed to function effectively in and contribute to the growing private and public sectors at all levels. To this end, the initial curriculum that was developed placed heavy emphasis on General Studies, thereby providing an education focusing on these practical skills and attributes; in the first 2 years of study, 75% of a student’s time was spent on General Studies courses, mainly communication skills. This approach was adopted for very similar reasons to the introduction of a liberal studies requirement into Western degree programmes; it was a recognition that education should not just be a ‘hot-housing’ process that produces experts in very narrow fields but should produce well-rounded experts with the prerequisite soft skills to allow them to function effectively in the workplace.

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The Importance of Soft Skills Soft skills are non-technical, applied skills that employees are expected to possess and can be difficult to measure. They include communication, problem-solving, and critical thinking, and are deemed important skills to have in any industry but are especially important in today’s global environment (Stewart et al., 2016). The UAE places high regard on such an environment, being a multicultural population, with 200 nationalities represented (Gobert, 2019). With advances in technology and the ever-changing scope of business competition, the need for soft skill sets has evolved (Deepa & Seth, 2013). Employers are now looking for people with crosscultural literacy and experience in areas such as global awareness, communication, economics, and the knowledge of the cost of doing business globally (Gore, 2013), largely as soft skills competencies are necessary in order to remain competitive especially in a global world (Deepa & Seth, 2013). Hiring managers agree that candidates with soft skills experience are a more attractive prospect than candidates with little soft skills competencies, as shown in Table 1.1. In the UAE, though no explicit study has been made into employers’ evaluations of soft skills levels of national students, it is hard to find a narrative to dispel the belief that national students are deficient in soft skills. Industry and educational consultants have highlighted this, and championed the need for soft skills development from an early age (Schmautzer & Dondi, 2019). There are several reasons to come to this conclusion that UAE youth is lacking in soft skills. Firstly, the government school system is widely regarded as providing poorly skilled and educated graduates (e.g. Ridge, 2014). The most recent (2015) TIMMS and PISA scores (the former measuring Math and Science ability, the second measuring reading competence) show the UAE in or near the lowest quartile of scores worldwide. Secondly, that the schools are typically monocultures–consisting of single-gender schools of the same culture (UAE nationals)—could be argued to minimize the need and potential for the development of soft skills like critical thinking, the ability to see multiple perspectives, and communication in languages other than Arabic. The wisdom of the original architects of the HCT system was first in recognizing that students were being hugely short-changed by the school system that ill-prepared them for life after school. The traditional rote learning approach to a very narrow and limited curriculum meant students had little or no world knowledge, few critical or investigative skills, were unable to problem-solve, and had only rudimentary skills in mathematics and language, both Arabic and English. Over the years, attempts have been made to improve the school system and bring its curriculum more in line with more liberal curricula, but there remains great resistance with tradition and cultural sensitivities often used to block progress, and so current students entering HE in the UAE remain for the most part as naïve about the world as their parents were 25 years ago, and bereft of the requisite skills to function in a twenty-first-century workforce in spite of access to every new technology and gadget available.

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Table 1.1 Top 10 soft skills employers seek in college graduates Hart research associates Skill

Employer %

% Employers feel college graduates well prepared

Verbal communication

85

28

Teamwork

83

37

Written communication

82

27

Ethical judgement/decision-making

81

30

Critical/analytical thinking

81

26

Applying knowledge and skills to real world

80

23

Problem-solving

70

24

Locating, organizing, and evaluating information

68

29

Innovation/creativity

65

25

Staying current on changing technologies

60

37

National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Skill

Employer %

–

Leadership

80.1

–

Teamwork

78.9

–

Written communication

70.2

–

Problem-solving

70.2

–

Verbal communication

68.9

–

Work ethic

68.9

–

Initiative

65.8

–

Analytical/quantitative

62.7

–

Flexibility/adaptability

60.9

–

Technical

59.6

–

Hart Research Associates. (2015, January). “Falling Short? College Learning and Career Success” National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). (2015, November). “Job Outlook 2016”

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HCT’s Departure from Soft Skills Over the same time, the HCT mission has changed, and while the stated mission may retain an emphasis on providing work-ready graduates, the means to achieving this has strayed far from the original model, and as a result is no longer fulfilling that mission effectively. Now degree programmes in subject-specific areas have all but obliterated the General Studies curriculum and in turn the added value they provided to graduates, the very value that made them an asset in the workplace. One of the main things employers liked about the first cohorts of students to leave the HCT in the 1990s was that they had learned how to learn, they were trainable, and most importantly in a country where the language of commerce and day-to-day interaction is English, they could function and were trainable in English. Employers used to prize HCT graduates because they possessed these attributes, and what was learned about in their programme of study—business, applied communications, etc.—was of secondary interest to employers to what they had been taught through their General Studies curriculum and the work ethic this inculcated. The HCT was providing a unique service in this area. It is still the case—employers want first and foremost what they have always wanted and that is flexible, trainable employees with the skills to learn quickly and adapt to a constantly shifting working environment. They remain less interested in the specific degree a graduate has and more interested in their problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, global awareness, etc. knowledge and skills. So, as a result of slowly removing General Studies from its place of central importance and reducing its offerings to a handful of prescribed courses, the HCT is now producing less well-prepared and therefore less desirable graduates for the Emirati workforce. The over-emphasis on acquiring academic paper qualifications has relegated General Studies and its associated soft skills to an afterthought, the irony of which is that the paper qualifications themselves have been devalued in the process. Research suggests that employers around the world report a dearth of basic soft skills such as communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving within this very group of potential job candidates, for example, Hart Research Associates (2015) as illustrated below (Table 1.2).

1 The Case for a Dedicated General Studies Programme in the UAE Table 1.2 Top 10 soft skills employers believe college graduates lack

Skill

11 % Employers

Professionalism/work ethic

43

Relationship building/soft skills

29

Business acumen

28

Written communication

26

Critical thinking/problem-solving

26

Leadership

18

Lifelong learning/self-direction

16

Teamwork/collaboration

12

Coaching skills

9

Flexibility/openness to new experience

9

Source: Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM, 2015). “The Hiring of 2015 College Graduates”

In light of the above, it is our contention that not only should a more robust and far-reaching General Studies curriculum be reintroduced into the HCT offering, but that there is much in the argument for a specific qualification in General Studies that would be welcomed particularly by private sector employers.

The Case for a Dedicated General Studies Qualification Recently, the HCT has re-addressed its mission to provide ‘work-ready’ graduates to the UAE employment market, largely instigated by questioning from the PM and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum of the academic trajectory the HCT seems to have been on over recent years, which is at odds with its raison d’être and therefore failing to adequately address Emirati unemployment. Under the epithet HCT 4.0, a new emphasis on work-related skills and training forming the core of the HCT mission once again has begun to emerge. The timing is therefore right for mainstreaming General Studies as a primary source of such skills and training. However, rather than continue to be mere ‘add-ons’ to programmes of study, General Studies courses should form a content-driven programme in their own right offering a two-year diploma in General Studies. Employers have been quite clear in what they see as lacking in graduates, and these shortcomings could effectively be addressed by a General Studies programme of study that developed student skills and knowledge in these areas. The figure below shows what such a course could look like. Keyboarding (Arabic and English) is introduced and taught in Semester 1, but thereafter students then self-study with online programmes; they are periodically tested on their typing skills throughout the two-year programme.

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Professional communication skills (reading and writing) in English

R. Peel and P. Devitt Year 1 – Semester 1 Learning Outcomes Critical thinking/ Learning standard problem solving workplace IT apps: MS Office, Outlook, keyboarding (Arabic and English)

Professional communication skills (reading and writing) in Arabic

G. S. Courses Professional Reading and Writing 1

Professional communication skills (reading and writing) in English

Professional Reading and Writing 2

Concepts and processes of applied research. Writing of a research proposal and a research project.

Research Methods

Critical Thinking

Life and Study Skills including

Year 1 – Semester 2 Learning Outcomes Ethical theories and Professional problems; ethical communication skills thinking and in Arabic for decision-making in business: emails, practical contexts letters, reports. G. S. Courses Ethics

Professional Arabic

Year 2 – Semester 3 Learning Outcomes Developing UAE society: its fundamental values, heritage, computer history, geography, programming skills; development, and designing and writing multiculturalism. computer programmes. G. S. Courses Computational Thinking and Coding

Emirati Studies

Arabic 1

Experience of one of 6 programme courses (“taster” course 101)

Programme Elective 1 (Content 101)

Experience of one of 6 programme courses (“taster” course 101).

Programme Elective 2 (Content 101)

1 The Case for a Dedicated General Studies Programme in the UAE

Concepts and skills of starting and running new ventures. Modules: design thinking, entrepreneurship, and growth and leadership.

Year 2 – Semester 4 Learning Outcomes A platform for CV writing. students to explore Overview of the intercultural issues in modern workplace contemporary global and its professional society. Describes and soft skills. key concepts of culture and compares and contrasts cultural frameworks. G. S. Courses

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Inter-Cultural Intelligence

Life & Study Skills 2

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Experience of one of 6 programme courses (“taster” course 101).

Programme Elective 3 (Content 101)

Conclusion The two-year Higher Diploma envisioned would be comprised of 16 × 4 credit courses spread over 4 semesters. Each course illustrated could be drawn from the existing offering, and archive, of courses that already exist within the HCT. A General Studies diploma along the lines outlined above in Fig. 1 would, for the first time within HE in the UAE, be built on what employers report they want in new employees. Indeed, the suggested structure of the proposed GS diploma uses as its framework the phased provision of transferable work-related skills and knowledge delivered through quality General Studies courses that already exist within the current HCT GS canon. Further, such an initiative would involve all programmes and departments in its delivery making it a truly collaborative, integrated cross-curricular programme. For example, the mandated courses like Computational Design (Computer Information Science programme) and Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Business programme), would continue to be delivered to students on the GS Diploma by these programmes, as well as the other courses being provided by a dedicated GS department. Also, through the inclusion of “Programme 101 Electives” for three semesters delivered through the various programmes, not only will students familiarize themselves with the colleges’ programme offerings, but the programmes would have an opportunity to promote themselves to potential students with these ‘taster courses’ who wished to pursue a degree on completion of the GS Diploma. The timing for such a diploma aligns with new curriculum initiatives that HCT 4.0 proposes, specifically the reintroduction of a Higher Diploma as both a qualification exit point and progress point for further study. Indeed, it can be envisioned that a GS Diploma would become the preferred Higher Diploma choice for students as it will

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not only provide work-ready students after 2 years on graduation from the diploma, but also serve to qualify students to proceed to a degree programme on completion as it incorporates foundation courses in the semester electives.

References Abdulla, F., & Ridge, N. (2011, March). Where are all the men? Gender, participation and higher education in the United Arab Emirates. In Towards an Arab higher educational space: International challenges and societal responsibilities: Proceedings of the Arab Regional Conference on Higher Education, edited by Lamine, B., (pp. 125–136). Retrieved on 20/5/20 from: https://une sdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000189272. Al-Ali, J. (2008). Emiratisation: Drawing UAE nationals into their surging economy. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 28(9/10), 365–379. Al-Ali, J. (2013). Localizing the GCC workforce: A study and a manual for employers, employees, and job seekers. Masar Printing and Publishing. Al Dabbagh, M., & Gargani, G. (2011). Negotiating identity: New perspectives on the globalization and identity debate in the GCC. [e-book] Dubai School of Government, Dubai. Retrieved from: http://www.dsg.ae/portals/0/WP11-04.pdf. Beblawi, H., & Luciani, G. (1987). The rentier state. Routledge. Braxton, R. J. (2011). Managing the unemployment tsunami: Education and workforce development. The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, 7(2), 66–70. Burden-Leahy, S. (2005). Addressing the tensions in a process-based quality assurance model through the introduction of graduate outcomes: A case study of the change process in a vocational higher education institution in the United Arab Emirates. Quality in higher education, 11(2), 129–136. CIA Factbook. (2017). Retrieved from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-fac tbook/geos/ae.html. Croucher, M. (2014, March 27th). Unemployment rates among young Emiratis has helped but national service can help. The National. Retrieved from: https://www.thenational.ae. Daleure, G., & Al Shareef, Z. (2015). Exploring under-representation of young Emirati adults in the UAE private sector by examining Emirati job Satisfaction (No. 9). Working Paper. Retrieved from: http://www.alqasimifoundation.com/admin/Content/File-3012016213933.pdf. Daleure, G. (2017). Emiratization in the UAE labor market. Springer. Deepa, S., & Seth, M. (2013). Do soft skills matter? The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 7(1), 7–20. Findlow, S. (2006). Higher Education and linguistic dualism in the Arab Gulf. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 27(1), 19–36. Retrieved from: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/ https://doi.org/10.1080/01425690500376754. Forstenlechner, I, Madi, M., Selim, H., & Rutledge, E. (2012). Emiratisation: Determining the factors that influence the recruitment decisions of employers in the UAE. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(2), 406–421. Gobert, M. (2019). Transformation in english language education in the UAE. Education in the United Arab Emirates (pp. 113–126). Springer. Gore, V. (2013). 21st century skills and prospective job challenges. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 7(4), 7–14.; Marchon, C., & Toledo, H. (2014). Re-thinking employment quotas in the UAE. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(16), 2253–2274. Hart Research Associates. (2015, January). Falling Short? College Learning and Career Success. Retrieved from: https://www.aacu.org/sites/default/files/files/LEAP/2015employerstu dentsurvey.pdf HCT Factbook 2017–2018. Retrieved on 23 April 18 from: http://www.hct.ac.ae/content/uploads/ HCT-FACT-BOOK-2017-18_Jan18.pdf

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IMF Country Report No. 17/219 (July, 2017). The United Arab Emirates. Minnis, J. (2006). First nationals education and rentier economics: Parallels with the Gulf States. Canadian Journal of Education, 29(4), 975–997. Mouhanna, M. (2009). Re-examining the role of L1 in the EFL classroom. UGRU Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.ugr.uaeu.ac.ae/acads/ugrujournal/docs/REL1.pdf. National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Job Outlook (2016). Obeidat, B., Shannak, R., Masa’deh, R., & Al-Jarrah, I. (2012). Toward better understanding for Arabian culture: Implications based on Hofstede’s cultural model. European Journal of Social Sciences, 28(4), 512–522. PISA, United Arab Emirates. (2015). Retrieved from: http://www.compareyourcountry.org/pisa/ country/ARE?lg=en. Ridge, N. (2014). Education and the reverse gender divide in the gulf states: Embracing the global. Teachers College Press. Salem, O. (2015, April 18th). Inside the FNC: Finding UAE statistics a near-impossible task. The National. Retrieved from: https://www.thenational.ae. Salem, O., & Dajani, H. (2013, November 19th). FNC would like Emiratisation to become law. The National. Retrieved from: https://www.thenational.ae. Schmautzer, D., & Dondi, M. (2019, October 22nd). We need to equip young people for the jobs of the future from a pre-school age. The National. Retrieved from: https://www.thenational.ae. Sheikh Mohammed’s warning to social media users in the UAE. (2019, September 2nd). Khaleej times. Retrieved from: https://www.khaleejtimes.com. Sherif, S. (2013). Macroeconomic policy, localization and reducing unemployment: The crucial human resource issues for the UAE. Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal, 23(2), 158–174. Retrieved from: https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/1059-5422. Society of Human Resources Management. (2015). SHRM survey findings: The hiring of 2015 college graduates. Retrieved from: https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/res earch-and-surveys/pages/shrm-hiring-college-graduates-2015.aspx. Stewart, C., Wall, A., & Marciniec, S. (2016, July). Mixed signals: Do college graduates have the soft skills that employers want? In Competition forum (Vol. 14, No. 2, p. 276). American Society for Competitiveness. Swan, M. (2017, March 13th). Education minister targets skills gap. The National. Retrieved from: https://www.thenational.ae. Szuchman, J. (2012). Archaeology, identity and the demographic imbalance in the United Arab Emirates. Heritage and Society, 5 (1). Thomas, J. (2012, April 22nd). Emiratis buck the trend on birth rate. The National. Retrieved from: https://www.thenational.ae. TIMMS (2015). International Results in Mathematics. Retrieved from: http://timss2015.org/timss2015/mathematics/student-achievement/. TIMMS (2015). International Results in Science. Retrieved from: http://timss2015.org/timss-2015/ science/student-achievement/. Trenwith, C. (2013, November 12th). Emiratisation failing to cut UAE jobless rate—Al Mulla. Arabian Business. Retrieved from: http://www.arabianbusiness.com. UAE Government Portal. (2017). Population and demographic mix. Retrieved from: https://gov ernment.ae/en/information-and-services/social-affairs/preserving-the-emirati-national-identity/ population-and-demographic-mix. UAE plans compulsory military service for males. (2014, January 20th). Khaleej times. Retrieved from: https://www.khaleejtimes.com. Ulrichsen, K. (2011). Insecure Gulf. The end of certainty and the transition to the post-oil-Era. Hurst and Company. United Nations. (2015). International migration stock. Population division. Retrieved from: https:// www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/data/estimates2/estimates15.shtml.

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UAE Vision 2021 e-book. (Prime Minister’s Office, UAE Government, 2011). Retrieved from: https://www.vision2021.ae/docs/default-source/default-document-library/uae_vision-ara bic.pdf?sfvrsn=b09a06a6_6.

Richard Peel is a General Studies faculty member at the Higher Colleges of Technology. He has also just successfully defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Exeter. His research areas include ESL, pedagogy, and online/mobile device learning. Dr. Patrick Devitt has spent 30 years teaching English and Humanities subjects in further education in the Middle East; in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and for 23 years in the UAE. He holds a BA in Modern English Studies, an MA in Applied Language Studies and Linguistics, a PGCE/FE teaching qualification, all from the University of Wales, and an EdD doctorate from Exeter University. His research area of interest is in intelligence research, specifically Cultural Intelligence (CQ) which is the subject of his doctoral research.

Chapter 2

Seven Characteristics of Effective General Studies Programs in the UAE Gillian Zammel and Alma Piric Mesic

Abstract The aim of this chapter is to look at 7 key characteristics of how to deliver effective general education classes in the twenty-first century. The areas that we will focus on are as follows: conveying the knowledge through effective teaching, introducing and applying new teaching methods, using scoring rubrics to evaluate students’ work, fostering critical thinking through classroom discussion, active learning, incorporating technology, staying current, and interdisciplinary collaboration. These areas focus on the role of the faculty member in ensuring that students receive a relevant learning experience and that they are engaged throughout their learning journey. It is essential that as faculty, we provide our students with the skills and knowledge to be an active member of the working population and contribute positively to the economy. This includes developing transferable skills in students, and providing a positive learning experience so that they become lifelong learners. Keywords Transferable skills · Tertiary education · Lifelong learners · Critical thinking

Introduction Education in the UAE has been at the top of the government agenda for a long time as leaders recognize that to grow as a nation and develop a strong economy you need to have an educated and skilled workforce. As such, the Emirates took the initiative and formed by Royal decree three federal institutions to ensure that the local population is competitive in a global knowledge-based economy (Wagie & Fox, 2005).

G. Zammel (B) Fujairah, UAE e-mail: [email protected] A. Piric Mesic Sharjah, UAE © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_2

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As tertiary education has rapidly developed in the country, there has been an emphasis on the employment of highly trained faculty to teach the next generation of leaders. The government has introduced an equivalency program to ensure the standards they wish to have are maintained. However, although there has been a great emphasis on knowledge qualifications and the number of people entering with PhDs, there isn’t the same emphasis on ensuring that these individuals have the ability to transfer their knowledge to others in a clear and concise manner. The role of the higher education facilities has changed over time as more students are entering into higher education and they are also expecting a higher quality of education as they, or the government, are paying for this. As such, with learner outcomes becoming a focus of institutions, it is important that greater emphasis is put on creating meaningful and relevant teaching and that institutions understand that research alone is no longer able to maintain their reputation (Henard & Roseveare, 2012). The UAE continues to see an increase in the indigenous population and with the government guaranteeing a place for all nationals, there is great demand for places in higher educational institutions (Wilkins, 2010). Not only that, but with the large expatriate population and the increase in the number of overseas universities in the country (Kirk, 2010), the competition to gain students is far more competitive. Therefore, institutions need to emphasize their product of teaching and learning to ensure that they gain the numbers needed to make it viable. The General Studies division (GS) at the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) is an example of how a tertiary-level institution is adjusting to the changes. The division offers general courses to all students, no matter which program they are in. It covers the English language, math, and science skills of all incoming students, preparing them for their future studies. Courses such as Professional Communication and Academic Reading and Writing aim at developing the students’ English language skills. Research Methods, as the course title implies, focuses on developing the students’ research skills. Math courses offered by the division prepare the students for higher level math courses in their programs, while the Life and Future Skills course focuses on preparing the students to study at the tertiary level, as well as for their future career development. The majority of faculty in the General Studies division have teaching degrees. They also participate in various professional development courses offered by the Higher Colleges of Technology and other institutions in order to maintain currency with recent developments in the teaching profession.

Best Practice in General Studies Programs in the UAE Conveying the Knowledge Learning outcomes describe the aims that a learner will achieve by the end of the course. Usually, there are about 4–5 learning outcomes that one aims to achieve in a given semester. The syllabus is designed to follow the learning outcomes throughout

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Table 2.1 Life and future skills course learning outcomes (CLOs) 1. Understand how strategic foresight tools can enhance understanding of possible future developments in the UAE society 2. Understand how environmental scanning can enhance understanding of a specific trend in the UAE 3. Understand how critical future studies tools can be used to enhance understanding of how a chosen trend in the UAE can be projected into the future 4. Use basic study skills to obtain, retain, and enhance knowledge, skills, and competencies related to personal, college, work, and planning for an uncertain future

the semester, and the faculty is responsible for aligning the assessment based on the learning outcomes. Each assessment can cover one or more learning outcomes, and it is desirable that the final exam reflects as many as possible. Individual lessons are based on the learning outcomes as well. One sets smaller goals/aims of what the students will be able to do/explain/demonstrate for a given lesson. These smaller goals then lead to achieving a learning outcome. For example, a course titled Life and Future Skills is organized in such a way that the aim is to achieve 4 learning outcomes by the end of the semester. All faculty members are provided with smaller, weekly goals that are shared by the systemwide course team leader. These goals help faculty focus on achievable goals and thus ensure that all learning outcomes are covered. Table 2.1 is an example of the learning outcomes for Spring 2020. Table 2.2 shows how the learning outcomes are achieved using the weekly goals, while Table 2.3 shows the assessment schedule that reflects the learning outcomes the assessments are connected to. For instance, Assessment 2, scheduled in week 15 covers all learning outcomes. It is a cumulative multiple choice and matching assessment that encompasses all tools and concepts taught in the course.

Applying New Teaching Methods Anything that is new can seem daunting at first, but if one takes small steps, the new can soon become part of everyday teaching. This section will suggest some teaching methods that are applicable across the disciplines and can be used in almost any setting. Note-taking skills The majority of students do not take notes these days because they are used to receiving slides from the faculty members. If the slides do not include all the information, students then have to take notes. This is just a small strategy that can be used in any classroom to help the students retain the information and study for the assessments. According to Friedman (2014), “learning can occur during both the production and review of notes by allowing the learner to make connections between

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Table 2.2 Life and future skills weekly plan for spring 2020 LSS 1003 calendar (Spring 2020) Week

Date

1

Jan 12

Add/Drop week Place students into groups A and B

Face-to-face

2

Jan 19

Blended Learning Orientation How you see the future

Face-to-face Flipped

Face-to-face

3

Jan 26

VUCA

Face-to-face

Flipped

Flipped

Face-to-face

Face-to-face

Flipped

4

Feb 2

Group A

Learning agility

Group B

Flipped class

Flipped

Face-to-face Flipped

5

Feb 9

Mental models/ladder of inference

Face-to-face Flipped

Face-to-face

6

Feb 16

Causal layered analysis

Face-to-face

Flipped

Assessment 1

Flipped

Face-to-face

Fourth industrial revolution UAE vision 2021

Face-to-face

Flipped

Flipped

Face-to-face

Mar 1

STEEP/environmental scanning

Face-to-face

Flipped

Flipped

Face-to-face

Mar 8

Spring Break for students/PD week for faculty

Mar 15

Spring break for faculty and students

Mar 22

Points of manifestation, impact, origin

7 8

9 10

Feb 23

Mar 29

Assessment 3: poster presentation

Face-to-face

Flipped

Flipped

Face-to-face

Face-to-face

Flipped

Flipped

Face-to-face Flipped

11

Apr 5

Future wheel/cone of possibilities

Face-to-face Flipped class

Face-to-face

12

Apr 12

Future stories

Face-to-face

Flipped

Assessment 4: future story

Flipped

Face-to-face

Assessment 2: test

Face-to-face

Flipped

Flipped

Face-to-face

13

Apr 19

14

Apr 26

15

May 3

FWA revision/catch up

16

May 10

FWA begins May 11

idea units and engage in deep processing of course content” (p. 5). In other words, if students take notes in class, they are processing the information and organizing it in their own way that will help them review the materials at home and allow them to retain the information for future use, i.e. the assessments.

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Table 2.3 Life and future skills assessments Assessment

Description

Due

Value (%)

Week 6

5

Week 15

20

Assessment 3 Poster Presentation (CLOs Week 12 1, 2, 3) • Presentation of a trend in UAE society

15

Assessment 4 Future Story (CLOs 1, 3) Week 14 Video and written format—Students describe a sequence of future scenarios

20

Coursework Assessment Assessment 1 • In-class writing on (70%) VUCA, learning agility, ladder of inference (CLOs 1, 3, 4) Assessment 2 • Test (CLOs 1–4) • Course content weeks 1–9

Assessment 5 • Face to Face Quizzes Weeks 3–14 10 (CLOs 1–4) • Weekly quizzes weeks 3 through 12 FWA (30%)

Final exam

BB learn Week 16 assessment—System wide (CLOs 1, 2, 3)

30

Life and Future Skills dedicates part of a lesson to note-taking skills. Students learn different approaches and are encouraged to use them as they listen to the lecture, read, or watch videos related to the course. Preparation Lesson preparation is an integral part of the job, but one has to retain flexibility. Novice faculty usually produce rigid lesson plans for each lesson they teach. Experienced faculty, on the other hand, write plans allowing for flexibility. According to Piric (2011), “just as the learners are dedicating their time and effort into the course they are taking, the instructors are expected to invest time in preparing the lessons” (pp. 96–99). In other words, both, students and faculty are responsible for preparing for the lesson. The structure is important, thus the lessons should be prepared and the learning outcomes have to be considered at all times, but at the tertiary level, where the learners bring in their own, unique, ideas, it is advisable to make room for additional topics that may motivate the learners. Recently, a team of faculty members teaching Life and Future Skills developed lesson plans and Nearpod (an interactive teaching platform) lessons for each week. This allows even the novice faculty, or those not familiar with the course content, to prepare before class. The live lesson in Nearpod includes comprehension checks and

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other activities that provide room for creativity. Faculty can follow the lesson plan or conduct the activity in their own way. It is important to mention that faculty usually teach the same materials twice or three times per week. They can reflect on their own lessons and/or ask a colleague to observe them in order to see what possible improvements need to be made. They get the opportunity to teach the same materials and can immediately apply the changes. Also, there is some room for creativity and faculty members can dedicate additional time to short discussions to motivate their students. For example, a lesson can always start with a fun fact. It brings the group together and helps the students focus, while it also gives latecomers a chance to settle in and get ready for the lesson. This can be a five-minute discussion based on the fact, or a question students have to find the answer to.

How to Fairly Grade Students’ Work Often there is confusion about the grading system used to evaluate students’ work. In order to achieve clarity, faculty can introduce the use of a scoring rubric that allows the students to see both their grade as well as a description of their grade. A scoring rubric consists of several categories that are closely linked to the learning outcomes and their respective descriptors that specify what is expected of the students at different levels of performance in a given category. Faculty share the scoring rubric prior to the assessment, thus allowing the students to familiarize themselves with what is expected of them. After the assessment, the descriptors that best describe the students’ work are circled, and the faculty arrives at a numerical grade by adding the score. Students receive a numerical grade along with the descriptors of their work, which allows them to understand why they received the grade they did and what can be done to improve their work to achieve better results. According to Piric (2014a), “by finding out what their grades are and which parts of the test they struggled with, the students can determine what they have not mastered and can focus on those parts for future tests” (pp. 175–186). Therefore, scoring rubrics are a great tool for justifying the numerical grade, as well as providing the students with feedback that can help them make the necessary improvements. The scoring rubric can be implemented in a variety of different assessments, such as essays, reports, projects, and presentations. The General Studies division implements scoring rubrics. These rubrics reflect the different skills students need to master and provide detailed information on how well each student has done. Table 2.4 is one such scoring rubric that is used in the Professional Communication course to evaluate the midterm exam. Each category is described, matching the level of mastery, using the descriptors. The scoring rubric is shared with the students prior to the assessment, and it is available during the assessment, allowing the students to see what they need to produce in order to obtain a high grade.

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Table 2.4 Midterm exam (professional email) 20% Rubric Levels of achievement Criteria

0

1

2

3

Structure

0 Points No attempt/copied from scenario/not written in English

1 Point Four or more elements are missing

2 Points Three elements are missing

3 Points 4 Points Two elements All or all are missing except one of the following elements are included: 1. Subject 2. Greeting and closing (both) 3. Buffer 4. Justification for the bad news 5. The bad news 6 A 3-step action plan 7. An ending on a positive note of goodwill

4

Sentence flow

0 Points No attempt/copied from scenario/not written in English

1 Point Sentences have many errors with appropriate conjunctions, run-on or fragmenting issues

2 Points Sentences have several errors with appropriate conjunctions, run-on or fragmenting issues

3 Points Sentences have some errors with appropriate conjunctions, run-on or fragmenting

4 Points Sentences usually use appropriate conjunctions with few run-on or fragmenting issues

Paragraph cohesion

0 Points No attempt/copied from scenario/not written in English

1 Point Paragraphs have many errors with topic and support sentences, transitions, and pronouns

2 Points Paragraphs have several errors with topic and support sentences, transitions, and pronouns

3 Points Paragraphs have some errors with topic and support sentences, transitions, and pronouns

4 Points All paragraphs are clear and well-structured AND transitions and pronouns are usually used correctly

Mechanics

0 Points No attempt/copied from scenario/not written in English

1 Point Several errors in formatting and mechanics (alignment, spacing, font, capitalization, and punctuation)

2 Points Few errors in formatting and mechanics (alignment, spacing, font, capitalization, and punctuation)

3 Points Few errors in formatting and mechanics (alignment, spacing, font, capitalization, and punctuation)

4 Points Almost no errors in formatting and mechanics (alignment, spacing, font, capitalization, and punctuation) (continued)

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Table 2.4 (continued) Levels of achievement Criteria

0

Task 0 Points achievement No attempt/copied from scenario/not written in English

1

2

3

4

1 Point 3 pieces of information are missing and little understanding of the scenario is demonstrated OR several errors in task-appropriate language

2 Points 2 pieces of information are missing and satisfactory understanding of the scenario is demonstrated OR some errors in task-appropriate language

3 Points 1 piece of information is missing, but good understanding of the scenario is demonstrated AND language is usually appropriate to the task

4 Points All necessary information is included in a way that shows excellent understanding of the scenario AND language is almost always appropriate to the task

Fostering Critical Thinking Fostering critical thinking through classroom discussion is a crucial element of tertiary education. Students are exposed to new concepts and ideas through lectures, but it is not until they participate in a discussion about the subject that they can show how it applies to them and their setting. A pedagogical approach that allows students to discuss what they had learned/read is the Socratic Circle approach. It allows the students to express their opinions about the subject, as well as hear what their peers have to say about it. According to Piric (2014b), “the Socratic Circle approach, is a pedagogical approach that encourages the participants to seek a deeper understanding of concepts through dialogues and draw conclusions using the thoughtful responses of their peers” (pp. 17–31). In other words, students participate in a meaningful discussion through which they share their opinions and listen to those of their peers. One such example used in Life and Future Skills is where students are required to collaborate and present information to their peers about a certain future trend and then discuss in class how the trend holds relevance to their own lives. Following the presentation, students are then required to apply the concepts they learnt from their peers to their own lives by creating a future wheel. The evidence shows us that the students are becoming more confident in their ability to reflect on their own lives and make links to the new concepts being taught. As educators, it is important that we make the learning relevant to our students so that they can see the value in what they are doing.

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Active Learning Hands-on activities allow students to better grasp the concepts introduced in the classroom. For example, one can lecture about how to write an essay, but the students will not be able to write one unless they try. A lot of faculty conduct research and enjoy doing so. Even this can be used in the classroom. Many students are asked to conduct research at the tertiary level, and showing them the step-by-step process of our own work would open new doors. For example, preliminary research is a step the students have to go through. One could share an example of one’s own preliminary research and point out its importance. For instance, in General Studies we have developed a research methods course that allows students to complete a practical piece of research which results in a poster presentation. Students are instructed on the theory on how to present their research poster, how to carry out primary research, and how each stage needs to be carried out and written up from the creation of a question, through to a hypothesis and analysis of the results. However, the greatest benefit to students is being able to carry out the research itself in real time and having to actively complete each section that remains with them far longer than just being given the theoretical knowledge. Knowing what convenience sampling is from a theoretical perspective and then being able to carry it out are two very different processes and only once students begin the process of thinking through the ways they will collect data does it start to make real sense to them. In carrying out the process, they are far more engaged and interested in the material they are learning. This is even more important in tertiary education, as it is the platform from which students will enter the workforce. Having an employee who has experience and understanding of the process is more valuable to an employer than an individual who only knows the process in theory.

Incorporating Technology Technology plays a big role in our students’ lives and what better way to get students involved than using something they enjoy. There are many different software packages out there that can be used to convey knowledge in the classroom. Many are free of charge and can be easily downloaded. For example, when introducing new terminology, one can use Kahoot, a game-based learning platform. It offers existing games and allows one to create games that are tailored to classroom needs. Students enjoy playing this competitive game, and while doing so, they learn new concepts. Our Academic Reading and Writing course includes teaching the APA citation style of referencing. A sample Kahoot lesson can start with a game of Kahoot as a pre-task activity and can expose students to any gaps in their knowledge about APA citation style and referencing and their purpose. Then, the faculty teaches the lesson. Having seen the questions in the first round, students know what to focus on as they participate in the lesson, after which they replay the Kahoot game. The second time

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they play, students are able to provide correct answers and are eager to share what they have learned. Below (Tables 2.5 and 2.6) are the results of one such Kahoot game before and after the lesson. It is clear that the students have learned a great deal in this lesson. The percentage of the total correct answers went up from 53% in game one to 75% in game two, while the average score almost doubled. The General Studies division introduced blended learning prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, students were required to do approximately 2 h of preparation of the flipped materials prior to attending the face-to-face session of their class. In this two-hour session, they were assessed through a short online quiz at the beginning of every class (worth 1% of their overall course grade) to find out how much they had learned at home. After the quiz, students applied their newly acquired skills through practical activities during the rest of the face-to-face class session. During the flipped at home part of the course, students spent 2 h reading about and watching a video on how to write a professional email. Then, in class, they took a quiz on the theoretical content and practiced writing professional emails. This flipped classroom approach served to prepare students for the pandemic and allowed for a smoother transition into fully online learning. Table 2.5 Results of the game played before the lesson

APA citation style 1 Played on

30 Mar 2020

Hosted by

AlmaPiricMesic

Played with

18 players

Played

13 of 13

Overall performance

Table 2.6 Results of the game played after the lesson

Total correct answers (%)

52.56%

Total incorrect answers (%)

47.44%

Average score (points)

5880.22 points

APA citation style 1 Played on

30 Mar 2020

Hosted by

AlmaPiricMesic

Played with

16 players

Played

13 of 13

Overall performance Total correct answers (%)

75.00%

Total incorrect answers (%)

25.00%

Average score (points)

10,250.81 points

Note Two students were unable to connect, so the first round was played by 18 students, while 16 students played in the second round

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Importance of Staying Current The majority of higher education institutions encourage their faculty members to conduct research in order to stay updated in their field and share valuable information with colleagues and the wider academic community. Although research is an important practice and allows faculty to remain current, it is also important that higher institutions offer in-house training and encourage participation and attendance to internationally acclaimed conferences to learn new skills and be aware of changes and learn ideas from those in different contextual settings. For example, in the current educational climate where the majority of institutions are having to offer classes online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that faculty have access to training to enable them to successfully deliver engaging and proactive classes online. Similarly, it is important as an institution to draw on the wealth of knowledge that already exists within the organization and have a buddy system that can pair those with teaching qualifications, to those who have excellent subject matter knowledge, yet have not completed any training on how to teach. Having an informal buddy system means there is a great support network and a culture of collaboration created to enable everyone to reach their potential, and thus the students receive a higher level of instruction. In addition, there has been an approach by many tertiary institutions to implement training programs through compulsory Professional Develeopment (PD) for all staff so that everyone teaching in the institution has a basic knowledge of the principles of educational theory and has a basic understanding of how to deliver lessons. This is a great stepping stone, yet having theoretical knowledge alone is not as beneficial as having both theoretical knowledge and experience. HCT has created an effective atmosphere of collaboration and support for all faculty and encourages them to offer PD sessions and complete peer observations on a regular basis. For example, on the Sharjah campuses they have piloted informal PD sessions where experienced teaching faculty share their practical approaches to common issues in the classroom, their expertise in using technology effectively in classes, and how to write rubrics using simplified vocabulary, making it clear to the student what the objective is. The GS department is leading the way as it has more teacher-trained faculty than the other divisions and as such has a wealth of knowledge and practical skills that it is willing to share with the other divisions. During the pandemic of COVID-19, where all divisions were required to offer online classes, the GS faculty were able to deliver sessions remotely to help support the other divisions in creating suitable online content and give helpful suggestions on how to hold an effective online class.

Conclusion Overall, having faculty who have the basics of educational theory is a plus for any institution, however, practical application of the knowledge is far more important. Faculty in the classroom need to be aware of the theory behind Bloom’s taxonomy

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(Seaman, 2010–11), and be able to apply it successfully in daily teaching activities and course design if the students are going to benefit from it. The General Studies department at HCT is a positive example of how having a large number of faculty with teaching qualifications can lead to a positive learning experience for students, a positive teaching experience for faculty, and a more organized and well-supported department. Fostering an atmosphere of peer support and collaboration is essential for institutions to work effectively and be able to deliver on their promises to the students.

References Akareem, H. S., & Hossain, S. S. (2016). Determinants of education quality: What makes students’ perception different? In M. A. Peters (Ed.), Open review of educational research (pp. 52–67). Routledge. Friedman, M. C. (2014). Notes on note-taking: Review of research and insights for students and instructors. Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching, 1–34. Henard, F., & Roseveare, D. (2012, September). Fostering quality teaching in higher education: Polices and practices. Institutional Management in Higher Education, 1–54. Kirk, D. (2010). The development of higher education in the United Arab Emirates. The Emirates Occasional Papers, 1–57. Piric, A. (2011). Adult education: Using motivating strategies and techniques. In 1st International conference on foreign language teaching and applied linguistics proceedings book (pp. 96–99). Sarajevo. Piric, A. (2014a). Benefits of scoring rubrics in oral assessment. Zbornik Radova Filozofskog Fakulteta u Zenici (pp. 175–186). Piric, A. (2014b). Motivating Students to participate in classroom discussion through the socratic circle approach. Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 17–31. Seaman, M. (2010–2011). Bloom’s taxonomy: Its evolution, revision, and use in the field of education. Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue, 29–43. Wagie, D., & Fox. (2005). Transforming higher education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). International Journal of Learning, 277–286. Wilkins, S. (2010, July 9). Higher eduction in the United Arab Emirates: an analysis of the outcomes of significant increases in supply and competition. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 389–400.

Gillian Zammel holds a bachelor’s in American Studies, a PGCE in Secondary Education and a master’s in TESOL. Gillian taught in secondary schools in England and mentored PGCE students from the local university before moving to Belgium where she worked as an English as a second language teacher for private companies including the European commission. Since moving to the UAE, Gillian has taught in private schools and moved into tertiary education in 2016. Currently, Gillian serves as a Lecturer in the General Studies Division at the Higher Colleges of Technology where she teaches English and Life and Future Skills. Alma Piric Mesic holds a bachelor’s in German and English language and literature, and a master’s in TESOL. She is fluent in Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian. Alma taught English as a second language in Vermont, US, and served as an English Language Fellow with the US Department of State for three years at the university level. She taught at universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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and trained high school teachers prior to moving to the UAE. Currently, Alma serves as a Lecturer in the General Studies Division at the Higher Colleges of Technology where she teaches English and Life and Future Skills.

Chapter 3

Teaching Business English in the UAE to Undergraduate Learners: A Learner-Centred Approach Catherine Nickerson

Abstract An important aspect of English language education at the tertiary level in the UAE is the need to prepare learners to meet the demands of what is likely to be a bilingual workplace. In most cases, this means equipping learners who have no prior experience of their chosen profession, with a specific set of language skills which will help them to communicate effectively in their future working life. For language instructors, this often poses something of a problem, as they need to identify what those skills are, while at the same time also engaging learners in a set of activities that will allow them to develop those skills. In this chapter, I will be focusing on business English as a prominent variety of professional English that is taught at many tertiary-level institutions across the country to undergraduate learners from a wide variety of national and linguistic backgrounds. I will review the research on written business English in particular and identify some of the skills that have been discussed in previous studies as characteristic of those that are demonstrated by successful communicators in business. In addition, I will outline some of the solutions that scholars have provided to help in developing these skills, and I will also suggest ways in which these solutions could be presented in class in a practical way which would be relevant for learners in the UAE with little or no working experience.

Introduction The UAE workplace is a fast-paced, multicultural environment, which is characterized by a wide variety of different forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and a multilingual workforce, most of whom speak English as a second or additional language. At the same time, within the federal institutions alone, there are many thousands of young Emirati Nationals following undergraduate business education, which is taught largely through the medium of English; this includes courses on business communication that are intended to help prepare them to use “talk or writing C. Nickerson (B) Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_3

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in commercial organizations in order to get their work done” (Bargiela-Chiappini et al., 2013; p. 3). Instructors face a dual challenge of first identifying what skills their learners will need to successfully get their work done, while at the same time, finding a way to develop and practice those skills that are relevant for learners with no prior knowledge of the workplace. Across the country, and indeed in many other parts of the world, this situation is duplicated in tertiary-level education, where instructors with a focus on business English need to equip learners with little or no understanding of the business world, with an appropriate set of skills. In this chapter, I will consider the research on written business English in particular, I will identify some of the skills that business people need in order to communicate successfully, as well as the solutions that scholars have provided to help learners with no experience of business to develop those skills. I will suggest ways in which instructors could incorporate these solutions into their course materials in a way which would be relevant for learners in the UAE with little or no working experience, while also helping them to develop those skills.

Previous Studies on Written Business English As Nickerson and Planken (2016) discuss, we now have almost three decades of research to draw on since the publication of Bhatia’s groundbreaking study of professional discourse in 1993 (Bhatia, 1993). Bhatia viewed the ways in which professional people in various disciplines communicate as contextualized and co-constructed, and where a person’s ability to communicate well should also be seen as a part of their professional competence. This replaced a much more static way of considering professional writing that had been the norm until that time, which had tended to view texts as individual artefacts with little connection between each other, and where the emphasis had been on linguistic competence, or using correct grammar and vocabulary, and much less on building rapport and communicating effectively through the medium of a text. As Albers et al. (2020) observe for business email, for instance, communicating effectively is not just a question of using accurate language, it also calls for an understanding of business as a collaborative activity that is enabled through digital media like email, and it also calls for an awareness that all messages are a part of a chain or network of other communication activities that facilitate the process of business. In other words, successful (business) writers understand that even routine email messages represent a highly contextualized activity that depends both on the people involved and on the specific business transaction (Albers et al., 2020). Other researchers have highlighted the importance of an understanding audience and a need for excellent digital skills (Gimenez, 2014), of creating a shared purpose and identity (Darics & Gatti, 2019), and of developing an awareness of the need for collaboration and the significance of the connections between different texts and spoken events, i.e. intertextuality and interdiscursivity (Bremner, 2008, 2010; Warren, 2013). The research into professional discourse over the past three decades

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provides us with a wealth of information on what real people do, or need to do, effectively with language to achieve their workplace tasks. What it doesn’t do, however, is to shed much light on how instructors can help learners to practise these skills in a relevant way before they enter the workforce. In addition to the research that has identified some of the skills that professional people need to master in order to be successful communicators, researchers with an interest in business English have also reviewed textbooks to explore the types of materials that they are providing as models and practise materials. Researchers such as Evans (2010, 2012), Bremner (2008, 2010), and Lam et al. (2014), for instance, all conclude that there is a mismatch between the textbook models that learners are presented with, and what happens in real life. Bremner (2008), for instance, notes a lack of intertextuality in textbook examples that is characteristic of business communication in the workplace, and Bremner (2010) also notes that textbooks provide little or no opportunity for the type of collaborative activity that is a hallmark of successful business transactions (see also Darics & Gatti, 2019, who confirm that collaborative, collegial, nature of effective digital business transactions). In addition, as Albers et al. (2020) report, Evans’ work in Hong Kong (Evans, 2010, 2012) reveals that “authentic emails often look very different than the models presented in textbooks, as they are characterised by intertextuality, informality and inaccuracy, which is largely absent in textbook models” (Albers et al., 2020; p. 56). All of these studies confirm the need to consider what it means to communicate successfully as a professional person, while also indicating that many published textbooks are not providing appropriate models or practice to help learners with no knowledge of the working environment to achieve this. The researchers also give various solutions to counteract this problem, such as using simulations of workplace digital communication (Gimenez, 2014), creating teams to simulate power relations in the workplace and the need for collaboration (Bremner, 2010), and encouraging learners to spend time observing professionals at work as well as suggesting that instructors should collaborate with a specialist informant to design appropriate teaching materials (Flowerdew & Wan, 2010). One final aspect of what it means to communicate professionally is provided by a set of studies over the past two decades that have looked at how the writing produced by students with no experience of the business world compares with that of the workplace (e.g. Bhatia, 1993; Connor et al., 1997; Qian & Pan, 2017; Zhang, 2013; Zhu, 2012). Some studies have compared the writing produced by learners with that produced by professionals, and others have asked business professionals to comment on and edit the writing produced by learners. Zhang (2013), for instance, asked eight business professionals to comment on the writing produced by forty business students, and showed that while the business people were less concerned with grammatical accuracy and lexical limitations, they did draw attention to the need to build relationships and co-construct meaning. The business professionals also removed any of the text that they perceived as being redundant, and they added in positive lexical items, such as boosters, e.g. extremely, highly, and very, in order to increase the positive tone in the text (see also Poncini, 2004, who reports similar findings for multicultural business meetings, where participants used specific lexis in their interactions to construct a positive atmosphere). Because of the mismatch between

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experienced and non-experienced writers that studies like this identify, researchers like Zhang (2017), for learners in Mainland China, and Kankaanranta and Planken (2010), for European learners, have recommended that business English curricula should include information on how to conduct business, and should not just rely on the analysis of isolated model business texts, as is typical of many business English textbooks. They also underline the need to move away from an emphasis on language accuracy and native speaker models, towards a concern with communicative effectiveness and understanding how business writers use their texts to build good relationships. For learners in the UAE, this would seem to be particularly appropriate, given the multicultural, multilingual, nature of the UAE workplace, where native speakers of English are a small minority and where the need to build strong relationships in business is also a regional cultural norm (Nickerson & Goby, 2018). In the remainder of this chapter, I will explore three aspects of written business English that have been identified in previous studies as characteristic of the way in which experienced business people communicate, which may also contrast with the writing produced by non-experienced learners. I will work with the solutions that scholars have recommended to help learners to develop the skills that they need and suggest ways in which these could be incorporated into the UAE classroom in a practical way. In doing so, I will extend the account given by Albers et al. (2020), which suggested ways of introducing learners to the collaborative and contextualized nature of business email in particular in ways that were relevant to them to help them to build on their own skills as a writer. My aim will be to move away from the static presentation of single texts that often characterizes textbook materials, to allow learners to build on their own experience as a writer and as a communicator, while at the same time developing their knowledge of the workplace environment.

A Learner-Centred Approach to Teaching Business English In the next three sections, I will focus on three areas suggested by the research reviewed above that instructors in the UAE could use to help their undergraduate students to develop the knowledge and skills that they will need to enter the workforce with the potential to communicate effectively. I will discuss these under the following headings put forward by Zhang (2017) as important constructs in the development of a business professional: Community, Socialization, and Discourse.

Community As Zhang (2017) and Kankaanranta and Planken (2010) have suggested, an important area for learners to focus on, in order to understand more about the communication skills that they will need in the workforce, is to develop a knowledge of a business. As non-experienced learners in the UAE who are following a business English course

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are also likely to be part of a business program such as a bachelor’s in business degree, this provides instructors with a reference point that is of relevance to their learners. In Zhang’s (2017) discussion on learning business English and the construction of a professional identity, for instance, he focuses on the development of a learner’s professional identity in the classroom over time and shows how this identity can eventually be transferred to the workplace. He views professional identity as a series of different constructs, including, amongst other things, the particular community of practice that a person belongs to (following Wenger, 1998), their successful socialization as a professional within that community, the discourse they produce, and the genres or communicative forms that they use. In order to develop an awareness of the community of practice that they will be joining, a relevant exercise for learners could be to look at their own area of business specialization, e.g. accounting, finance, marketing, and management, and then investigate what it means to communicate as a member of that particular community of practice in the UAE. For example, what are the most important communicative genres (or forms of communication) that are used in that profession, as well as the languages that are used in each one, i.e. are these predominantly in Arabic or in English, or in a combination of both? And what is characteristic of the discourse (or language) that is used by the people who belong to that community, i.e. is it formal or informal, persuasive or informative, predominantly textual or visual or numeral, etc.? In other words, as Bargiela et al. (2013) have argued, what role does language play in achieving that community’s business tasks? This would be a way of familiarizing learners with their chosen profession, as well as helping them to start constructing their own professional identity on the basis of how English is used in the UAE. Instructors could start by asking their learners to think about their existing social identity, their community of practice as students, and the various communicative genres and different types of discourse that they already use. They could then present them with accessible research accounts of language use in different professional groups, such as the study by Li So-mui and Mead (2000) of textile workers in Hong Kong, who looked at the communication needs of the clothing industry, including the languages that were used in each situation and the spoken events and written texts. The learners could then be encouraged to conduct a small research project, in which they talk to members of their chosen profession, or to one of their subject area instructors, in order to build a picture on their discipline, with specific reference to how different languages are used (in the context of the UAE), to the different types of communication (genres), and to the ways in which language (as a discourse) contributes to them. Figure 3.1 shows a brief set of questions that learners could be asked to investigate and report back to the class. This could be done in groups sharing the same disciplinary background, e.g. all marketing students, or in groups with a contrasting disciplinary background to help learners to develop an awareness of differences from one profession to another.

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1. What is the specific business discipline that underlies this CoP? 2. Are there sub-disciplines that are important for this CoP? 3. Do members of this CoP have any specific professional qualifications? And if so, how to they get them? 4. Is this a global CoP or a regional CoP? 5. What languages are important for this CoP? Both globally and in the UAE? 6. What are the most important genres that this CoP uses? Are they used in Arabic and English? 7. How does this CoP communicate in writing? What media are used? What styles are used? What modes are used, e.g. texts, visuals, numerals etc.? Fig. 3.1 Questions relating to a professional community of practice (Wenger, 1998)

An additional activity that learners could engage in to help them to develop an awareness of the business world in the UAE and different professional identities would be to carry out a period of observation in an organization relevant to their particular discipline, as recommended by Flowerdew and Wan (2010) in their study of company audit reports. This could be run alongside the exercise described in Fig. 3.1, or afterwards, as a way of building on that information. Learners could be introduced to the 2002 study by Louhiala-Salminen, for instance, which provides an accessible account of a period of observation that she spent with a business manager, and instructors could usefully discuss a summary of her findings with their class (Louhiala-Salminen, 2002). Louhiala-Salminen’s study is particularly relevant for the UAE, in that it also involves a situation in which English as a lingua franca was used alongside a second local language, in this case Finnish. Learners could discuss the special case of English as a business lingua franca in the UAE workplace as outlined by Randall and Samimi (2010), and they could also find out more about how business people use accommodation strategies to facilitate business transactions that take place between speakers of English as a first, second, and/or additional language. Rogerson-Revell (2010) provides a discussion on this topic in the context of the European Union, as do Goby et al. (2016), specifically for the UAE and the wider Gulf region. Learners could use their own contacts to arrange a period of time spent in observing a professional person representing their own area of professional interest and replicate Louhiala-Salminen’s, 2002 study. Or alternatively, if this is not possible, learners could observe their own communication behaviour over a period of time and that of their peers, with particular reference to the interaction between Arabic and English. For example, learners could track their interactions over a specific period of time at their university or college, or over a specific period of time during retail interactions on a weekend day at the mall. Figure 3.2 shows a set of ideas for projects involving observation that learners could carry out in order to understand more about the communication that a particular community of practice engages in as part of the wider business community.

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1. Check your email and/or phone messages over a period of time, e.g. a week, and decided why you or the person communicating with you decided to use Arabic, or English, or a combination of both languages. Compare this with a person from your own community who is older or younger than you and find out if there are any differences. Now compare this with a person from a different (national) community. If you found differences, why do you think they occurred? 2. Reflect on your own use of languages and different forms of communication over a specific period of time, e.g. three hours, in a familiar context. You could use a morning at university or an afternoon at the mall. Note the different languages that you used and the different forms of communication and decide why. Were there any situations where there was only one choice? Or were different options available to you that would have been equally successful? 3. Spend a period of time in a place where many social interactions take place between people from different places, e.g. a café or a store. Note the different languages that you hear, and decide if any of the people involved in the interactions use strategies that are designed to try and help the other person, i.e. accommodation strategies? Were there any breakdowns in the communication, and if so, how did people solve them? Fig. 3.2 Ideas for observing a community of practice (Wenger, 1998)

Socialization A second aspect of the development of professional identity that Zhang (2017) discusses is the socialization of a professional person within a particular community. This is also inherent in the process that Bremner (2010) is referring to when he calls for the creation of teams in the classroom to simulate power relations in the workplace and to help learners to understand the need for collaboration. A useful addition to the UAE business English classroom would therefore be to find ways of developing the learners’ socialization skills in ways that will be relevant for them at a later date when they enter the workforce. In their 2019 overview on teaching business discourse, Ilie et al. (2019) devote a chapter to the use of case studies in helping learners to understand how language and communication are used in business. As Ilie et al. (2019) suggest, case studies involve tasks that enable learners to “practice and develop the skills of negotiating, relationship-building, decision-making, and problem-solving” (2019: 141), all skills that are also used by business professionals. In other words, engaging in a case allows learners to develop the collaborative skills that Bremner (2010) has suggested they need, and in doing so to begin to develop their professional socialization skills. Solving a case together provides the learners with a project-based learning experience (Blumenfeld et al., 1991) or what Zhang (2017) refers to as participatory learning (see also Slavin, 1980). As Ilie et al. (2019) note, “Many skills learned through project-based learning are highly sought after by today’s employers including the ability to work well with others, handle interpersonal conflicts, make thoughtful

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decisions, and solve complex problems” (2019; p. 60). And unlike what happens in a business simulation, a carefully chosen case relies on learners being themselves and developing those skills in an authentic way, rather than on playing the role of someone else in order to try and do so. Ilie et al. (2019) provide a series of example cases and projects described in the literature that instructors could also use to promote discussion on communication in the workplace, while at the same time help learners to start developing their own professional socialization skills as they participate in the case study. For example, they refer to Cooke and Williams (2004) who describe two real-life projects in the United States where learners were asked to work as consultants with real companies in order to solve a business problem for them, and they also discuss the case studies by Li and McGregor (2010) and by Witchalls (2015), who give an account of problems caused in the workplace by the use of English as a corporate lingua franca in the first case, and by problems in intercultural interactions between German and Indian colleagues in the second. In situations where instructors have access to journal articles and other academic publications through their institution, then cases like these could be used as the basis for a classroom discussion, or longer projects, where the learners are asked to work together to find a solution for the problems that are occurring in each case. This would help them to develop their own skills by working on a case study or project, where those skills will also be relevant at a later stage once they enter the workforce. Extensive materials are also available through Harvard Business School (https://hbsp.harvard.edu/cases/), and of particular relevance for the MENA region, through the Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies (https://www.emeral dgrouppublishing.com/archived/products/case_studies/eemcs.htm). In situations where getting access to academic publications is more difficult, instructors can make use of publicly available cases. For example, the Principles for Responsible Management (PRME) initiative, supported by the United Nations, provides a wealth of material that could be incorporated in a business English class for learners, as it requires them to engage in a business case specifically designed to help them in understanding more about ethics in business and civic responsibility. The PRME Innovation Challenge (https://www.unprme.org/student-partners) is run every year and provides one or more case studies that learners could be asked to work on, in order to create a report. Learners could be asked to submit this as part of the competition, or instructors could use the information provided as the basis for a set of in-class assignments. In a similar way, the Aim2Flourish competition (https://aim2flourish.com/) also provides material that could be adapted in order to provide a case-based assignment. Both the PRME Innovation Challenge and the Aim2Flourish cases change from year to year, and they therefore stay current. Moreover, the Association for Business Communication maintains a Student Competition Page (https://www.businesscommunication.org/page/student-writing-contest? source=5) which provides short cases with a focus on communication, including one or more award winning answers to each of the case prompts. Finally, Albers and Johnson (2016) describe a community service learning project that they carried out with undergraduates in Abu Dhabi, which could be adapted for use with other learners. The learners engaged in the project were asked to work with the community

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over a period of 8 weeks, and to use their skills in business communication in order to do good. At the end of the eight-week period, they then gave a presentation in which they were asked to reflect critically on how they had used business communication to make a positive difference. For example, one group who worked with the Zayed Higher Organization for Humanitarian Care described how they had used their skills to contact the organization and then carry out fundraising activities to organize a party for special needs students. Others worked with social media, such as Twitter and Instagram, to raise money to buy clothes for the workers in their community. As Albers and Johnson note, “The use of social media was beyond their comfort zone and the students were surprised with their success” (2016; p. 165), providing an excellent example of project-based learning in action which led to a change in the learners’ skill set.

Discourse As noted above, the study by Albers et al. (2020) on teaching business email to junior undergraduates at Zayed University in the UAE draws on the learners’ experience to help them understand how professional business people communicate successfully using email. For example, in understanding email as both collaborative and coconstructed, learners were asked to review the subject lines on their own personal emails written prior to the course, and to predict the contents of each email; the aim of the exercise was to demonstrate the need for an appropriate subject line in helping the recipient of the email to negotiate the contents of the message (Albers, 2018). Likewise, to understand the importance of contextualization, the learners were introduced to the different ways in which honorifics, e.g. Sir and Miss, are used in different parts of the world and how that compares with the UAE and the wider Middle East (Goby et al., 2016). Again, this was demonstrated to them, through their own email correspondence with their peers or with their instructors. The learners in Albers et al.’s study were therefore drawing on their own experience as communicators in order to understand how language was used in each case to achieve a particular task. In other words, they were developing an awareness of discourse, the third and final aspect of the construction of a professional identity (Zhang, 2017), that I will discuss here. In addition to those aspects of their own discourse that are also reflected in the workplace, learners could also be made aware of other discourse characteristics, such as the prevalence of intertextuality and the type of multitasking that routinely takes place across different media when business people engage effectively in computermediated communication (Gimenez, 2014). Nickerson (2018), for instance, describes a project that combined the development of knowledge on a set of business topics, together with skills practice through a set of mobile learning tasks that focused on the communication skills needed to understand more about audiences and select appropriate communication media for a message. The learners focused on a particular business topic, such as corporate social responsibility or women leaders in business,

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1. The learners are asked to read the relevant sections of Chaudhri and Wang (2007) which is a research account of how to evaluate the presentation of CSR information on corporate homepages; this also provides them with an accessible analytical framework, consisting of how accessible the information is (Prominence), how extensive it is (Information Extent) and the characteristics of the discourse and modality (Style). They were also introduced to CSR and stakeholder theory and the different ways in which this can be used to make a positive contribution to a corporation’s reputation (Cornelissen, 2017). 2. The learners then access the Net a Porter web-site (www.net-a-porter.com) to select a dress for an evening function, such as a wedding reception, in order to evaluate the site in terms of Prominence, Information Extent and Style. This example was chosen as an award winning website, as well as a business model, i.e. online shopping, that we expected many of our students to be familiar with. The learners could therefore learn how to use the analytical framework, without being challenged by the content of the information. 3. The learners then access a multinational corporation’s web-site, e.g. Starbucks, Unilever, Virgin etc., and use the analytical framework to evaluate the presentation of CSR information specifically and then critique it in the form of a short report. This allowed them to develop their critical thinking skills on the topic relevant to business English communication and also to develop their own communication skills through writing a report. Fig. 3.3 The presentation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) information on a corporate homepage1

and then completed a set of focused mobile learning tasks, which involved interaction, e.g. decide with a fellow learner what constitutes an effective PowerPoint presentation, production, e.g. create a short video explaining how to give an effective PowerPoint presentation, and reflection, e.g. watch prominent women leaders give TEDx presentations on YouTube and explain how they communicate effectively. More specifically, because Gimenez (2014) has shown that understanding audiences and selecting appropriate media are also crucial skills in communicating effectively in computer-mediated communication in business, Nickerson (2018) also asked the learners to focus on these in some of their mobile learning tasks, e.g. media choice and using different modalities was a focus in explaining how to give effective PowerPoint presentations, and understanding different audiences was a focus in critiquing the TEDx talks. As in the other examples that I have discussed in this chapter, the learners remained themselves throughout rather than playing a simulated role, while at the same time understanding more about the skills that they would need to develop in the workplace, as well as laying the foundation for those skills. Figure 3.3 shows a final example of an assignment that we have developed at Zayed University for our senior (female) Bachelor of Business students, in which they learn about corporate social 1

I would like to acknowledge the contribution made to this assignment by my colleagues at Zayed University: Effrosyni Georgiadou, Valerie Goby and Raihan Jamil.

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responsibility (CSR) and how this is presented on corporate homepages to various groups of stakeholders. They learn to critique the way in which that information is presented in a systematic way and they complete an analysis of the discourse that is used, including the type of information that the corporations select, the interaction between textual and visual elements on the site, and the incorporation of various forms of multimedia. The learners therefore develop their knowledge of the business world in learning about CSR, and they also develop their knowledge of how corporations communicate with their stakeholders.

Conclusion In this chapter, I have reviewed some of the recent research on business English and how business people communicate, and I have suggested ways in which these ideas could be incorporated into business and professional English language education at the tertiary level in the UAE such that they are relevant for learners without extensive experience of the workplace. I have considered how these learners could develop a greater understanding of business and the professions as a community of practice, with a specific set of genres and discourse conventions, and, drawing on Zhang’s work with undergraduates in Mainland China, I have discussed the importance of socialization through appropriate activities in the classroom as a way of working towards the development of a professional identity (Zhang, 2017). The suggestions put forward here have been designed to help learners at tertiary institutions in the UAE to develop a knowledge of the business world and the skills they will need to communicate effectively in the workplace, but most importantly, to do so by building on and extending their own existing knowledge and skills.

References Aim2Flourish. https://aim2flourish.com/. Accessed 22 August 2020. Albers, R. (2018). E-mail: Makeovers for subject lines. In D. J. Whalen (Ed.), Selections from the ABC 2017 annual conference, Dublin, Ireland: Teaching with Yeats’s Elegance and Wilde’s Wit. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly 81(3), 368–390. Albers, R., & Johnson, B. (2016). Community service learning: Successfully engaging Emirati business students. International Journal of Learning and Teaching, 2(2), 161–166. Albers, R., Trejo Vences, P., & Nickerson, C. (2020). Putting research into practice: Beyond textbook email task design for pre-experience business learners. RELC Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0033688220909009 Association for Business Communication Student Competition Page. https://www.businesscomm unication.org/page/student-writing-contest?source=5. Accessed 22 Aug. 2020. Bargiela-Chiappini, F., Nickerson, C., & Planken, B. (2013). Business discourse. Palgrave Macmillan. Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analysing genre: Language in professional settings. Longman.

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Blumenfeld, P. C., Soloway, E., Marx, R. W., Krajcik, J. S., Guzdial, M., & Palincsar, A. (1991). Motivating project-based learning: Sustaining the doing, supporting the learning. Educational Psychologist, 26(3–4), 369–398. Bremner, S. (2008). Intertextuality and business communication textbooks: Why students need more textual support. English for Specific Purposes, 27(3), 306–321. Bremner, S. (2010). Collaborative writing: Bridging the gap between the textbook and the workplace. English for Specific Purposes, 29(2), 121–132. Chaudhri, V., & Wang, J. (2007). Communicating corporate social responsibility on the internet: A case study of the top 100 IT companies in India. Management Communication Quarterly, 21, 232–247. Connor, U., Davis, K., De Rycker, T., Phillips, E. M., & Verkens, J. P. (1997). An international course in international business writing: Belgium, Finland, the United States. Business Communication Quarterly, 60(4), 63–74. Cooke, L., & Williams, S. (2004). Two approaches to using client projects in the college classroom. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 67(2), 39–152. Cornelissen, J. (2017). Corporate communication: A guide to theory and practice. Sage. Darics, E., & Gatti, M. (2019). Talking a team into being in online workplace collaborations: The discourse of virtual work. Discourse Studies, 21(3), 237–257. Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies. https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/archived/pro ducts/case_studies/eemcs.htm, Accessed 21st Aug. 2020. Evans, S. (2010). Business as usual: The use of English in the professional world in Hong Kong. English for Specific Purposes, 29(3), 153–167. Evans, S. (2012). Designing email tasks for the business English classroom: Implications from a study of Hong Kong’s key industries. English for Specific Purposes, 31(3), 202–212. Flowerdew, J., & Wan, A. (2010). The linguistic and the contextual in applied genre analysis: The case of the company audit report. English for Specific Purposes, 29(2), 78–93. Gimenez, J. (2014). Multi-communication and the business English class: Research meets pedagogy. English for Specific Purposes, 35, 1–16. Goby, V. P., Nickerson, C., & Rapanta, C. (2016). Managerial communication for the Arabian Gulf . Business Expert Press. Harvard Business Publishing Education. https://hbsp.harvard.edu/cases/. Accessed 21st Aug. 2020. Ilie, C., Nickerson, C., & Planken, B. (2019). Teaching business discourse. Palgrave MacMillan. Kankaanranta, A., & Planken, B. (2010). BELF competence as business knowledge of internationally operating business professionals. Journal of Business Communication, 47(4), 380–407. Lam, P., Cheng, W., & Kong, K. (2014). Learning English through workplace communication: An evaluation of existing resources in Hong Kong. English for Specific Purposes, 34, 68–78. Li, L., & McGregor, L. (2010). English in tiers at workplace: A case study of email usage. In G. Forey & J. Lockwood (Eds.), Globalization, communication and the workplace (pp. 8–24). Continuum. Li So-mui, F., & Mead, K. (2000). An analysis of English in the workplace: The communication needs of textile and clothing merchandisers. English for Specific Purposes, 19(4), 351–368. Louhiala-Salminen, L. (2002). The fly’s perspective: Discourse in the daily routine of a business manager. English for Specific Purposes, 21(3), 211–231. Net a Porter. www.net-a-porter.com. Accessed 22 Aug. 2020. Nickerson, C. (2018). Mobile and multidimensional: Flipping the business English classroom. ESP Today, 6(1), 46–67. https://doi.org/10.18485/esptoday.2016.4.2.1 Nickerson, C., & Goby, V. P. (2018). Convergence and collaboration: Co-creating meaning within culturally diverse workforces. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 26(5), 941–952. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-03-2018-1390 Nickerson, C., & Planken, B. (2016). Introducing business English. Routledge. Poncini, G. (2004). Discursive strategies in multicultural business meetings. Peter Lang. PRME Innovation Challenge. https://www.unprme.org/student-partners. Accessed 22 Aug. 2020.

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Qian, D., & Pan, M. (2017). Politeness in business communication: Investigating English modal sequences in Chinese learners’ letter writing. RELC Journal, 50(1), 20–36. Randall, M., & Samimi, M. A. (2010). The status of English in Dubai. English Today, 26(1), 43–50. Rogerson-Revell, P. (2010). Can you spell that for us non-native speakers?: Accommodation strategies in international business meetings. Journal of Business Communication, 47(4), 432–454. Slavin, R. E. (1980). Cooperative learning. Review of Educational Research, 50(2), 315–342. Warren, M. (2013). “Just spoke to…”: The types and directionality of intertextuality in professional discourse. English for Specific Purposes, 32(1), 12–24. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning meaning and identity. Cambridge University Press. Witchalls, P. J. (2015). Teaching and learning intercultural business communication through an authentic case study: An experience report. Interculture Journal: Online-Zeitschrift Für Interkulturelle Studien, 14(24), 67–75. Zhang, Z. (2013). Business English students learning to write for international business: What do international business practitioners have to say about their texts? English for Specific Purposes, 32(3), 144–156. Zhang, Z. (2017). Towards a mode of learning Business English and professional identity construction. Springer. Zhu, W. (2012). Polite requestive strategies in emails: An investigation of pragmatic competence of Chinese EFL learners. RELC Journal, 43(2), 217–238.

Catherine Nickerson is a Professor in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates. In 2008 she received the Association for Business Communication’s Distinguished Publication Award, in 2009 the Association’s Outstanding Researcher Award and in 2017 the Outstanding Article in the Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Award. Dr. Nickerson’s work has been published widely and her latest book (Teaching Business Discourse) appeared with Palgrave Macmillan in 2019. Her current research interests include the use of business English as a lingua franca, the integration of mobile learning into the business English classroom, and the communication of Corporate Social Responsibility.

Chapter 4

Enhancing Literacy in Young Readers Through Bilingual Literature in the UAE Huda Jamal

Abstract In recent times, the bilingual educational model has become recognized as a solidly successful basis of instruction worldwide. Research has proven that bilingualism carries significant educational and cultural benefits for all learners. Education in the UAE has gone through many developmental stages, emerging from a rather limited Bedouin platform of basic Arabic literacy to eventually become the bilingual, Arabic and English mediums of instruction. This modern approach has been widely promoted as the most effective system to serve the country’s educational and cultural aspirations. This chapter reviews the theme of bilingualism in general, and the effectiveness of bilingual reading in education, in particular. It provides an analysis, together with examples, of how the bilingual elements in the story Children and Heroes can enhance literacy in the UAE. The chapter advocates strongly for bilingualism in education which is seen as an efficient, modern, and reliable approach in the current educational landscape. Keywords Bilingual · Education · Reading · Children and heroes

Introduction The UAE has gone through enormous and rapid economic and cultural changes in the last four decades moving the nation from a Bedouin community to an exemplary, modern, flourishing country. This great transformation has had a considerable effect on literacy and education. Prior to the discovery of oil, education in the UAE was limited to the teaching of the Holy Quran and the fundamentals of literacy in the Arabic language. The economic revolution brought about by the new discovery meant the country opened up to international influence and with it came, eventually, the introduction of the English language as a medium of instruction in schools. Currently, the trend is towards a bilingual approach in education with subjects taught in both English and Arabic. The widespread use of English in schools, and in society at H. Jamal (B) Abu Dhabi, UAE e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_4

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large, has put pressure on the status of the Arabic language within the country. A new generation is emerging who speak Arabic as their mother tongue and who hold the Arabic language as the symbol of their linguistic and cultural identity, but who have to study through English in school, as a result of the nation’s acceptance of globalization and of multicultural diversity and tolerance. This chapter reviews bilingual literature, particularly in the UAE, and it describes a bilingual collection of seven short stories written in both Arabic and English. Children and Heroes is still under print, but it has received considerable recognition via the Khalifa Award (2020) of “Educational Authoring for Children in the UAE and Arab World/Educational Innovations.” Accordingly, the chapter explores the theme of bilingualism in education and provides an analysis, together with examples, of how story elements in Children and Heroes can enhance literacy in the UAE. Thus, this chapter advocates for bilingualism in education which is seen as an efficient, practical, and reliable approach in the current educational landscape.

Literary Background and Review of the Literature The concept of bilingual education is deeply rooted in research. Garcia (2011) promotes the need for a bilingual approach in education as an alternative to the limited monolingual standard because of the new cultural diversity prevailing across the world. She states that “monolingual schooling seems utterly inappropriate” (p. 786). According to her, bilingual education is “an enterprise of love for the children of the world who will be the men and women of the future” (p. 785). Freeman (2007) defends bilingual education disagreeing with Singer (1956) by stating that “The cumulative evidence from research conducted over the last three decades at sites around the world demonstrates that cognitive, social, personal, and economic benefits accrue to the individual who has an opportunity to develop their bilingual repertoire” (p. 9). Moreover, in 1999, UNESCO issued a resolution at its 30th session of the general conference referring to the use of three languages in education which are the native language or a regional and international language. Since then, “UNESCO has been promoting…multilingual education as a means to improve learning outcomes and give life to cultural diversity” (UNESCO, 1999). In the UAE, literacy has gone through a significant evolution since the country’s unification in 1971. Before that, as Alhebsi et al. (2015) point out literacy in the UAE was confined to the Qur’anic teachings and the Prophet Mohamed’s Hadith (peace be upon him). Students were taught in mosques, sitting around in circles, by a ‘Mutawa or Kataeeb’ (p. 2). From 1971, modern education began to expand in all areas and at first Arabic was the main medium of instruction. Gradually, English emerged as a dominant language in the UAE in order to cope with the country’s growing multiculturalism and globalization. However, this dominance has raised a number of concerns regarding the status of Arabic among the younger generation of

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UAE nationals. The debate is that if English becomes the main medium of instruction, will it affect the cultural identity associated with the nation’s mother tongue? Hopkyns (2016) states that: Despite the obvious demand for English due to its gatekeeper role, the study revealed that English is perceived by the majority of students to affect various layers of cultural identity, both positively and negatively, especially in terms of lifestyle choices and use of Arabic. The issue of resentment and concern for the future of Arabic was raised throughout the study, especially with regard to the next generation (p. 106).

In response to that, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC, 2014) established a bilingual (Arabic and English) education program in all Abu Dhabi schools. It is stated in policy 7110 ‘Language of Instruction’ in the ADEC Public Schools (P12) Manual September 2014 that “Bi-literacy: ADEC’s intention is to develop biliterate learners with academic proficiency in Arabic and English languages. To this end, ADEC schools shall be staffed with Arabic Medium Teachers (AMTs) and English Medium Teachers (EMTs), who will deliver instruction in Arabic and English” (p.115). Bilingual literacy has been recognized as an effective strategy in UAE education. According to Gallagher (2011), Bilingual schooling in Abu Dhabi is an inevitable development as the country moves from more monofaceted traditional identities towards more multifaceted contemporary identities, with attendant dual imperatives of preserving and developing Arabic as the powerful indigenous language, as well as simultaneously raising national capacity in the use of English—and not English as a colonising language, but as an international one (pp. 73–74).

In this regard, the combination of Arabic and English for education delivery appears to be an ideal solution to concerns relating to the diminishing status of Arabic, while maintaining English as a requirement in education. In addition to preserving Arabic as the nation’s mother tongue, the integration of Arabic within English texts is also an effective method of improving English language learning. Dual language scripts in Arabic and English will not only improve the learners’ Arabic acquisition and strengthen their identity and cultural background, but it will almost certainly improve the learners’ English literacy. The Arabic script will enhance the comprehension and assimilation of the corresponding English script. This is especially useful with low-level English learners who are still struggling with the basic elements of the English language. The complementary nature of bilingual texts will help towards establishing autonomous learners who can navigate through texts in both languages to understand points of ambiguity and confusion. In a study of 500 students and 100 teachers conducted by Belhiah and Elhami (2015) across universities in the UAE, they find that a bilingual curriculum in which instruction is delivered in English and Arabic enhanced students’ linguistic and biliteracy skills. They advocates for “a bilingual education as a means to improving students’ mastery of English, while preserving their national identity and indigenous culture” (p.3). Bilingual texts in the literature for young readers have to be valued as a fundamental component in English Education in the UAE. Usually, Emirati students

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struggle with English reading texts. Having the same text in Arabic will definitely help students comprehend better meanings in the English paralleling text. The Arabic text will keep the students attentive and will not allow them to be distracted by any of the new or challenging words they encounter in English. It will also save students’ time and effort to translate those unfamiliar English words and phrases. The presence of the Arabic text will prevent the English text from the common literal and abrupt translations done by students. In most cases, students’ Google translations distort the real meaning of the English words, phrases, sentences, and texts. Bilingual reading texts will help students learn faster. They will enable students to draw relations between the two texts and elicit meanings and structures. Ultimately, students will be less challenged and more motivated to read. Educational objectives will be achieved. These are just some of the reasons why bilingual reading texts for young learners have to be valued as a fundamental component in English Education in the UAE. Ceprano et al. (2018) piloted a study with younger readers. They exposed children (1–5) grades to bilingual reading texts in English and Italian to observe their motivation and comprehension. They argue that before the study, “The children very rarely engaged in the reading of texts in English beyond isolated vocabulary or simple sentences displayed on the Smartboard, possibly because of the limited accessibility of bilingual children’s books that were easy enough for them to negotiate independently or with guidance during reading instruction” (p. 12). After the study, the results show that children appreciated bilingual reading texts. Their vocabulary, cultural knowledge, and confidence in reading English were improved (p. 14). Bilingual literature is an important side of the bilingual learning approach especially in literary reading texts for young readers. Hojeij et al. (2019) express the same belief: Young bilingual readers need affirmation and education in both their languages. They need to see themselves in both languages, as culture and language contribute to identity formation. When bilingual children can relate to both languages at home and at school, they flourish. Bilingual literature provides many learning opportunities based on students’ experiences within their bilingual world (p. 1202).

Children and Heroes: A Practical Bilingual Approach Since bilingualism has been shown to be pedagogically sound, the need to create high-quality bilingual materials, models, and learning resources is clear. However, the bilingual literature written by UAE nationals is limited. Children and Heroes, a bilingual short-story collection inspired by international classics and written in different styles, can be viewed as a useful bilingual resource for teaching reading in particular. Accompanied by the Arabic text, the English script will enhance the learners’ language skills, by expanding their vocabulary, knowledge of collocations, sentence structure, and introducing them to the creative elements of the English story-telling genre. Hojeij et al. (2019) support this point by clarifying that:

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Bilingual literature for children is valuable in encouraging literacy in second language learners. Stories can enhance vocabulary and language abilities, learning encounters, subject content, social aptitude, and other skills in the early reader through text as well as illustrations (p. 1201).

Therefore, we can see that this story collection, Children and Heroes, illustrates language and style, differing points of view, characterization, settings, plot, and literary influence and that all these elements can enhance Arabic and English literacy in the UAE and the Arab world.

Language and Style Children and Heroes is written for young readers in middle childhood (8–12 years). Thus, the book is written in simple, straightforward language. Most words are within the A2+ and B+ ranges according to the CEFR levels. Words, clauses, and sentences are simple and clear. Direct speech is often used and paragraphs are short. In her dissertation, Anderson (1984) clarifies that “Some authors and editors and most reading theorists hold that certain kinds of words are more suitable for young readers than others. Typical prose for children should be composed mainly of easy words—words that are basic and every day, specific, personal, concrete, positive, and relevant to childhood” (p. 70). However, in spite of the simplicity of the language, the author of Children and Heroes has specially chosen vocabulary to enhance children’s lexicon in both Arabic and English. The language is lively and witty which serves to create an appealing atmosphere and to lighten the style of the stories. Coral the Fish, for example, was written in the form of letters where Coral is responding back to his friend Mohamed (after he returned home from the sea) and answering the questions Mohamed asked when Coral was with him on land (Fig. 4.1). Allawi and the Screen was written in free verse in both Arabic and English. Despite the simplicity of vocabulary, the poetic language of the script is a favourite among

Fig. 4.1 Excerpt from coral the fish

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young readers. This is mainly because free verse stories are spontaneously flowing with music and rhymes. Anderson points out that “According to some theorists, childhood is the age of ‘resonance’ the time when exact imitation of the sound of words in a given language is most natural. And children delight in tongue-twisters, nonsense words, and the heavy patterning of nursery rhymes” (p. 8). Thus, the high quality of style compensates for the simplicity of the language. Free verse stories are highly appealing to young readers. They grasp their attention and could be used as excellent reading books to motivate those young learners. Similarly, in the story the imaginative plot, events, and characters that are inspired by the masterpiece Alice in Wonderland and the other masterpieces add a sense of thrill and excitement (Fig. 4.2). In The Picnic, the descriptive language is vivid, adding liveliness and freshness to the scene in the oasis covered by the alluring deceptive nature of the fox. The

Fig. 4.2 Excerpt from allawi and the screen

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Fig. 4.3 Excerpt from the picnic

rich, colourful vocabulary expands the basic lexical repository of the young reader (Fig. 4.3). Thus, the simplicity of syntax and semantic layers of the stories, in addition to the clarity of ideas in both the Arabic and English scripts, will work very well with the UAE youth. This is mainly due to the fact that these ESL readers are still struggling with the basics of English language structure. That is to say, the stories’ simple linguistic content combined with their high-quality style fit very well with UAE educational needs. Another important factor to mention is that the bilingual nature of the texts, having the same script in Arabic with almost the same level of linguistic simplicity and style, aids the comprehension of the English script. The bilingual reader can easily go back and forth between the two texts, grasping meanings, drawing images, and expanding levels of knowledge.

Points of View Rana et al. (2014) point out that a story is “an aid to positive child development” (p. 179). He explains that stories provide children with mental moral images, and thus inspire them to develop a sense of goodness. Stories help children appreciate moral principles that they can abide by it” (p. 179). Raising morals and values is one of the core fundamentals in education, perhaps more important than literacy itself. However, the challenge is how to convey those morals and values to the youth. Preaching and direct sermons or orations are monotonous and not at all appealing to children. This type of moral representation has been proven undesirable in the literature. In Children and Heroes, the main theme (moral) is implied from the title of the collection itself. The moral is that there is a big hero within every child which means that all children are fundamentally good by nature and capable of developing great values and good manners. The stories attempt to bring out naturally those heroic values in children. Each story encourages children to discover the hidden hero to guide, develop, and change them for the better, so they can overcome their flaws. Coral is a special fish who loves writing and is curious to discover the world beyond the sea. He is very sceptical about his parents’ stereotypical views of the

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Fig. 4.4 Excerpt from coral the fish

people in Abu Dhabi. He is not satisfied with his family, teachers, or community and that is his flaw till he gets away. Only then does he realize the importance of all those who were around him. Being held captive by a human answers his queries and makes him realize the importance of his family and community. Mohamed represents the real human in Abu Dhabi, who in spite of all the excitement, threw away fame and attention to save a fish he found at the beach. Therefore, Mohamed was able to settle Coral’s inquiries and to toss him back to the sea a wiser fish (Fig. 4.4). In Amna and the Magic Cookie and Mansoor: the Boy with the Pranks, Amna and Mansoor want recognition so badly that it led them along wrong paths away from that to which they had aspired. When Amna’s secret was revealed, she wished to become normal as she was before. When Mansoor was able to prove himself as a hero, his past pranks prevented people from believing him. In the end, both children realized the best way to get recognition is through patience, truth, and hard work. The kid addicted to the virtual world, Allawi, in Allawi and the Screen, was too stubborn to listen to his mother’s advice till he got sucked into the screen. When he was rescued through his tears, Allawi learned that there is limited time on a screen. The three friends in The Picnic were gullible and innocent, but they ended up as heroes. They were able to act fast and save themselves from the cunning fox and they learned not to trust so easily. Beauty and the Evil Wizard presents three themes: appearance doesn’t always reflect truth; destiny is something in our hands; life events develop us and reveal our strengths. Maryooma accepted her suitor just because of his looks. However, Maryooma was able to change her destiny at the end, not as the bird said. She was able to change and develop from a delicate, naïve girl to a brave and determined woman. The last story, Hamoody and the Alien Bear, represents the moral that good behaviour reflects good manners. Hamoody discovered that the best way to explain the meaning of love to the alien bear was to show love through good actions, not abstract words.

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To sum up, the events in the seven stories succeeded in eliciting and strengthening the morals and values of those children. Every child in the stories has an aspect of heroism in different forms, such as being special, brave, caring, determined, and accepting. These children were able to change and develop because of the heroes within themselves.

Bilingualism and Literary Influence on the Stories’ Characterization and Setting Educators have to create bilingual literary models that represent their identities and culture, and they may include, refer to, or share elements of some of the world’s literary archetypes from all times and places to enrich their experiences and be part of the world’s bilingual and intercultural continuity. Children and Heroes was written from an Emirati and Arab point of view. The characters’ names and personalities are Arab. The linguistic discourse whether in Arabic or English expresses an Arab mindset. The setting in all the seven stories is the UAE and the Arab desert. Coral and Hamoody are from Abu Dhabi, UAE. Maryooma is a young girl from the Arabian oral tradition of the past. Mansoor is from the Gulf desert (Figs. 4.5, 4.6 and 4.7). The characters and settings are localized from the perspective that the most authentic writing is the one which depicts the writer’s culture, most inner experiences, and surrounding environment. Thus, characterization or setting whether imaginative

Fig. 4.5 Excerpt from coral the fish

Fig. 4.6 Excerpt from hamoody and the alien bear

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Fig. 4.7 Excerpt from Maryooma and the wicked wizard

or real has to portray elements of the writer’s own identity and environment. Writers are the mirrors of their culture and environments, depicting them to their own people and to the outside world. Another important objective of localizing the stories to the UAE and Arab culture is to enable the UAE and Arab young readers to identify with the characters of the stories. This will help create a strong bond between the reader and the characters in the stories. On the other hand, in the stories there are clear references to and adaptations from world literary masterpieces while keeping the construction of the stories, points of view, and plot narration authentic and original as illustrated in the excerpts of this chapter. The rationale behind this is to provide Emirati bilingual literary forms that embrace universal values and themes as part of a shared human culture and identity. The essence of the world is one but in different names and pictures. There are shared elements in art that transcend the boundaries of place and time. Myers and Eberfors (2010) point out that the “challenge of English teacher educators is to generate thinking practices in which students recognize their local cultural frames, identify other cultural frames of meaning, and negotiate these multiple global frames of interpretation to make sense of local texts, activities, values, and identities” (p. 148). Therefore, universal elements are employed in Children and Heroes as part of the bilingual, intercultural, and global educational approach of short stories’ collections. Coral’s personality and letters could be seen as inspired by “Diaries of a Wimpy Kid,” by Jeff Kinney. However, Coral can be as wimpy as Greg, but he is Emirati in his linguistic discourse and personality. The story itself is developed from a different point of view, the aim of which is to help Coral progress, change, and develop. The author has employed some images from Lewis Carroll’s book “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” such as the rabbit with the tie, the folding tears, the dream, and sun at the end, but Allawi and the Screen is a completely different construction. It’s an original Emirati story, bearing a strong educational moral to help children who are addicted to technology and the virtual world. The Picnic traces some elements from the European folk tale Chicken Little. However, in The Picnic all the animals save themselves at the end and the fox got punished, and they were not eaten as in the original story. Mansoor: the Boy with the Pranks is an Emirati version of the world’s literary heritage fable, “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” Yet in Mansoor’s story, the setting and

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ending are deconstructed differently. Mansoor, the camel milk seller in the Gulf desert, was able to defeat the frantic dog (a version of the wolf) and throw him off the cliff. He was capable of being a hero, but his flaw was lying. Mansoor’s story is more profound and complex than the original. Amna and the Magic Cookie talks about the popular idea of a magic object that makes wishes come true. However, at the end of the story, Amna wishes that she could return to her normal state after being a prodigy put her in real trouble. The story encourages the youth to depend on the powers within themselves and develop through patience and hard work rather than dream and look for unreal or deceitful alternatives. There are features of Rumpelstilskin, Bluebeard, and Beauty and the Beast fables in Maryooma and the Wicked Wizard. However, the story of Maryooma stands out as an authentic Arabic story with an original point of view and plot narration. The concept of the alien coming from space is very popular in the literature among young readers. Hamoody and the Alien Bear shares this simple concept of the outsider (alien) who is coming from Space looking for acceptance. Hamoody was able to show the alien the meaning of love through his hospitality and welcoming, rather than explaining love in abstract words.

Conclusion Nowadays, the English language is the international language used globally as a means of communication and sharing culture and ideas. English communication is enabling cultures to flow and merge with each other. Great ideas in the literature, art, and technology are exchanged mostly through the English medium. The world is becoming one in essence, but in different images. As the modern UAE is embracing globalization, multiculturalism, and international diversity, English literacy is needed. English is required as a fundamental international language to serve the country’s multiculturalism and openness to the world. However, having English as the dominant medium of instruction in UAE education has raised issues of cultural identity. Hence comes bilingualism as an important and necessary approach in education. Establishing a balanced hybrid education system that includes Arabic and English will enable the education system to preserve the local Arabic cultural and language frames. Also, this bilingual approach through English will introduce other cultures and enable learners to identify them and be aware of similarities and differences. Being exposed to English as the medium of the world’s culture will inspire learners with great ideas. At the language level, bilingual learning will improve the attainment of both languages. The learner will be able to navigate in both languages, fill gaps of ambiguity, and figure out structures. This feature of bilingual education will help to create autonomous learners where they can search for meanings and explanations within the bilingual text itself. Learners can identify and recognize language at many levels: words, their usage, sentence structure, and overall text meaning.

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The introduction of bilingual short-story reading is a perfect platform to practice bilingual education and to achieve all the above-mentioned benefits of bilingualism. The free-flowing nature of reading doesn’t require a lot of intervention from the educator. This will develop the learner’s self-autonomy and independence. Also, the combined structures of local and global linguistic and cultural features in bilingual texts will reinforce the meanings, interpretation, and understanding of the text. Children and Heroes was written from a bilingual, educational perspective. The short-story collection is a bilingual model that fulfils all bilingual educational purposes. The short stories are written at a language level that corresponds to young Emirati readers’ level, the aim of which is to avoid possible difficulty in original native English texts. Also, the simplicity of the language and ideas together with high-quality style and presentation will make reading enjoyable which will in turn motivate Emiratis to read. Being an authentic Emirati bilingual literary text, Children and Heroes is an ideal supplementary reading resource that educators and parents can always use and refer to. While reading the chapters, young readers can identify with the characters, settings, and cultural undertones. Also, they can become aware of the universal themes and values referred to in the stories. This is in addition to many other benefits of reading in general. This story collection will enable a younger generation of Emirati readers to reach a higher level of knowledge achievement. It is recommended to develop more bilingual resources for the UAE educational library, to enable young, modern Emirati readers to achieve the educational level they aspire to and deserve.

References ADEC. (2014). Public schools (P-12) policy manual September 2014. Abu Dhabi Educational Council, Abu Dhabi. Retrieved from https://docplayer.net/25406908-Adec-public-schools-p-12policy-manual-september-2014.html. Alhebsi, A., Pettaway, L., & Waller, L. (2015). History of education in the United Arab Emirates and Trucial Sheikdom. The Global eLearning Journal, 4(1). Retrieved from https://aurak.ac.ae/pub lications/A-History-of-Education-in-the-United-Arab-Emirates-and-Trucial-Sheikdoms.pdf. Anderson, C. (1984). Style in children’s literature: A comparison of passages from books for adults and for children. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?art icle=1715&context=oa_diss. Belhiah, H., & Elhami, M. (2015). English as a medium of instruction in the Gulf: When students and teachers speak. Language Policy, 14(1), 3–23. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/270823154_English_as_a_Medium_of_Instruction_in_the_Gulf_When_students_ and_teachers_speak. Ceprano, M. A., Shea, M. E., & Gandt, A. N. (2018). Reading bilingual books: Students learn English while acquiring knowledge about American cultural traditions and places. School-University Partnerships, 11(1), 9–18. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1179964.pdf. Freeman, R. (2007). Reviewing the research on language education program. In G. B. Editor (Ed.), Bilingual education: An introductory reader (pp. 3–18). Retrieved from https://scholar.google. ae/scholar?q=Reviewing+the+research+on+language+education+programs%E2%80%9D&hl= en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart.

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Gallagher, K. (2011). Bilingual education in the UAE: Factors, variables and critical questions. Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues, 4(1), 62–79. Retrieved from https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Bilingual+educat ion+in+the+UAE%3A+Factors%2C+variables+and+critical+questions.&btnG. Garcia, O. (2011). Bilingual education in the 21st century: A global perspective. Wiley. Hojeij, Z., Dillon, A. M., Perkins, A., & Grey, I. (2019). Selecting high quality dual language texts for young children in multicultural contexts: A UAE case. Issues in Educational Research, 29(4), 1201–1222. Retrieved from http://www.iier.org.au/iier29/hojeij.pdf. Hopkyns, S. (2016). Emirati cultural identity in the age of ‘Englishisation’: Voices from an Abu Dhabi University. In L. Buckingham (Ed.). Language, identity and education on the Arabian Peninsula: Bilingual policies in a multilingual context (pp. 87–115) Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/hjamal/Downloads/Hopkyns2016MMChapter4.pdf. Jamal, H. (2020). Children and heroes. Coral the fish and other stories. Khalifa Award. https://kha ward.ae/. Myers, J., & Eberfors, F. (2010). Globalizing English through intercultural critical literacy. English Education, 42(2), 148–170. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40607959?seq=1#met adata_info_tab_contents. Rana, S., Padhy, M., Padiri, R. P., Nandinee, D. Vincent, K. (2014). Story: An aid to positive child development. Indian Journal of Positive Psychology, 5(2), 178–182. Retrieved from https://www. researchgate.net/publication/325541678_Story_An_aid_to_positive_child_development. Singer, H. (1956). Bilingualism and elementary education. The Modern Language Journal, 40(8), 444–458. Retrieved from https://scholar.google.ae/scholar?q=%E2%80%9CBilingualism+and+ elementary+education&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart. UNESCO. (1999). Languages in education. Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/themes/gced/lan guages.

Huda Jamal has a Master’s degree in English Literature from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA. She is a faculty member at Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi Women’s Campus, Abu Dhabi. Ms. Jamal is interested in utilizing efficient tools and strategies to facilitate active learning in her classes. Bilingualism, mobile technology, language deconstruction and e-portfolios are her major interests. Ms. Jamal is a Fulbright Alumna, creative writer and a poet. She aspires to write bilingual masterpieces in Arabic and English in the genres of short story, drama and poetry.

Chapter 5

Research on English Language Teaching in Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates, 2010–2020: An Overview of Journal Articles Shifa Desai Abstract In the last 10 years, what has been published about English language teaching in higher education in the UAE? This review article opens up a discussion about what has been studied and published and what direction future research might take. It focuses on research articles that were published in peer-reviewed journals and influential edited books on the most recent research in education in the Gulf as a whole. This overview reports on both student voices and teacher voices as important aspects of the state of higher education in the past decade. Here, in this review, my guiding question is, “What has driven research in language teaching in higher education in the UAE in the past 10 years?” English teaching in higher education in the UAE focuses on ESL classroom instruction, student learning, educational technology, testing systems, and professional views of teachers. The analysis I present in the following paragraphs shows that these various aspects of English language teaching are complex and pervasive, creating a blurring of the research landscape which can hold opportunity for further investigation. Keywords Higher education · Research · English as medium of instruction · Expatriate teachers · CEPA · IELTS · iPads · Knowledge economy

Introduction Having spent nearly a decade as a language instructor in the UAE, the brief for this book chapter, to contribute to the research on English language education, motivated me to reflect on research that has been published in the years I have spent living and working as expatriate faculty in the Higher Colleges of Technology. English language teaching and learning in the UAE is bounded by a number of complex issues which I hope to unpack in this review paper. The first complexity is encapsulated by James and Shammas (2018, p. 493), “a mono-cultural student body is instructed by a multicultural teaching faculty of expatriate academics”. The fact that English language S. Desai (B) Higher Colleges of Technology, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_5

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teaching and learning is a cornerstone of education in the UAE is a testimony to the significance of globalization and the needs of a modern economy. My job as an English language teacher is to get Emirati students to achieve an equivalent of IELTS 5.0 in order for them to gain entry into bachelor programs. To this end, I serve in a faculty of mostly expatriate teachers, both bilingual and native English speakers. Tertiary institutions in the UAE provide students with a foundation program which is primarily about language acquisition. Research studies have shown that foundation programs focusing on English proficiency are contentious in an Arabic first language context. It is not lost on me that with my role as an English language instructor, I participate in an education system criticized for being neo-liberal and market-oriented (Troudi & Al Hafidh, 2017; Troudi & Jendli, 2011). This review paper is a survey of published research between 2010 and 2020, on pedagogical issues that impact the teaching and learning of English in higher education in the United Arab Emirates. The aim of this paper is to preview what has been studied and published, with a view to finding the gaps in the available research and provide some direction about where research in higher education in English in the UAE needs to go. What has been written and published about professional English teachers, teaching, and learning in higher education in the last 10 years? To get an overview of existing research pertaining to this question, I consulted articles from fully refereed journals with an established practice of peer review. The main research databases which were used were Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) and ProQuest. The empirical studies viewed for this paper were conducted at a variety of federal and private tertiary institutions in the UAE. The areas of research surveyed for this book chapter range from topics that have been debated since the creation of the modern education system in the UAE (e.g. English as a medium of instruction) to topics that no longer count as part of the education system (e.g. iPad use in federal tertiary institutions, 2012–2017). While most research on English as a medium of instruction (EMI) is in the area of language policy and not in the area of language teaching, per se, it is my view that every summary of English in the UAE, such as the one I am undertaking, needs to provide commentary on EMI. After all, it is the raison d’être for the prevalence of expatriate English teachers in the UAE. Maintaining Arabic as the language of culture and tradition versus the need to educate Emirati youth and indeed Emirati professionals in English for the purposes of economic growth and global influence has been debated, examined, surveyed, and criticized. My analysis of published research in the last 10 years starts with this much-contested point of fact that the UAE’s language policy puts a priority on developing English as a second language. Most research studies that have been published about English teaching in the last 10 years have been about implementing pedagogy. Teacher researchers have put into practice the educational policies of the tertiary institutions they work at. Research that has been published has examined the effectiveness of new pedagogy, such as the iPad initiative in federal institutions. The studies reviewed in this chapter are informative for their focus on how to maximize student learning.

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Alongside English teaching comes testing. In the last 10 years, the main testing systems that were researched were the Common Educational Proficiency Assessment (CEPA) and International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Although a new test and testing system has been used since 2016, i.e. Emirates Standardized Test (EMSAT), to the best of my knowledge, no research has been published about this system. The Arab Gulf states have become a major destination for EFL teachers from all over the world, due to their competitive salaries and benefit packages for employees. However, it was a challenge to find published studies investigating English teachers’ views about their professional employment. The published research on this topic has been done with educators in undergraduate programs. The findings I present from those studies could be seen to impact English teachers in higher education. I present an overview of these topics that have been researched and published in the last decade and move my discussion towards tracing possible connections between areas of interest for English teaching and learning. Through critical awareness of the issues raised in published articles, future researchers might find an area of interest worth investigating to add to the body of literature on English teaching in higher education in the UAE.

Research on ESL in Higher Education and Its Significance for Future Research UAE nationals speak Arabic, the official language of the UAE, but study programs are delivered and assessed via the medium of English rather than Arabic. This controversial regulation in the educational system has been raised by various scholars. Troudi and Jendli (2011, p. 23) stated that their investigation of student attitudes towards EMI showed that the “binary division between Arabic and English” reinforces “English as a language of science and academia while relegating Arabic to a language of heritage and religion.” Cullinan (2016) examines curriculum practices of English as a second language (ESL) in the UAE. She points out that the English language has a powerful status in the UAE, while native Arabic takes on a secondary role in academia. This cultural dynamic of English/Arabic in the UAE is one area that impacts English teaching. As it relates to English teaching and learning, the reality facing teachers and learners is raised by Troudi and Al Hafidh (2017), that tertiary-level students are intimidated by the idea of studying their specialties in English. Hatherley-Greene (2014, p. 3) emphasizes a similar finding in his study of young male Emirati students who do not succeed in the first year of college. He points out that these students enter higher education “with a strong sense of dread and an expectation of failure”. Research studies show that issues of EMI open up other areas of complexity for English-speaking instructors and Emirati students. Hatherley-Greene’s (2014) study points out the cultural dissonance of some Western teachers who have a traditional, formal approach to students and how this is negatively perceived by students.

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Student–faculty evaluations of ‘traditionalist’ teachers indicated low rapport with students (Hatherley-Greene, 2014, p. 14). Belhiah and Elhami (2015, p. 21) also conclude that teachers who are “monolingual native speakers of English …. usually fail to build rapport with students”. They suggest that the education needs of the UAE would be better served if universities gave preference to bilingual educators who could interact with students in both Arabic and English and who also understood the culture of the students. Belhiah and Elhami (2015) did a much larger study with 600 participants: students and teachers, to explore the effectiveness of teaching English to an Arabic population. Although the teachers in this study were not English teachers, they were expatriate teachers who taught undergraduate courses in English, which means that this large-scale study has implications for English teaching in the UAE. Belhiah and Elhami (2015) suggest that tertiary institutions reconsider their recruitment trends of hiring monolingual English teachers. How might expatriate ESL teachers in the UAE respond to this suggestion? Considering the findings of the studies mentioned here, the next decade of research might well be one where Western-oriented expatriate English language teachers living and working in the UAE need to delve into a period of critical self-reflection and self-study.

Research to Improve Language Competence and Increase Motivation for Learning In this section, I look at those studies where teacher researchers have sought ways to induce student motivation to learn, while simultaneously adhering to curriculum requirements. In addition, teacher researchers also upheld institutional policies in their research objectives. iPads were implemented in federal institutions in 2012. This was designed for English language classes, referred to as foundations programs in some federal institutions. Gitsaki et al. (2013) reference 9 objectives of the iPad initiative. Broadly, these objectives were intended to inculcate a new pedagogy in higher education for both students and teachers. This rigorous study found that in order to gauge the impact, more time was needed to conduct a longitudinal study. In 2017, the iPad initiative was suspended and replaced with laptops for English language learning. A number of studies to gauge teacher perceptions of iPad as a pedagogical tool and learner attitudes towards iPads as a learning tool were published. Teacher researchers in federal tertiary institutions in the UAE actively promote the use of technology as part of the teaching and learning process. Grigoryan (2018) details a mixed methods study investigating English language learner attitudes to using iPads for language acquisition. Findings from this study show that students showed positive attitudes towards iPad use as a tool for learning English. Al Ali and Ahmed (2015) studied the effective use of e-textbooks and how students felt about using them to acquire English language skills. The participants in their study reported mainly positive attitudes towards using e-textbooks.

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Student peer involvement featured in the research corpus as a focal area in the teaching and learning process. Dowling (2013) and Engin (2014) uphold peer teaching to promote student enjoyment and motivation. Hojeij and Baroudi (2018) report positive attitudes, increased language acquisition, and self-confidence in their students as a result of their action research to introduce peer editing in their writing classes. Miles’ (2019) investigation of teacher perceptions of the effectiveness of iPad implementation showed that teachers believed the iPad had the potential to engage students and allow them to be autonomous learners. Dowling’s (2013) case study is a careful explanation of his implementation of blogs in his preparatory English class. He applies Vygotsky’s theories regarding the zone of proximal development to get peer involvement in the learning process. He introduced blogs in the creation of learner-generated content (LGC) and used this as a way for students to acquire twenty-first-century skills, i.e. publishing student blog posts for sharing amongst their peers. He reports that publishing and sharing of student content increased student motivation in producing learner-generated content. Engin (2014) applied a flipped classroom model for her Academic Writing class. The objective was for students to create their own digital videos. Engin (2014) reports that students enjoyed the collaborative aspect of peer teaching, while Dowling (2013) similarly states that in his study, when students published and shared their blogs, this increased their motivation. Hojeij and Baroudi (2018) used mobile apps for their investigation of mobile technology for peer editing in a writing class. Students could access video resources via Dropbox to introduce the target objectives of the writing. Apps such as Notability and Edmodo were used for editing, redrafting, and in-class publishing. While Hojeij and Baroudi (2018, p. 655) found that the use of iPads to improve peer editing in their writing classes “impacted positively upon EFL students’ revisions and overall writing”, Miles (2019, p. 9) by contrast found that “in the language classroom, the iPad is not suitable for writing.” Increasing student ability with regard to second language acquisition is a key objective for teacher researchers. Teaching at a private institution in Dubai, Al Alami (2014) sought to increase reading and writing competence in her EFL classes by exposing students to English literature. Eppard et al. (2020) identified poor reading habits in their undergraduate students and undertook a mixed methods study to investigate a reading strategy called Listening While Reading (LWR). Al Alami (2014, p. 1254) adopted an experimental design for her application of a literature-based course (Learn and Gain). Post-test results reflected ‘significant progress’ in both reading and writing as a result of this ‘effective’ intervention. By contrast, Eppard et al. (2020) report that the LWR intervention did not show significant difference in either the fluency or reading comprehension of students in their study. The past 10 years of research about what happens in a higher education language classroom in the UAE is illuminating in terms of how classroom teachers interpret and implement educational policies and put curricula into practice. More important is having a shared body of knowledge of what we as professional English language teachers do and the potential these studies have to encourage similar exploration. Although the research on iPad implementation is by and large a historical reflection

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of what the past 10 years looked like in terms of classroom-based teaching, it does reflect the dynamism that teachers apply to new educational policies and the measures they take to implement new educational tools.

Research on Testing, Language Learning Strategies, and Implications for Further Study Ismail and Khatib (2013) did a study involving Foundation students to determine their language learning strategies. They argue that foundation programs are very expensive, so “effective language learning strategy training can reduce the time students spend in the foundation program which may in turn [help] in reducing the budget.” (2013, p. 135). Of the 190 students who participated in this study, the majority used metacognitive strategies occasionally, positioning them as medium strategy users. This study found that there was no significant relationship between language proficiency and learning strategy. The relationship between language learning strategies and achieving higher IELTS scores has yet to be investigated. The study by Schoepp and Garinger (2016) suggests that students with higher IELTS scores had greater academic success. When considering these studies, the question that is raised is what are the language learning strategies of those students who do achieve IELTS 7.0 and who progress with higher GPA scores? Moreover, the suggestion that reducing the cost of language support in higher education is debatable when studies such as Schoepp and Garinger (2016) and Schoepp (2018) argue that there is a need for further language support once students enter bachelor programs. His study showed that the entry-level requirement for bachelor programs (IELTS 5.0) was too low for academic success. Schoepp and Garinger (2016, p. 150) raise the point that “additional English language development” is necessary for students to achieve academic success. In the last decade, teaching English in the UAE has been test-driven, characterized by high-stakes exams such as Common Educational Proficiency Assessment (CEPA). This test identified those students who needed to be placed in foundation programs to improve their English to achieve an IELTS 5.0, the entry level for bachelor programs. The CEPA was replaced with Emirates Standardized Test (EMSAT) in 2016. The CEPA was investigated and analysed for validity, reliability, usefulness, transparency, and security (Coombe & Davidson, 2014). Although CEPA is no longer used in the UAE, Coombe and Davidson (2014) put forward recommendations for areas of development of the CEPA which could hold true for the current testing system (EMSAT). The EMSAT tests grammar, vocabulary, sentence construction, reading, and writing (www.moe.gov.ae), but does not contain listening and speaking components. Coombe and Davidson (2014) suggested that the CEPA exam needed to include listening and speaking components. They also pointed out that there were not enough journal articles on research on CEPA. My investigation for this paper yielded no results for research on EMSAT, which was adopted in the 2016/2017

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academic year. This area is wide open for ELT professionals who have an interest in conducting research on EMSAT.

Research on Expatriate Teachers and Implications for English Teachers In general, the Arab Gulf states have become a major destination for EFL teachers from all over the world, due to their competitive salaries and benefit packages for employees. While there are a few studies on expatriate teachers in the UAE, these tend to focus on teachers in undergraduate programs. Studies have been published researching expatriate teachers in higher education. Saudelli (2012, p. 105) looked into educators’ beliefs, considerations, and tensions regarding teaching Emirati female students. This study does not specify the job descriptions of the 19 participants in this study, except to state that they were ‘international educators’. Chapman et al. (2014) investigated instructors’ views about their professional employment, drawing on their rationale on how faculty members in the UAE view their careers and day-to-day work does much to shape the outcomes of education. This investigation was done with participants from public and semi-public institutions, however, the 37 participants for this study were teachers in undergraduate courses and not English teachers. A similar study conducted by Austin et al. (2014) explored the satisfaction, motivation, and institutional commitment of 29 expatriate teachers. Both studies were done with participants who were instructors in undergraduate courses, but to the best of my knowledge, not English teachers in college preparatory courses. Schoepp’s (2011) study of 364 expatriate faculty members does not specify which fields they were teaching in. Chapman et al. (2014) gauged the extent of expatriate faculty identification and engagement with their institutions. Their findings suggest that tertiary institutions would be better served if faculty employment was more long term. The issue of transience for academic staff is also raised in Austin et al. (2014). However, they suggest that even with short tenures, strategies could be developed to enhance institutional commitment. Schoepp (2011) suggests that retaining expatriate faculty is key for the importance of higher education. Experience and understanding of the environment, students, and culture are the advantages he recognizes, a finding similarly echoed in Saudelli (2012, p. 110) who refers to these qualities in expatriate teachers as a sense of ‘hybridity’. Issues such as faculty retention, transience, and employment security which impact English teachers in the UAE will need to be re-evaluated in terms of other voices researching the UAE higher education landscape. Researchers with various educational agendas seem to be coming up with similar conclusions regarding the success of the UAE higher education system. Troudi and Al Hafidh (2017, p. 111) call for a “balanced version of linguistic dualism and educational bilingualism”, stating that Arab students do not need to study their academic disciplines in English. Solloway’s (2018) survey of students showed that the majority felt that foreigners in

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the UAE should learn Arabic and, moreover, that UAE students should be given the choice of studying in either Arabic or English. In her study of foundation students’ perceptions of teacher fairness, Gallagher (2019) comments that there are few programs for Emirati students who do not wish to become proficient in English, and there is little bilingual support for these students as many of their teachers do not speak Arabic. Schoepp (2018), studying IELTS scores as indicators of academic progress, suggests that EMI is not the most appropriate method in the UAE when students have low English scores. This view is echoed by Belhiah and Elhami (2015) who call for bilingual education to improve students’ language proficiency while preserving their national identity and indigenous culture. The context that English teachers in the UAE find themselves in with respect to the importance of these issues directly impacts expatriate teachers who may well have applied best practice in teaching English. Place the necessity of bilingual education into the UAE educational curriculum, English teachers with only ESL to offer will need to search for a new kind of relevance.

Discussion, Implications, and Future Directions This chapter has presented a critical appraisal of relevant research that has been published in 2010 up to 2020. The studies selected for this overview were based on result exploration (Mayer, 2009) that could best characterize the nature of English teaching in higher education. The purpose of this review is to reflect on what has been studied in English teaching and learning in higher education in order that readers can identify the potential for further research. This section of the chapter looks at pertinent issues raised in published research and how researchers and ELT professionals can take the opportunities for further research into a new direction for English language teaching.

Researching the Future of EMI in the UAE The UAE is committed to developing institutions of higher learning. Consequently, the UAE is a huge importer of expatriate faculty to educate Emirati youth. The fact that English is taught, and indeed, is the medium of instruction for subjects taught in higher education in a non-native English-speaking country, raises the question of indigenous culture, language, and continuity. Troudi and Jendli (2011) advised that the UAE needs to consider the quality of the learning experience of students and have a greater awareness of the role of mother tongue and bilingual education. Further research could focus on the recommendation by Troudi and Al Hafidh (2017) that the educational system of the UAE takes a critical look at the linguistic and academic proficiency of Emirati students. They recommend a translation program similar to those found in South Korea and Japan, countries that advanced their skills and talent,

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but not at the cost of indigenous culture and language. Nickerson (2015) recommends Hong Kong as a model where the emphasis is on communicating effectively, rather than language proficiency. Researchers interested in EMI and bilingual education may want to use these recommendations as a starting point for developing an Emirati educational program that preserves Arabic while making strides in other spheres of knowledge. Other voices questioning the educational curriculum in its current form are studies such as Samier (2015 p. 250), calling for an indigenous curriculum to “support institution building that is appropriate to an Arab Muslim state”. Researchers could explore this call for preserving traditional societies, their culture, and communities, looking at ways to combine these with the modernizing influence of foreigners in the society. Another compelling argument put forward by Cullinan (2016) in the debate to have a balance between English and Arabic is that pluralingualism would be a necessary adaptation to the curriculum, effectively producing local linguistic and cultural capital. An education system promoting pluralingualism would promote knowledge capital. The challenge for ESL teachers, who “use material designed in the west to educate diverse communities and cultures” (Cullinan, 2016, p. 62), is deciding what is their place in a knowledge-based economy designed with pluralingualism as a goal.

Rethinking the Primacy of Linguistic Competence The role of proficiency impacts the future of English language teaching. Linguistic accuracy will need to be re-evaluated when compared with the requirement of effective communication in the global workplace. Nickerson (2015) suggests that linguistic competence in English is secondary for the professionals who need to come out of the education system. English proficiency is one of a number of other skills, such as computer literacy and cultural awareness, needed for the workplace. She puts forward Kachru’s interpretation of ‘functional nativeness’ as a move away from the idea of language proficiency. This referent is to identify those Emirati students who will be highly proficient speakers of English regardless of how they learned or use the language. Schoepp (2018) has suggested that for students with lower IELTS scores, a bilingual education is the better option. Nickerson (2015) seems to hold a similar view that we need to think in terms of two groups of students, viz., low proficiency speakers and highly proficient users of English. There might be debate around relegating linguistic competence as secondary, but English language teachers and curriculum planners might better serve the needs of education in the UAE with a realistic program of what it means for students to communicate effectively. Future research will need to challenge the effectiveness of current pedagogical models of second language learning. Some of the studies that have been reviewed for this paper about increasing student language capacity make clear correlations between accuracy in English as a learning objective (Engin, 2014). What is the place of studies such as this one which states, “the pressure to produce

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accurate English is a positive benefit…” (Engin, 2014, p. 19). This is the challenge of future research in curriculum change for English as a second language. According to Ashour and Fatima (2016), the UAE is the largest importer of higher education in the world. The UAE’s financial and policy commitment in education has not brought sufficient improvements to satisfy the growth and establishment of the UAE as a knowledge economy. Ashour and Fatima (2016) raise the point that student unpreparedness must in part be attributed to English as a medium of instruction. Further research in English in higher education would need to address EMI as a persistent feature of student unpreparedness. James and Shammas (2018) define, in part, teacher perceptions of student unpreparedness as students not adhering to norms expected by Western-educated academics, resulting in low grades. According to this study, faculty point out students’ low motivation and poor classroom behaviour. Austin, et al. (2014) similarly found in their study that faculty members expressed frustration about students who were under-prepared for the demands of higher education. A different perspective of student unpreparedness is Gallagher’s (2019) study. She reports on student perceptions of fair treatment, offering this insight, that state schooling is a major factor in academic underperformance. She refers to a “lack of articulation between school and university and the hegemony of English in determining university success” (2019, p. 142). Ashour and Fatima (2016, p. 588) suggest that the quality of graduates must be “improved by cultivating their interest in education” and “facilitating their acquisition of knowledge”. They do not extend their concern to how their points raised need to be implemented, but it does open up the issue for further research into how role players can target these needs.

A Case for English Faculty Retention in a Knowledge Economy Student academic success is measured by GPA. Schoepp and Garinger (2016) have pointed out that higher IELTS entry scores (7.0) meant that those students do consistently better in terms of maintaining a good GPA. The majority of students entering institutions, however, do not enter a tertiary institution with higher IELTS scores and to increase the entry requirements would exclude the majority of potential students. The question I would like to put forward to future researchers in this field is, what should shape our future research? Let us assume we take on the challenge presented in the Schoepp and Garinger (2016) study that academic success is dependent on additional English language development. This would mean that the pedagogy employed by English teachers would have to be re-designed to obtain a learning objective of students achieving IELTS 7.0, because that has been shown to impact student academic success. To achieve this might well be a long-term learning objective. Currently, a huge number of expatriate faculty are employed in tertiary institutions and are responsible for delivering on the educational program set by the government. The deficit in creating a knowledge economy could in part be attributed to the fact

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that faculty are employed on short contracts, which has consequences for how they view their careers, how they engage with students, and how they view their professional employment, all of this impacting the outcomes of education (Chapman et al., 2014). Austin et al. (2014) point out that in addition to short-term contracts, faculty are inhibited by the knowledge that their jobs could be terminated suddenly, adding that limited job security undermines institutional commitment. The authors suggest that despite their short tenure, strategies could be developed to enhance faculty sense of institutional commitment. The authors do not extend this point into further explanation, but ELT professionals might see the research opportunity in methods to enhance stronger institutional commitment that would lead to greater commitment, talent, and focus of faculty that would have positive outcomes for national priorities. The teaching of English is a stepping stone towards the goal of achieving a knowledge economy, one that is a producer of knowledge. The issue of transience in expatriate life impacts not only whether academic faculty can stay long enough to supervise postgraduate students, but also in the possible creation of Schoepp and Garinger’s (2016) suggestion, that continued English support after foundation programs is necessary for academic success. Teachers of English might well be needed if the long-term interests of tertiary institutions are to be achieved. Cullinan (2016) provides a valuable critique, but in order for us to go beyond critique to practical implementation of curricula which advances ‘equitable bilingualism’ (2016, p. 65), English teachers, curriculum advisors, and policy writers require the outcomes of research that have focused on how such a curriculum would promote better test results for students. Indeed, there may be an opportunity for researchers to hold focus groups with the large numbers of expatriate faculty already working in educational institutions in the UAE: bilingual teachers and English native speakers, sitting together, jointly making suggestions and contributions to enact the classroom foundations of knowledge capital.

References Al Alami, S. (2014, November). Promoting communicative competence within EFL contexts: A UAE case study. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 5(6), 1245–1255. Al Ali, S., & Ahmed, A. (2015). E-textbooks in ESL classrooms: Are learners on board. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, 12(2), 1–20. Retrieved from http://lthe.zu. ac.ae. Ashour, S., & Fatima, S. K. (2016). Factors favouring or impeding building a stonger higher education system in the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 38(5), 576–591. Austin, A. E., Chapman, D., Farah, S., Wilson, E., & Ridge, N. (2014). Expatriate academic staff in the United Arab Emirates: The nature of their work experiences in higher education institutions. Higher Education, 68, 541–557. Belhiah, H., & Elhami, M. (2015). English as a medium of instruction in the Gulf: When students and teachers speak. Language Policy, 14, 3–23. Chapman, D., Austin, A., Farah, S., Wilson, E., & Ridge, N. (2014). Academic staff in the UAE: Unsettled journey. Higher Education Policy, 27, 131–151.

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Coombe, C., & Davidson, P. (2014). Common educational proficiency assessment (CEPA) in English. Language Testing, 31(2), 269–276. Cullinan, M. (2016). Critical review of ESL curriculum: Practical application to the UAE context. International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, 8(1), 54–68. Dowling, S. (2013, August). Using blogs to share learner-generated content. The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language, 17(2), 1–23. Emsat policies. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://emsat.moe.gov.ae/emsat/Emsat_Policies_En.aspx. Engin, M. (2014, December). Extending the flipped classroom model: Developing second language writing skills through student-created digital videos. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 14(5), 12–26. Eppard, J., Baroudi, S., & Rochdi, A. (2020, January). A case study on improving reading fluency at a university in the UAE. International Journal of Instruction, 13(1), 747–766. Eppard, J., Nasser, O., & Reddy, P. (2016). The next generation of technology: Mobile apps in the English language classroom. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 11(4). Retrieved from http://www.i-jet.org. Gallagher, K. (2019). Student voice: Perceptions of fair treatment in a. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 11(1), 129–145. Gitsaki, C., Robby, M. A., Priest, T., Hamdan, K., & Ben-Chabane, Y. (2013). A research agenda for the UAE iPad initiative. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, 10(2), 1–15. Retrieved from http://lthe.za.acae. Grigoryan, T. (2018). Investigating digital native female learners’ attitudes towards paperless language learning. Research in Learning Technology, 26. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.25304/ rlt.v26.1937. Hatherley-Greene, P. (2014). The cultural border crossing index: implications for higher education teachers in the UAE. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, 11(2), 1–22. Retrieved from http://lthe.zu.ac.ae. Hojeij, Z., & Baroudi, S. (2018). Student perceptions on peer feedback training using a blended method: A UAE case. Issues in Educational Research, 28(3), 655–678. Retrieved from http:// www.iier.org.au/iier28/hojeij.pdf. Ismail, S., & Al Khatib, A. Z. (2013). Investigating the language learning strategies of students in the foundation program of United Arab Emirates University. International Education Studies, 6(9), 135–149. James, A., & Shammas, N. (2018). Teacher care and motivation: A new narrative for teachers in the Arab Gulf. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 26(4), 491–510. Mayer, P. (2009). Guidelines for writing a review article. Retrieved from http://www.plantscience. ethz.ch/education/Masters/courses/Scientific_Writing. Miles, R. (2019). iPads in the classroom: Teachers’ perspectives post-implementation. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, 1–13. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10. 18538/lthe.v16.n1.321. Nickerson, C. (2015). Unity in diversity: The view from the UAE classroom. Language Teaching, 48(2), 235–249. Samier, E. (2015). Emirati women’s higher educational leadership formation under globalisation: Religion, politics, and the dialectics of modernisation. Gender and Education, 27(3), 329–254. Saudelli, M. G. (2012). Unveiling third space: A case studyof international educators in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Canadian Journal of Education, 35(3), 101–116. Schoepp, K. (2011, Spring). The path to development: expatriate faculty retention in the UAE. International Education, 58–75. Schoepp, K. (2018). Predictive validity of the IELTS in an English as a medium of instruction environment. Higher Education Quarterly, 72, 271–285. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/ hequ.12163. Schoepp, K., & Garinger, D. (2016, May). IELTS and academic success in higher education: A UAE perspective. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 5(3), 145–151.

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Solloway, A. (2018). “Make them take an IELTS test in Arabic"! Resentment of and resistance towards English and English medium instruction in the UAE. Arab World English Journal, 9(3), 458–478. Retrieved from www.awej.org. Troudi, S., & Al Hafidh, G. (2017). The dilemma of English and its roles in the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf. In A. Mahboob (Ed.), Challenges to education in the GCC during the 21st century (pp. 93–116). Gulf Research Center. Troudi, S., & Jendli, A. (2011). Emirati students experiences of English as a medium of instruction. In A. a. Al Issa, Global English and Arabic: Issues of language, culture and identity (pp. 23–48). Oxford: Peter Lang.

Shifa Desai is originally from Cape Town, South Africa. She has been living and working in the Gulf region since 2006. She currently teaches English at the Higher Colleges of Technology in Fujairah, UAE. Her research interests include understanding how economic and political trends impact education policy. She also does research on teacher narratives, looking at how teachers’ lives impact their work and how work impacts their lives. She is currently working on how neoliberal policies affect expatriate teachers. She is a member of TESOL Arabia and Africa TESOL.

Part II

Empirical Perspectives

Chapter 6

Exploring Teachers’ Satisfaction with Their Participation in Assessment Activities Abderrazak Dammak

Abstract Exploring teachers’ involvement in decision-making on assessment and their satisfaction with their real participation was the main objective of this exploratory study. The profound discussion of this controversial issue necessitates situating it within the premise of the power conflict between teachers and the other stakeholders involved in the assessment process. In this study, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were the two tools of data collection used by the researcher. The results of this exploratory study proved that most teachers were prevented from participating in decision-making. Results also showed that teachers are dissatisfied with their participation in decision-making. Keywords Critical language testing · Teachers participation · Teachers satisfaction

Introduction Various studies about teachers’ participation in decision-making and their satisfaction with their participation were conducted in different parts of the world (Alutto & Belasco, 1972; Anderson, 2002; Cheng, 2008; Ho, 2010; Lau, 2004; Lin, 2014; Omidian & Sagvandy, 2015; Somech, 2010). The framework that Alutto and Belasco (1972) developed will be used in this study. According to this framework, deprivation, equilibrium, and saturation are the three conditions that characterize teachers’ participation in making decisions. Decisional deprivation is a condition where teachers’ actual participation in decision-making is less than desired. Decisional equilibrium refers to the condition whereby teachers’ actual participation in making decisions is as much as desired. Decisional saturation is the condition in which teachers’ actual contribution to make decisions is more than the desired participation. Exploring the different approaches to professionalism will help us understand the issue of teachers’ satisfaction with their participation in decision-making. Ingersoll (1996) presents two different views of teachers’ decision-making power. First, he A. Dammak (B) Abu Dhabi, UAE © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_6

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discussed the traditional view that imposes top-down policies, advocates control and centralization, and therefore restricts the scope of teachers’ participation in decisionmaking. Second, Ingersoll discusses the view that advocates “forms of decentralization, such as school based management, which are designed to increase the participation of teachers in the operation of schools” (ibid, p. 160). Kirk and MacDonald (2001) suggest the notion of partnership that “seems to promise a fusion or integration of ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ strategies for reform in education” (2001, p. 353). Suggesting the integration of top-down and bottom-up strategies is a call to distribute power, control, and authority, which is considered as one of the most problematic issues in contemporary education research and policy (Ingersoll & Merrill, 2011).

Theoretical Background Teachers’ Involvement in the Assessment Process The issue of teachers’ participation in the assessment process has been widely discussed during the last few years (Rea-Dickins, 1997; McNamara, 2000, 2001, 2012; Shohamy, 2001a, 2001b, 2005; Troudi et al., 2009; Dammak, 2017). Situating teachers’ participation within the premise of the power conflict between the various stakeholders involved in the assessment process will help us understand this controversial issue. Critical Language Testing (henceforth CLT) deals with issues related to power conflict and their relationships to assessment. The analysis of the principles of CLT, presented by Shohmy (2001a), unveils the power conflict in the assessment process and proves that tests are used as instruments to empower some stakeholders and marginalize teachers. CLT proponents call for the democratization of the educational process within which the various stakeholders including students, parents, test designers, policymakers, and mainly teachers should be involved in the assessment process. This appeal for a more democratic process may imply that some stakeholders are less powerful than others and that teachers’ satisfaction with their participation in assessment activities is less than desired and therefore an area that should be explored. The advocacy of teachers’ involvement in testing refers us back to the framework of Alutto and Belasco (1972) and the conditions of deprivation, equilibrium, and saturation.

Testing: A Disciplinary Instrument Examining the use of tests as a disciplinary tool will illuminate the issues of teachers’ perceptions and their level of satisfaction with their participation in decision-making on assessment. Foucault (1979), Shohamy (2001a, 2001b), McNamara (2000, 2012), and Bourke et al. (2015) discussed the powerful uses of tests. According to Foucault

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(1979, p. 184), tests are used as disciplinary instruments. He states, “At the heart of procedure of disciplines, it manifests the subjection of those who are perceived as objects and the objectification of those who are subjected”. Building on Foucault’s sub-division of disciplinary power, Bourke et al. (2015) clarify that decision-makers use three simple instruments of power to control teachers. They are hierarchical observation, examination, and normalization. The first instrument, hierarchical observation, refers to a technology of surveillance and a way to improve performance and control behaviour. Normalization is the second instrument used to enforce norms of conduct, attitudes, and knowledge amongst teachers and learners. Bourke et al. concur with MacNamara, Rea-Dickins, and Shohamy that the third instrument, examination, is used as a disciplinary instrument. They argue that learners’ performance. on standardized tests are not only used to evaluate teacher competency but they also control teachers’ daily routines because of their need or desire to prepare students for these tests. The external pressure from high-stakes testing forces teachers not only to operate as regulatory authorities demand, but also to focus entirely on enhanced examination. (Bourke et al., 2015, p. 89)

In addition to Bourke et al., McNamara (2001) claims that the use of tests as disciplinary instruments is an expansion of the manipulation of tests by teachers, principals, and policymakers. McNamara (2000, 2012) concurs with Foucault, Shohamy, and Bourke et al. His discussion of their use as weapons for immigration policy and policy reform reminds us how “language tests have a long history of use as instruments of social and cultural exclusion” (2000, p. 68). He claims that the procedures and principles of testing, established as common sense, are ideologically loaded to favour powerful stakeholders. The alleged accusations that these principles and procedures favour decisions-makers and preserve status quo conditions find echo in the study of Tahmasebi and Yamini (2013). The participation of students, teachers, and parents in the questionnaires reveals, “Tests could be tools of power that serve the empowered parties’ policies and manipulate individual lives” (ibid, p. 103).

Teacher’ Restricted Participation in Testing In addition to its use as a disciplinary instrument to control teachers’ daily routines (Bourke et al., 2015), testing is also used to marginalize teachers’ roles. According to Shohamy (2001a), teachers’ participation in testing should be connected to the democratization of the educational systems. For her, it all rotates around trust, power, and trustworthiness. She states that the “selection of the testing body can also provide a good indication of the extent to which the educational system trusts the teachers and is willing to grant them professional authority” (ibid, p. 30). Professional authority, trust, and selection are keywords that characterize teachers’ contribution to assessment activities. Selecting and favouring some teachers, involving them in assessment activities, and granting them professional authority may imply the exclusion of the majority of teachers and depriving them from their right to have professional

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authority. By adopting such a policy, teachers are “viewed as bureaucrats; … [and] are being used by those in authority to carry out testing policies and thus become servants of the system” (Shohamy, 2005, p. 106). Similar to Shohamy, Rea-Dickins connects teachers’ participation in testing to the issues of power and democratization and advocates for “democratisation of assessment processes through greater stakeholder involvement” (1997, p. 3). She argues that teachers, as weaker parties, are affected by the decisions made by powerful stakeholders. Instead of exclusion and marginalization, Rea-Dickins believes that granting teachers enough chances to work with the materials will enable them to develop profound awareness of the assessment process and become skilled test designers. Her call resonates with the recommendations of O’Loughlin (2013), Jeong (2013), and Malone (2013) to expand teachers’ assessment literacy and overcome the paucity of training (Malone, 2013). The issue of teachers’ participation in assessment activities was examined by many researchers in the Gulf area. Troudi et al. (2009) conducted a qualitative research based on an open-ended questionnaire to explore teachers’ exclusion from testing in the UAE and Kuwait. Results of the study revealed that teachers’ voices were not heard and that their role was marginalized because of “the top-down managerial approaches to education and a concern for validity and quality assurance in large programmes” (ibid, p. 546). Results of the study also revealed that decision-makers did not ask teachers about their opinions and excluded them from constructing tests as they were “perceived not to have expertise in this area” (ibid, p. 550). According to the decision-makers in this study, assessment should not be decentralized for reasons of reliability, practicality, and efficiency. In a more recent study conducted in the UAE, Dammak (2017) problematized teachers’ exclusion from designing exit tests. The findings of this study revealed that most teachers were not involved in designing exit tests despite their assessment literacy and their continuous contribution to designing, implementing, and correcting quizzes and tests. Furthermore, the findings also revealed that the assessment policy is hinged on a hierarchy and that the head of the academic section dominated the whole assessment process. According to the teachers, the top-down approach to assessment is the main reason for their exclusion from designing tests.

Method The Context of the Study The exploratory study was conducted in a vocational institute in the United Arab Emirates (henceforth UAE). In this institute, two different departments offer two distinct programs: an academic foundation program and a technical program. In both programs, the teaching materials and the assessment instruments are designed internally. The foundation program offers different courses including Science, Maths, and

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English. The foundation program, where English is the medium of instruction, aims to prepare students for the technical program. Contrary to the foundation program, the technical program offers technical English and different technical courses. After two years of training in the technical program, students graduate as electricians, mechanics, and instrumentation technicians.

Participants Twenty-eight English language teachers from the foundation program participated in the study. According to Perry (2005, p. 55), the sample is “the source from which the data are drawn to answer the research question(s) and/or to test any hypothesis that might be made”. My sampling choices were informed by my adoption of the sequential exploratory strategy. For the interviews, I used purposive sampling to select interviewees because the research is interpretive and based on a qualitative strand. Teddlie and Yu (2007, p. 200) claim that the techniques of purposive sampling are “primarily used in qualitative (QUAL) studies and may be defined as selecting units …based on specific purposes associated with answering a research study’s question”. I used the questionnaires to complement the data I gathered from the interviews. For this reason, I asked the English language teachers in the foundation programme who were not interviewed to participate. The implementation of this strategy allowed me to adopt convenience sampling. In order to compare the results of questionnaires and interviews for divergence and convergence, I was compelled to eliminate the teachers who participated in the interviews and restrict participation to the teachers who were not interviewed.

Methodology I used the exploratory methodology, which is best suited to tackle the objectives of my study, to explore teachers’ perceptions of their participation. Perry claims that a study can be exploratory as long as it strives to “find out what was happening without trying to support any particular hypothesis” (2011, p. 86). As far as research designs are concerned, the sequential exploratory design was adopted. It consists of interviews followed by questionnaires. First, I interviewed some teachers to explore in depth what they think about their contribution. Later, based on the findings of the interviews, I designed a questionnaire to explore the nature of teachers’ participation in decision-making (Appendix A.2). According to Creswell et al. (2008), using quantitative data to assist in the interpretation of qualitative findings is a useful strategy that allows researchers to explore problematic issues and expand on the qualitative data. According to Creswell, Plano Clark, Gutmann, and Hanson in Plano Clark and Creswell (2008, p. 180), a sequential exploratory design, which is the design of

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the current study, is characterized by “an initial phase of qualitative data collection and analysis followed by a phase of quantitative data collection and analysis.” In a parallel way, Morse in Creswell and Plano Clark (2008, p. 152) contends that sequential triangulation is used if “the results of one method are essential for planning the next method”.

Data Collection Interviews Punch (2009) claims that interviews are the most important data collection tools in qualitative research. My use of interviews stems from my confidence in their dialogical and emancipatory functions as well as their ability to found a rapport of trust between interviewers and interviewees (Kvale, 2006). I used semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions to be able to interpret the meanings that participants give to their participation in decision-making. The use of semi-structured interviews enabled me to explore the issue of teachers’ involvement in making decisions from their own beliefs and perceptions, through their personal experience, diagnosis, and description as English language teachers. The interviews gave me the chance to establish rapport with the interviewees (Brown, 2001; Wellington, 2000), explore their perceptions in depth, look for their opinions and points of view by probing more information, and preserve neutrality (Brown, 2001). In addition, interviews enabled me to ask participants for clarifications and explanations and eliminate ambiguity (Wellington, 2000). A week before the scheduled interviews, I informed the participants about the objectives of the interview. Furthermore, I asked them to reflect on the areas of research that will be discussed. I also gave them information about my study, the rationale behind choosing them, and the duration of the interview. I informed them that they would be given pseudonyms (Victor, Georges, Charles, Edward, Antony, and Andy) to guarantee anonymity and confidentiality.

Questionnaires I used the findings of the interviews to design the questionnaires. According to Dornyei (2007), the findings of the qualitative phase, interviews in this study, can be gauged by questionnaires. Parallel to this, Evans (2009, p. 114) contends that it “is acceptable for a qualitative study to include the use of quantitative instruments such as questionnaires, or tests, but the ultimate purpose of their use is as a contribution to understanding the particular constructions, beliefs and understandings of the subjects being researched”. I insured that the content of the questionnaire about teachers’ involvement in decision-making correspond to the themes that emerged from the interviews (Appendix A.2). In addition to the statements, I used an openended question to collect qualitative and quantitative data (Nunan, 1992) and to give participants the chance to express themselves and raise issues in the open-ended

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question that the closed questions failed to address. My use of questionnaires was purposeful as they allowed me to collect as much data as possible in a very short time (Gillham, 2000). Furthermore, using questionnaires guaranteed anonymity and allowed me to deal with sensitive issues and obtain the participants’ confidential opinions on their involvement in decision-making (Brown, 2001). Questionnaires also enabled me to collect quantitative data that can be analysed and classified quickly and easily.

Data Analysis and Validation The rationale behind data analysis was to understand and interpret respondents’ opinions as expressed in both data collection tools. Moreover, the intention was to make the reader aware of the various and sometimes paradoxical social realities that are the product of human intellects (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). Data reduction, data display, conclusion drawing, and verification are the techniques that I used to organize data (Miles and Huberman, 1994). Moreover, for evidence of divergence and convergence purposes, I compared the data I obtained from questionnaires and interviews.

Interview Analysis Once the interviews were conducted, I started the transcription process and saved many copies. I also hid the original copy in a safe place and read the transcripts to make “sense out of text and image data” as suggested by Creswell (2009, p. 183). While reading the transcripts, I sorted out the main topics that are relevant to the research questions of my study. I used the model proposed by Creswell (2008) to code pages from interview transcripts. Miles and Huberman (1994) suggest that the inductive process of collapsing data into a few themes is the first component of qualitative data analysis as it aims to reduce data and preserve its depth at the same time. Following the data reduction step, I organized and assembled them in a table comprising the interviewees’ opinions and the corresponding questions according to the themes (Appendix A.3). The two previous steps, reducing and organizing data, facilitated the two delicate tasks of drawing and verifying conclusions, as they are the most pertinent components of the framework of Miles and Huberman (1994). Being aware of the assumption of the interpretive paradigm that knowledge is socially constructed and that existence consists of various and paradoxical realities, I tried to analyse, understand, and interpret data by checking the major findings and their relevance to the research questions. I tried to be creative and compare my findings with the findings of previous studies in the literature to confirm or disprove my research findings.

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Questionnaire Analysis Using questionnaires allowed me to collect more data, compare teachers’ answers, and explain similarities and differences among participants’ responses that support or disprove the interview data. I scored the data to organize the huge quantitative questionnaire information for analysis. Following this, I used themes to organize the findings according to the identified content areas (Appendix A.4). Finally, in order to discover the similarities and discrepancies in respondents’ perceptions of their contribution to make decisions, I compared the questionnaires’ data with the interview findings.

Document analysis I used the teachers’ job description (Appendix A.1) to discuss the findings and compare the promises of active participation in this document with teachers’ real participation in decision-making.

Quality Criteria Transferability or generalization of findings is not an objective in this study due to the exploratory nature of the research (Singh, 2007). The concepts of dependability and credibility replace reliability and validity in the interpretive paradigm. To establish questionnaires’ content validity, I asked two audits, a doctoral candidate and a Ph.D. holder, to check if the statements represent the researched areas prior to piloting the questionnaire (Creswell, 2008). While conducting interviews, credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) were considered to make my research findings credible and dependable. To secure credibility, I used a tape recorder to record the interviews for rigorous interpretations and I used member checks techniques following the suggestion of Tashakkori and Teddlie (1998). Once the interviews were transcribed, I gave each interviewee a copy of his transcribed interview to check that transcriptions correspond to what they said in their interviews. Transferability was addressed by providing a thick description of the whole research process, data collection tools, and steps of analysis and interpretation. Dependability or reliability was increased by using the same interview schedule, transcribing the interviews meticulously, and giving each interviewee a transcribed version of his interview for verification. I secured confirmability by auditing and triangulation. I asked two external audits to examine the process and product of the research study. I asked them to check that the results, conclusions, and interpretations are supported by data.

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Results Participation in Tests The results of teachers’ participation in tests revealed three themes: restricted participation to design, contribution restricted to invigilation, and exclusion from test item analysis.

Restricted Contribution to Design Tests The interviews’ findings reveal that most interviewees were completely excluded from designing tests. George, the only exception, declared that the decision-makers asked him to propose a number of questions that might be selected to be included in the test. In reality, the contribution of George to design tests consisted only of suggesting possible test questions and prompts while the top decision-makers will decide about the inclusion of these questions in the tests. George attributes this to security reasons as the following quote from his interview reveals: …they ask us for a variety of questions that they can choose from and then they use for the test and in addition to that they use it for retest, so that they have a pool of questions… the thought is that they, eh... there won’t be a leak (George, Int.).

As George was an exception, the remaining five teachers declared that they had no contribution to design tests as stated by Antony: “it does not exist in terms of developing or designing all the different levels of tests that we conduct”. Similarly, Victor clarified that the exclusion of teachers from designing tests was the policy of the administration and declared: I have almost no input into that role. Unfortunately our institute has decided to keep that particular aspect very close to their chest and not give any opportunity for input or design (Victor, Int.).

Charles experienced also exclusion and commented: Honestly, in this institute, I’ve never been asked to write a test and I know absolutely nothing. (Charles, Int.).

Edward justified teachers’ exclusion from designing tests and explained that it was the responsibility of the testing centre to design tests. He stated: We don’t participate in designing because they are set by the testing center and the testing center shoulders the responsibility of deciding the tests and implementing these tests (Edward, Int.).

The interview findings were confirmed by questionnaire results as 73% of teachers declare that they were not granted the entire responsibility to design tests. However, 32% of teachers (seven teachers) affirm that they participate in designing tests.

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Contribution Limited to Invigilation The findings of the study reveal that teachers’ contribution to implement tests is essentially limited to invigilation. Antony affirmed that invigilation is part of his duties as it “comes as an assignment from the supervisors where they tell us in advance in which room I will invigilate”. He declared that his “role as a teacher is limited to that of invigilating”. Charles and Andy agree with Antony and explain that their role in implementing tests was limited to invigilation. They stated that supervisors assigned this role. Charles commented: “implementing the tests, everybody including myself is assigned a role as usual”. The results of the questionnaire support the interview findings, as 95% of teachers (twenty-one teachers) believe that they do not decide about the procedures of implementing tests. Questionnaires’ results also show that only one teacher (5%) was not excluded from deciding about the venue of invigilation, timing, or the procedures of implementing tests.

Exclusion from Test Items and Results Analysis The interview findings reveal that supervisors control the process of analysing tests items and results and that the participation of teachers is absent. Victor, one of the interviewees, attributed his exclusion from analysing results to the policy of the administration that strives to hide results in order to promote students without consulting their teachers. He stated: I have limited input to the final results because, due to the particular bureaucratic nature of the institute that I work at, they tend to make some arbitrary decisions regarding pass and fail (Victor, Int.).

George agreed with Victor about promoting students in an arbitrary way and commented: “for some guys it’s been mathematically impossible for them to advance…somebody is making a decision there, right”. George explained that coordinators monopolize the process of analysing test items and results and that teachers are excluded because of this policy. Furthermore, Edward confirmed exclusion and clarified that analysing tests results was the responsibility of the testing centre. He commented: I don’t have the chance to analyse these tests or results because they are already the responsibility of the testing center. (Edward, Int.).

The results of the questionnaire support the findings of the interviews and confirm that teachers were not involved in analysing test items and results. The findings reveal the low number of teachers contributing to the analysis of test results (3teachers) and test items (5 teachers). The results also highlight the fact that 77% (seventeen teachers) and 86% (nineteen teachers) believe that they were excluded from analysing test items and results, respectively.

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Teachers’ Satisfaction with Their Participation The findings of the study reveal that the interviewed teachers were not satisfied with their exclusion and the paucity of their participation in assessment activities. Their participation restricted to invigilation and their exclusion from designing tests and analysing tests items and results may be a justification for their dissatisfaction with their level of involvement. The interviews findings showed that teachers’ contribution was mainly limited to simple invigilation. Most interviewees shared the feeling that they were excluded and that they do not decide as most tests are computerised, graded automatically, and have been designed by other experts. Victor, an interview, was an exception. On the one hand, he expressed satisfaction with his “success discussing with the lower level coordinators and team leaders”. On the other hand, he showed dissatisfaction “in terms of the higher strategic point”. As for the other interviewees, most of them were not satisfied. Antony announced that he did not contribute to design exams or tests and commented in a bitter way: “we have been side-lined and we are not considered for any discussions or any contribution”. Edward attributed his exclusion to the fact that tests were “set by the testing center and the testing center shoulders the responsibility of deciding the tests and implementing the tests”. Andy agreed that the top-down approach is the root of the problem and stated “weekly tests, other assessments and final exams they are really prefabricated for us”. The computerised approach to administer tests and the top-down approach to assessment are the main causes of teachers’ exclusion and therefore dissatisfaction. Teachers in this study are prevented from designing tests, correcting them, analysing test items, and reflecting on results. The results of the questionnaires support the findings of interviews and teachers’ dissatisfaction with their limited contribution. The findings show that teachers are dissatisfied with their participation in designing and analysing test items and results. The results reveal that only 14% (3 teachers) are satisfied with their contribution to design tests with a majority of 86% (19 teachers) unsatisfied teachers. Teachers’ dissatisfaction with their participation in assessment activities and their exclusion from making decisions did not inhibit them to express their desires to be more involved as discussed in the next section.

Teachers’ Desires: More Participation The findings of the study illustrate that teachers’ desires to participate in assessment activities exceed their actual contribution. Although they are excluded and dissatisfied, interviewees expressed wishes to participate more in the assessment process. Teachers’ exclusion and dissatisfaction with their contribution did not compromise their desires for participation in the assessment process. This wish was obvious in interview findings. Antony, who previously experienced exclusion, desired to contribute more to the assessment activities: “I will contribute more validity to the assessment process if we participate”. In a similar way, Victor would like “to have

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at least some input into the final exams” and justified the stakeholders’ perspectives, who according to him, “are trying to keep test safety and security as a factor”. Similarly, Andy and Edward expressed their wish to participate more in the assessment process. Edward explained that he would like to be involved and decide about promoting students. He explained that he should “be given the chance to decide whether students can be promoted to other levels or not”, airing a feeling of bitterness and dissatisfaction about arbitrary decisions of promoting students. George, another interview, confirmed and stated: It doesn’t happen every day, but occasionally, it happens; so somebody is making a decision there, right! And I know for some guys [students] it’s been mathematically impossible for them to advance. (George, Int.).

This strong agreement among interviewees about their wish to be more involved was also conspicuous in the questionnaire. A majority of 86% (19 teachers) desired full participation in deciding about tests. Moreover, an overwhelming majority of 95% desired to participate more in deciding about tests.

Discussion The discrepancy between teachers’ actual participation in assessment activities and their desired involvement is obvious in the findings of this study. These findings highlight teachers’ limited participation in designing tests, contribution restricted to invigilation, and complete exclusion from analysing tests. These findings thus seem to answer a question asked by Rea-Dickins (1997, p. 307): “how much control do teachers have of the assessment procedures and the tests they administer?” The findings of this study indicate that exclusion is a fact and highlight a discrepancy in the nature of teachers’ contribution to design, implement, and analyse tests. The findings may support the conclusions of the studies discussed in the literature review that assessment is a space that decision-makers would like to monopolize and exclude teachers from (Bourke et al., 2015; Dammak, 2017; McNamara, 2000; Rea-Dikins, 1997; Shohamy, 2001a; Tahmasebi & Yamini, 2013; Troudi et al., 2009). Moreover, teachers’ dissatisfaction with their contribution may be attributed to their limited participation in assessment activities. It was obvious from the findings that teachers’ participation in assessment activities is lower than their desired participation and that they are decisionally deprived. The first area proving restricted contribution is teachers’ exclusion from designing tests, a finding that concurs with the findings of an earlier exploratory study I conducted in the same context (Dammak, 2017). The findings of the present study also show that teachers’ opportunities to take full responsibility to design tests autonomously are low. The reliance on certain teachers and the choice of a selected group to design tests in this study resonates with Shohamy’s examination of teachers’ involvement and her advocacy to democratise the educational system orbiting around power, trust, and trustworthiness (2001a). Shohamy thinks that selecting a testing

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body to design tests cannot demonstrate the willingness of the educational system to grant teachers professional authority. However, it reflects the extent to which this system does not trust its teaching staff. In the current study, decision-makers favour some teachers and grant them more chances to be involved in the assessment activities. Such a policy fails to grant equal opportunities to all teachers to participate equally in the assessment process. In addition to their limited participation in designing tests, respondents in this study agreed that their role in assessment activities was limited to simple invigilation and that decision-makers controlled the task procedures and that these procedures are highly centralized. Despite the fact that their contribution was restricted to mere invigilation, the respondents in this study were more involved than the teachers in Shohamy’s study (2001a) who were prevented from invigilating. Exclusion exceeds designing tests to reach participation in analysing test items and results. The participants attributed their exclusion to the policy adopted by decisionmakers who chose to rely on computerised tests and automatic grading. Such a policy kept teachers away, excluded them, and prevented them from deciding about the promotion of certain low achievers. Troudi et al. (2009) and Dammak (2017) reached the same conclusions when they found out that decision-makers monopolize the assessment process. Excluding teachers and preventing them from deciding about assessment and monopolizing the whole assessment process permitted decisionmakers to enforce their policies and perpetuate their dominance (Bourke et al., 2015). The findings of the interviews revealed teachers’ desires to participate in deciding about the promotion of certain students, a decision from which teachers were excluded because decision-makers control it. The marginalization of the role of teachers in the current study reminds us of the exclusion of teachers during the implementation of new reading comprehension tests discussed by Shohamy (2001a). This marginalization is a reflection of the type of roles that powerful stakeholders would like to assign to teachers. In both studies, the marginalized teachers were denied professional authority. Decision-makers view teachers as bureaucrats implementing pre-defined testing policies and should remain subservient to the system. The findings of the current study support the results of previous studies that tests are ideologically loaded to favour the policy of the powerful stakeholders (McNamara, 2000; Shohamy, 2001b; Tahmasebi & Yamini, 2013) and reinforce their control of the assessment process. The findings of this study correlate with the conclusions of earlier studies conducted in the Gulf area (Dammak, 2017; Troudi et al., 2009) that the top-down managerial policies and the desire to perpetuate the status quo are the main causes of the marginalization of the role of teachers in the assessment process. Such top-down managerial approaches, structures, and assessment policies cannot grant authority to teachers and may lead to their de-professionalism (Day, 1999). The scrutiny of the teachers’ job description document (Appendix A.1) reveals a huge discrepancy between teachers’ actual participation in assessment activities in this study and the promised duties stated in the job description document. The adoption of centralized traditional top-down managerial models (Ingersoll, 1996) restricted the scope of teachers’ involvement in making decisions and created a bitter feeling of dissatisfaction among the participants in the study. The findings of this

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exploratory study reveal the adoption of a centralized traditional top-down approach to decision-making, unsystematic contribution of teachers, and the reliance on selective criteria to grant authority. The decentralized view of teachers’ decision-making policy which has proven to be advantageous and highlighted by Somech (2010) was absent in this study. Instead, the findings of this exploratory study reveal the dominance of a traditional top-down bureaucratic structure that limited the chances of teachers’ participation. The relentless omnipresence of decision-makers and their dominance may be major causes of teachers’ dissatisfaction with their restricted participation in assessment activities. Teachers’ desires and willingness to participate more highlight the discrepancy between their actual and desired participation in decision-making. According to the framework of Alutto and Belasco (1972), decisionally deprived persons expressed a clear preference for more active contribution, a desire expressed by most teachers in the study. The findings of the study show that participants perceive themselves to be in a condition of decisional deprivation in decision-making (Alutto & Belasco, 1972). This perception is similar to the perceptions of the teachers who participated in the studies of Cheng (2008), Ho (2010), and Lau (2004). This condition of decisional deprivation indicates a state where the actual participation in decision-making is less than the desired contribution. This state of decisional deprivation reflects teachers’ exclusion and does not allow teachers to attain or reach the states of equilibrium or saturation. Except for a few respondents, the majority of teachers were dissatisfied with the level of their involvement in deciding about assessment.

Appendices A.1 Teachers’ Job Description 2. Work Performed Duties include, but are not limited to the following: Takes part in producing and implementing a variety of tests and assessment tools Marks students’ work, gives appropriate feedback, and maintains records of students’ progress and development Uploads records of students’ grades on LMS (Learning Management System) and keeps backup copies of these grades

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A.2 Relationship Between Interview Themes and Questionnaires (Sample)

Interview themes Designing tests → Questionnaire statements ↓ Responsibility to design tests

Test implementation

Wishes

√

√

Involvement in analysing test items

√

Involved in analysing test results

Satisfied with participation in designing tests

Satisfaction

√

Deciding about the place of invigilation

Satisfaction with participation in analysing test results

Test items and results analysis

√

√

√

√

√

Control over the invigilation schedule

√

Desire to be more involved in deciding about tests

A.3 Interview Analysis (sample)

Involvement in assessment

T 1 Antony

T 2 Victor

T 3 Charles

T 4 Edward

T 5 Andy

T 6 George

Themes

No participation in exam setting grading

Creating some assessment Some computer-based testing Invigilate

Absence of decision-making Centralization top-down directives Abiding by the set criteria

Assessing students weekly

Tests previously prepared. Not designing my own assessment

Computer based. Asked for input (by admin) They choose what they like

Restricted participation

(continued)

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(continued) T 1 Antony

T 2 Victor

T 4 Edward

T 5 Andy

T 6 George

Themes

Designing tests

No participation

No input: Never asked to administration write a test controlling tests

T 3 Charles

No contribution: assessment is the responsibility of the testing centre

No contribution

Yes. Asked by management to design

Total exclusion

Test Implementation

Just invigilating

No information

Invigilator

No information

Invigilating

No information

Restricted participation

Test items analysis

No information

Not at all

No

No opportunity to analyse

Important Done by but not done supervisors

Results analysis

Cannot see results

Not at all

No-no access to results

No opportunity to analyse

Important Done by but not done supervisors

Limited participation + TOP-DOWN

Desires

More contribution

– Participation – Standardizing computerized tests

– Systematic test design team – Testing team in touch with classroom teachers – Tests updated

An opportunity to decide about promoting students

More involvement Assessment can be instructive. Continuous feedback

To continue designing tests

More participation

A.4 Questionnaire Analysis (Sample) Participation in designing tests. Statement

1 = strongly agree

2 = agree

3 = no opinion

4 = disagree

5 = strongly disagree

Responsibility to design tests

2(9%)

4(18%)

0%

2(9%)

14(64%)

(27%)

73%

Participation in implementing tests. Statement

1 = strongly agree

2 = agree

3 = no opinion

4 = disagree

5 = strongly disagree

Making decisions about test implementation

1(5%)

0

0%

3(14%)

18(82%)

1(5%)

95%

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Satisfaction: statement

1 = strongly agree

2 = agree

3 = no opinion

4 = disagree

5 = strongly disagree

Satisfaction with participation in test results analysis

1(5%)

1(5%)

0%

6(27%)

14(64%)

9%

91%

References Alutto, J. A., & Belasco, J. A. (1972). A typology for participation in organizational decisionmaking. Administrative Science Quarterly, 17(1), 117–125. Anderson, K. (2002). Why teachers participate in decision-making and the third continuum. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 23(4), 134. Bourke, T., Lidstone, J., & Ryan, M. (2015). Schooling teachers: Professionalism or disciplinary power? Educational Philosophy and Theory, 47(1), 84–100. Brown, J. D. (2001). Using surveys in language programs. Cambridge University Press. Cheng, C. K. E. (2008). The effect of shared decision-making on the improvement in teachers’ job development. New Horizons in Education, 56(3), 31–46. Creswell, J. W. (2008). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (3rd ed.). Pearson. Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. SAGE. Creswell, J. W., Plano Clark, V. L., Gutmann, M. L., & Hanson, W. E. (2008). Advanced mixed methods research designs. In V. L. Plano Clark & J. W. Creswell (Eds.), The mixed methods reader (pp. 161–196). Sage. Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2008). The mixed methods reader. Sage. Dammak, A. (2017). Problematizing teachers’ exclusion from designing exit tests. In S. Hidri & C. Coombe (Eds.), Evaluation in foreign language education in the Middle East and North Africa (pp. 87–110). Springer. Day, C. (Ed.). (1999). Developing teachers: The challenges of lifelong learning. Falmer Press. Dornyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics. Oxford University Press. Evans, M. (2009). Reliability and validity in qualitative research by teacher researchers. In E. Wilson (Ed.), School-based research: A guide for education students (pp. 112–124). Foucault, M. (1979). Discipline and punish. Vintage book. Gillham, B. (2000). Developing a questionnaire. Continuum. Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1994). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp.105–117). Sage. Ho, D. C. W. (2010). Teacher participation in curriculum and pedagogical decisions: Insights into curriculum leadership. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 38(5), 613– 624. Ingersoll, R. M. (1996). Teachers’ decision-making power and school conflict. Sociology of Education, 69(1), 159–176. Ingersoll, R. M., Merrill, E. (2011). The status of teaching as a profession. In J. Ballantine & J. Spade (Eds.), Schools and society: A sociological approach to education (4th edn, pp. 185–189). Pine Forge Press/Sage Publications.

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Jeong, H. (2013). Defining assessment literacy: Is it different for language testers and non-language testers? Language Testing, 30(3), 345–362. Kirk, D., & MacDonald, D. (2001). Teacher voice and ownership of curriculum change. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 33(5), 551–567. Kvale, S. (2006). Dominance through interviews and dialogues. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(3), 480–500. Lau, M. F. (2004). Teachers’ participation in decision in Hong Kong secondary School. New Horizons in Education, (49), 17–41. Lin, Y. J. (2014). Teacher involvement in school decision-making. Journal of Studies in Education, 4(3), 50–58. Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Sage Publications. Malone, M. E. (2013). The essentials of assessment literacy: Contrasts between testers and users. Language Testing, 30(3), 329–344. McNamara, T. (2000). Language testing. Oxford University Press. McNamara, T. (2001). Language assessment as social practice: Challenges for research. Language Testing, 18(4), 333–349. McNamara, T. (2012). Language assessment as shibboleths: A poststructuralist perspective. Applied Linguistics, 33(5), 564–581. Miles, M. B., & Huberman, M.(1994).Qualitative data analysis. Sage. Nunan, D. (1992). Research methods in language learning. Cambridge University Press. O’Loughlin, K. (2013). Developing the assessment literacy of university proficiency test users. Language Testing, 30(3), 363–380. Omidian, F., & Sagvandy, R. S. (2015). Teachers’ participation in different levels of decision-making in council and developing professional skills: A case from Iran. World Scientific News, 9, 17–27. Perry, F. L., Jr. (2005). Research in applied linguistics. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Perry, F. L., Jr. (2011). Research in applied linguistics: Becoming a discerning consumer. Routledge. Punch, K. F. (2009). Introduction to research methods in education. Sage. Rea-Dickins, P. (1997). So, why do we need relationship with stakeholders in language testing? A view from the UK. Language Testing, 14(3), 304–314. Shohamy, E. (2001a). The power of tests: A critical perspective on the uses of language tests. Pearson Education. Shohamy, E. (2001). Democratic assessment as an alternative. Language Testing, 18(4), 373–391. Shohamy, E. (2005). The power of tests over teachers: The power of teachers over tests. In D. J. Tedick (Ed.), Second language teacher education: International perspectives. Lawrence Erlabaum Associates. Singh, K. (2007). Quantitative social research methods. Sage. Somech, A. (2010). Participative decision-making in schools: A mediating-moderating analytical framework for understanding school and teacher outcomes. Educational Administration Quarterly, 46(2), 174–209. Tahmasebi, S., & Yamini, M. (2013). Power relations among different test parties from the perspective of critical language assessment. Journal of Teaching Language Skills, 4(4), 103–126. Tashakkori, A., & Tedddlie, C. (1998). Mixed methodology. Sage. Teddlie, C., & Yu, F. (2007). Mixed methods sampling: A typology with examples. In V. P. Clark & J. W. Creswell (Eds.), The mixed methods reader (pp. 197–199). Sage. Troudi, S., Coombe, C., & AlHamly, M. (2009). EFL teachers’ views of english language assessment in higher education in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. TESOL Quarterly, 43(3), 546–555. Wellington, J. (2000). Educational research: Contemporary issues and practical approaches. Continuum.

Abderrazak Dammak is a doctor of Education. He graduated from the University of Exeter (Graduate School of Education). He is a multilingual scholar and a researcher with a wide range of experience in the field of Applied Linguistics & TESOL. In addition, Abderrazak has over 25 years of experience in teaching, ESL curriculum design, educational development, and

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academic leadership. He is a member of various academic and professional associations including TESOL Arabia and the International Editorial Board of the Journal of Somali Studies (JOSS). He has extensively presented in institutional, regional, and international academic conferences. His current research projects are related to teacher empowerment & development, ESL/EFL teaching and learning in the Arabian context, design and application of remedial courses for slow learners, as well as research methods in TESOL.

Chapter 7

Educational Influx: Socialization of New English Teachers in UAE State Schools David Knott

Abstract With a change in educational policy, hundreds of expatriate TESOL teachers have arrived in recent years for teaching positions in state schools throughout the United Arab Emirates. This has generated a population ripe for research on their arrival and adaptation to their new environments, which provides the incentive for a small-scale exploratory study, investigating participants’ experiences and attitudes towards the orientation and preparations they received upon reaching their new positions. In light of such socialization practices, the study also examines how these teachers have experienced the small cultures of their workplaces, along with the large cultures and multiple nationalities encountered in their private lives as they adapt to a new country. By analysing the rich, qualitative data collected in a series of semi-structured interviews with several participants situated around the UAE, the research delves deeply into teachers’ experiences and how they construct and interpret their realities within the cross-cultural dynamic of their professional lives over such a limited time. Results of this study would be of interest to administrators, curriculum/program developers, and other English language professionals working abroad. Keywords Expatriate teachers · State schools · Cross-cultural · Semi-structured interviews

Introduction The rapid development of the education sector in the United Arab Emirates over past decades has endured certain growing pains, expected in such a relatively young system, coupled with periodic efforts at reform and modernization (Macpherson et al., 2007). The latest called Education 2020 Strategy features clearer and more stringent objectives and student outcomes, representing serious efforts and expenses at improvement (“Education 2020 Strategy”, 2019). A large part of this most recent D. Knott (B) Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_7

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change is directed at the improvement of teaching and the professionalism of the teachers, including more widespread English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI), necessitating the recruitment of scores of middle and high school teachers from abroad, particularly focused on those from so-called ‘Western’ countries. Bringing in large numbers of expatriate teachers is obviously a complicated undertaking, involving multiple governmental ministries coordinating with private industry. Those complications are compounded by the logistics of new arrivals coming into Dubai in cohorts, being transported to Abu Dhabi for orientation and legalization processes, and finally placing those teachers in positions throughout the country. Once in place, they are expected to integrate into their new roles in a very short amount of time, becoming what Boice (1999) calls “quick starter faculty” (as quoted by Scott et al., 2016, p. 15). Thereupon, their task is twofold: through orientation, new teachers are socialized into the organizational culture of the school, while also beginning their teaching duties, with all the accompanying responsibilities (Kardos et al., 2001). This introduction of expatriate teachers to unfamiliar schools, novel curricula, and foreign environs can naturally create issues for the institutions, students, as well as for those expatriates. The initial move carries elevated stress associated with obtaining accommodation, furniture, Internet service, transportation, etc., as well as the necessary paperwork for legalizing one’s residence (Fenton-Smith & Torpey, 2013; Stupinsky et al., 2015). After which, these expatriate English teachers must grapple with the realities of living in a new country, interacting with different people, as well as adapting to local norms and customs. Such adaptations are particularly fraught when relocating to the UAE due to the fact that expatriates represent a large majority of the population, 2.9 million out of 3.2 million in Dubai, for example (Dubai Statistic Center, 2019), resulting in encounters with myriad cultures, norms, or languages. This represents a complicated reality for expatriate English teachers relocating to the UAE in this program, necessitating closer investigation.

Literature Review New teacher orientation represents an area of academic study that is largely underresearched due to the ‘confounding variables’ that may complicate interpretations (Morin & Ashton, 2004, p. 247). However, orientation programs, also referred to as induction or organizational socialization, are largely shown to benefit teachers, for instance, in the form of uncertainty reduction as they negotiate unfamiliar circumstances and settle into their new positions (Bauer et al., 2007; Saks & Gruman, 2011). The benefits extend to institutions and ultimately students, as research shows it helps to improve teacher performance in the classroom, provide integration into the school culture, and increase the retention of teachers (Huling-Austin, 1988; Tuzlukova & Stead, 2016). Despite such goals, orientation is not one-directional; the post-modern conception takes into account new teachers’ background experiences and agency,

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viewing the process as not one of transmitting meaning but of creating new meanings together (Tierney, 1997; Trowler & Knight, 1999). Expatriate English teachers have accompanied the English language as it spread around the globe, with impacts on learners, institutions, and even whole societies. These impacts have led to an increase in research on cultural aspects of TESOL (Baker, 2009), together with certain philosophies or agendas (Phillipson, 2016), postcolonial themes (Kumaravadivelu, 2006), or issues of identity (Pennycook, 2010). However, for this paper, English teachers’ interactions with students seen through a cultural lens are more relevant. Holliday (2011) popularized the view of large and small cultures: large cultures refer to national cultures, an essentialist view of culture as unchanging, static, and deterministic in individuals’ behaviours. Small cultures, on the other hand, are not associated with nations or ethnicity, but rather with activities that individuals with groups conduct, and thereby find in common based on the activity or institution, whether in a classroom, a school, or an education system, for example. Thereby, teachers can avoid stereotyping students as representatives of one, monolithic culture (Kumaravadivelu, 2003), but rather view them as individuals, participating in and creating multiple cultures (Atkinson, 1999). Exposure to such multifarious cultures requires expatriate teachers to find means of adapting to life inside and outside their new institutions. Sonleitner and Khelifa (2005) examined challenges for Western-educated faculty working in the Gulf States regarding cultural differences between them and their students, highlighting students’ motivation and punctuality. In light of potential cultural conflicts in Gulf classrooms for expatriate teachers, both Burkett (2016) and Troudi (2005) called for more specific, cultural teacher training, and overall greater knowledge of large cultures of students’ home countries. Interactions with administrators or colleagues can also greatly impact teachers’ experiences, as the top-down nature of leadership in many institutions can be a challenge (Ibrahim et al., 2013; Troudi & Alwan, 2010), similar to the relationships with co-workers (Austin et al., 2014). Such difficulties can be compounded due to foreign environments outside of work depending on expatriates’ support network (Fish, 2005), as well as expatriates’ feelings of transience or isolation (Richardson & Zikic, 2007).

Methodology The literature demonstrates a convoluted landscape which expatriate teachers relocating to the UAE must traverse and adapt to. In order to understand such teachers’ experiences, an exploratory study was conducted, undertaken inductively to allow conclusions to emerge through analysis (Greener, 2011, p. 3). In this interpretivist approach, there is an assumed subjectivist epistemology, meaning that the researcher makes efforts to shed preconceived notions of the themes, but he is not an objective observer and may naturally impose their own personal, subjective categorizations or interpretations (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017).

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In that vein, this study seeks to better understand the experiences of expatriate English teachers working in UAE state schools, through the following research questions: 1. 2. 3.

What kind of orientation or other preparations did the teachers engage in before and after they arrived? How do these teachers experience the small cultures of their schools? How do they experience the large cultures they encounter outside of their schools?

The participants in this project are English teachers working in the United Arab Emirates’ state school system, having arrived two years or fewer prior to the data collection. There is a mix of teachers working in urban and rural secondary schools. Locations of the schools are withheld for ethical reasons, as are participants’ names and other identifying details. The primary sampling method utilized was non-random and convenient, as participants were selected through professional networks. In keeping with the tenets of Interpretivism, the number of participants is kept small, 6, in order to investigate each teachers’ experiences and attitudes in greater depth through rich data (Dörnyei, 2007). Three are women; three are men. Half are married. They are all from various countries in Europe (not all Anglophone) and have been teachers for over ten years. Education backgrounds vary: all have Bachelor’s degrees in English or similar subjects, while half have also pursued graduate degrees. Four have previous experience working in the GCC. Before data collection, the teachers were informed of their rights as participants, as well as the ethical precautions on the part of the researcher, guaranteeing confidentiality, security of their data, and avoidance of harm (Newby, 2014). Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, akin to a conversation, ensuring participants’ openness and comfort (Mann, 2010). Such interviews explore the participants’ lived experiences and their interpretations in a free-flowing manner, yet also giving the researcher “analytic control over the material” (Charmaz, 2003, p. 312). For this study, each encounter lasted between 60 and 90 min and was recorded. However, no direct pilot interview was conducted, due to the similarity between these interviews and a prior research project (Turner, 2010). The data collected is qualitative, depicted in the exact words of the participants leading to a greater understanding of their constructed worlds (Pring, 2014). The recordings were transcribed to capture the words and messages as closely as possible to their intended meanings, with the completed transcriptions distributed to each participant for member validation (Kvale, 2006). Transcripts were then coded using the computer program NVivo, first developing pattern codes in order to organize the data “into smaller and more meaningful units” (Punch, 2009, p. 176), revolving around the research questions and the three main themes: orientation, internal cultures, and external cultures. Further coding required greater reflection to identify “the cultural knowledge people use to organize their behaviors and interpret their experiences” through forms of domain and taxonomic coding (Spradley, 1980, pp. 30–31, as cited by Saldana, 2009, p. 133), allowing the themes to emerge over time.

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Ensuring research validity is complicated in qualitative studies. Standards include credibility, the length of time and depth of investigation; transferability, the thickness of the descriptions; and dependability, clarity and consistency of research methods (Guba & Lincoln, 1989, as cited by Greener, 2011, pp. 105–106). The researcher conducted various checks in these areas, yet the subjective evaluations for each require readers to be alert and evaluative in order to be confident in the analysis and results (Babbie, 2010). Likewise, it is necessary to be aware of inherent limitations. A small sample cannot be considered representative of the population of teachers; however, by sampling a variety of teachers, the results are more transferable: readers may find similarities to their own experiences or context (Newby, 2014). The single data collection instrument, i.e. the limited triangulation of data, means the study could benefit from observations of orientation sessions or classroom interactions, for instance (Denscombe, 2014).

Findings and Discussion The research questions guided the data collection in three broad areas, induction, internal cultures, and external cultures, yet several other sub-themes emerged through the collection and analysis process. Those themes are discussed in this chapter, exemplified by direct quotations from the participants, and organized via the framework established in the Literature Review. Participants are referred to by pseudonym for ethical purposes.

Induction/Preparations The participants all revealed similar reasons for moving to the region, generally regarding finances. Money was the primary motivation for accepting their new positions, akin to other results (e.g. Austin et al., 2014). Five participants applied and were hired through an external agency, rather than directly through the MOE. Four reported mostly positive email interactions prior to arriving. The greatest issues were unclear expectations regarding document attestations and scheduling, since a firm departure date was not immediately established. This amplified feelings of uncertainty, the antithesis of the purpose of an orientation program’s goal of uncertainty reduction (Saks & Gruman, 2011).

External Adjustments Upon arrival, participants felt well taken care of, generating goodwill which can serve an institution throughout new teachers’ induction. According to Cary, “I thought I was well-looked-after. The hotel stays were fantastic; (…) we were given breakfast

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and lunch, and that was fine: very, very nice.” Thus, despite the likely high cost of the hotel lodging, there are benefits for the new teachers regarding comfort levels as they adapt to unfamiliar circumstances. Another participant mentioned that they were taken to Ferrari World as part of their induction: “It was a really, really good welcome. Honestly!” The result is greater appreciation towards the institution when new teachers feel their needs are being catered to and they are given individual attention (Graybill et al., 2011). This level of appreciation was expressed similarly by several of the participants. As participants generally arrived in large cohorts of new teachers, logistics for lodging, the legalization and residence card process, etc. are complicated, and participants acknowledged that. However, there were frustrations expressed with a lack of organization or clear planning for their first weeks in the country. For instance, Wayne recalled a great deal of confusion: ‘Where do we go now? Are we staying here?’ ‘Oh, no, there’s a bus that’s going to come pick you up.’ ‘Where is it going to take us?’ Because we had the car, we were quite lucky. We just went on our own, (…) It was a lot of disorganization; nobody seemed to know. (Wayne)

This perceived lack of organization is not unusual (Kondakci & Haser, 2012). While organizations understand what must be done during the induction period and may have internal schedules or deadlines, they may not share that with new employees, additionally contributing to uncertainty amplification. However, Wayne also demonstrated new teachers’ agency in the process (Trowler & Knight, 1999), renting a car to have more freedom of movement. Thus, he reported less waiting around for the shared transport which new teachers were reliant on, as well as greater opportunities to complete outside tasks. Outside work, the most important (and stressful) duty for participants was to find accommodation. The majority of participants outlined two main issues regarding their search for housing, the limited amount of time they had during their initial hotel stays, coupled with a lack of guidance or institutional support. For example, Faizan talked about the time in the hotel: In those 9 days, we’d have to go and find accommodation ourselves, and I found that quite stressful because there was no help. (…) They gave us names and numbers, but you’re new to the area; you don’t know where you want to live. You don’t know where other expats are. (Faizan)

Participants also experienced challenges balancing work responsibilities and outside tasks, underlining the importance of a clear schedule for new teachers. Such clarity assists new teachers in meeting real estate agents or viewing properties, tasks made more difficult when new teachers are unclear of their availability. Those difficulties are doubled when teachers are unfamiliar with the rental practices, average costs, or desirable locations (Fenton-Smith & Torpey, 2013). Once a property was found, an additional challenge regarding teachers’ status arose, as Lena described: All this paperwork and bureaucracy takes a lot of time, and until then you don’t have your ID, your driving license, so quite a lot of them (other teachers) stayed in some hotel apartments here and there, with different (laughs), let’s say, experiences because some of these places were really quite lousy. (Lena)

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Participants were mostly satisfied with the institutional assistance in legalizing their status, yet while that is in process, the participants said they were unable to legally rent a property. Therefore, new teachers either extended their stays in the hotels, which tended to be more expensive, or they stayed in less-thandesirable venues that would book guests without proper documentation, both generally extending past the orientation period. Hence, most of the participants revealed that they were still unsettled and in hotels when they began teaching, contributing to elevated stress levels (Fenton-Smith & Torpey, 2013).

Preparation for Teaching Indeed, preparing new teachers for their work is the core activity of an orientation program. However, participants had mixed feelings about the training or introductory sessions they took part in. There was general positivity about the cultural training, as Martina recalled: “About the culture, what to expect, what not to expect. (…) It was new to me, and a lot of the information was very useful. It was a good informationexchanging kind of two weeks.” On the other hand, there was widespread disappointment regarding orientation to the realities of teaching. Participants were introduced to the curriculum, but not to the typical classroom dynamics. Besides orientation sessions, a common means of providing a realistic job preview is through classroom observation (Perry & Hayes, 2011). Nevertheless, only one teacher reported the opportunity to observe an actual lesson, which made him aware of many issues he would face: Well, my personal observation, there was a guy in a class with about 15 students. The students were just going in and out of the room when they felt like it; there was clearly no discipline whatsoever in the class. The lesson wasn’t organized in any structure. (Wayne)

Thus, Wayne witnessed an example of typical behaviours, an activity, and classroom management, thereby adjusting his expectations prior to teaching himself. The majority of participants, in contrast, finished their orientation unprepared for classroom realities. For instance, Faizan lamented, “The challenging behavior of the students was not emphasized enough. It was brushed over, and that’s not good. You know, you need to prepare.” A lack of practical information about the students and what the teaching entails is not unusual (Fenton-Smith & Torpey, 2013), yet, as Faizan remarked, it short-changes the students because the new teachers cannot properly prepare. Such a state of affairs will hamper new teachers in their efforts to acclimate and adapt to their surroundings. Student behaviour or aptitudes are regularly listed as surprising or a cause of frustration amongst expatriate teachers in the Gulf region (e.g. Sonleitner & Khelifa, 2005) and, hence, require orientation. The near-complete omission of classroom dynamics led Lena to question why: If it were on purpose, then the reason for this would be why? What is the purpose? Not to discourage us? Not to lose people two weeks into September, going back home and, you

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know, ‘I’m not doing this’? The initial experience was bad, was bad even for a person who has seen a lot. (Lena)

The irony is that by omitting potentially negative aspects of the position during orientation or training sessions, the effect on teachers may be to more immediately repulse them. As Cary remarked, “It wasn’t a culture shock coming here; it was more of a classroom shock.” Such unnecessarily stressful situations in the classroom may cause expatriate teachers to leave the position prematurely, particularly when “behaviour and working conditions are not what they expected or what they are used to” (Gardner, 2002, p. 1, as quoted in Thompson, 2017, p. 8). Another method to aid new teachers in their induction is to provide release time as they become acclimated (Kearney, 2014). Only Barbara had a few days in the school to adjust prior to teaching, saying, “When I turned up at the school, I was down for (another subject), and that had to be untangled, and that’s why I didn’t start straightaway.” Interestingly, the extra time seems accidental, but it helped her observe the daily activity of the school, interact with students, and meet other teachers informally in the process. That time is beneficial because it allows teachers agency to explore, reducing uncertainty, as well as engendering appreciation towards the institution, leading to an identification with the school and feelings of a shared stake in its activities and outcomes (Tuzlukova & Stead, 2016).

Internal Cultures Once teachers become settled into their positions and no longer feel ‘new’, their experiences within the cultures of their schools shared certain themes regarding classroom management, student work and grades, administrative support, as well as their interactions with colleagues. Student behaviour continued to be an issue even after participants’ introduction to the classroom, similar to results in other studies (AlAamri, 2013). For example, Wayne’s first-year experience was exceedingly negative: Quite disrespectful, right from the word go. Quite rude. (…) People jumping out of their seats, shouting at each other, maybe the odd fight, no discipline whatsoever. (…) In fact, the year in mainstream was the worst year I’ve ever had teaching in my life, by a mile, by a mile. (Wayne)

Quite an extreme description from a veteran teacher that has worked in several different countries over more than a decade. While it is unfortunate to hear any teacher talk about their experiences in such terms, awareness of such behavioural issues and the difficulties they create in classroom management and teaching is illuminating. Equally relevant, however, is the fact that while certain issues with students’ disorderliness persist, they are not a constant and may change over time or with different groups/levels. Martina’s first class started similarly, but she made progress through the semester, remarking, “They learned! It’s possible! They bring their notebooks; they write.” In fact, even after such an overwhelmingly adverse initial

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experience, Wayne described the advanced students in his second year, “Everything is perfect. I have no issues with discipline, no issues with behavior, nothing!” Therefore, broad disparities exist amongst teachers’ experiences with student misbehaviour in class, depending on time, levels, and schools. There were similar variations regarding the work students do in class. The participants generally reported consistently sized classes, ranging from 22 to 32. When they began, multiple participants said that the student levels within one group were quite varied, like Faizan: “I’ve never been in a class, not in the UK or the (other) school in the Gulf, that there are so many mixed ability levels with no support.” However, most of the participants attested that in the last two years, students have been more effectively streamed: The material is far more in line with their capabilities. They’ve made a forward step there, in my opinion, because the boys, I’m looking at it from the boys’ point of view, they can manage it a lot more, and that, in turn, creates a better classroom environment. (Cary)

Thus, in the teachers’ experiences, the benefits from the streaming have been threefold: First, the behaviour issues have been reduced, as students engaged with more appropriate materials. Second, with stronger comprehension, students tended to make more progress educationally. Third, the teachers additionally feel more confident in their teaching, their professionalism, and their place in the institution. Wayne talked about the stark difference between his first and second years: “The ASP definitely feels a lot more like actual teaching, where you’re actually making a difference with students.” While motivating students was broadly reported as challenging, participants’ experiences tend to be improving in multiple aspects. Thereby, we can see the importance of avoiding stereotypes or generalizations for entire populations of students (Atkinson, 1999; Holliday, 2011), as well as the importance of professional fulfilment for teachers who are motivated by more than money but also want to see that they are effecting change (Thompson, 2017). Assessing students is another aspect of teachers’ experiences of the internal culture that exhibits wide variations and ongoing developments. Similar to other studies, the teachers reported a common demand for high marks, regardless of the work submitted (Wilkins, 2010). For example, Barbara discussed feeling a great deal of pressure from students: Then there’s the expectation of 100% here. Everybody always got 100% marks on everything, right? So now, (…) when they don’t get 100%, they actually turn aggressive. I actually felt bullied. (…) They were like, “WHY DID YOU GIVE ME THIS MARK?! WHY DID YOU GIVE ME THIS MARK?! (Barbara)

The participant understandably became emotional recalling such experiences, which are particularly unsavoury for any educator. In fact, the participants spoke of pressure from all sides to keep marks high. First amongst students, which is the most immediate and possibly most stressful for teachers. Next, together, students and parents may additionally push administrators to influence teachers to change marks or even inflate them. However, similar to students in the classroom, the teachers believe that there has also been some progress regarding rubrics and more consistent

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standards. Multiple participants revealed that the pressure has forced them to be more accountable with grading and hence, more detail-oriented, effectively becoming more professional as teachers and more responsive to students (Knott, 2017). Furthermore, there were narratives of some support for teachers in their marks, as Faizan described, “We stuck to our guns, which I’m quite proud of, really.” Those feelings of being supported are significant for teachers both in terms of their professionalism as well as their identification with the institution and their long-term retention within the school system (Romanowski & Nasser, 2015). Interactions with administrators or managers vary depending on the school, but most of the participants said curriculum designers were attentive. Martina felt quite positive about the progress concerning the curriculum: “Yeah, they’re working constantly on improving and they listen. They started listening to people, to teachers saying, ‘We need this. We need streaming.’ So they’re pushing streaming.” It is an important step, since teachers have more direct knowledge of what works and what doesn’t regarding curriculum in the classroom. Professionally, giving teachers a voice in their teaching is an important role for management which pays dividends in their job satisfaction and their identification with the institution (Day, 2002). On the other hand, the participants’ experiences with management within their own schools hinged largely on the individual principals and the culture they promoted within. On the other hand, three of the teachers spoke highly of the principals in their schools as supportive and engaged: It depends on the management. It depends on how willing they are to cooperate and work, and our principal is very ambitious, he wants our school to be like a flagship school. It’s a bit of boot camp (…) because sometimes teachers don’t show up or come late. Not in our school! That’s why we’re very effective, I think. (…) I like it there! (Martina)

Such comments illustrate the significance of the principal’s role in setting the tone for the entire school and affecting the culture (Dill, 2012). Wayne described the explicit appreciation he received in his school: “I was quite tough in the class, and the principal kept telling me he appreciated it.” As the results show, teachers appreciate the positive, personal involvement, as well as the direct, explicit support or encouragement which principals or their deputies may offer, creating a positive culture and encouraging teachers to commit themselves more fully to the school’s mission. Furthermore, the example set by the principal influences the interactions amongst the entire faculty. In situations like Cary’s, where the principal was unwilling or unable to engage more with the expatriate teachers, the participants felt more isolated from other faculty members. At other schools, certain members of management went to greater lengths to integrate the faculty, with generally positive results. Faizan experienced a “divide between the Western expats and the other expats” but said efforts were underway to effect change: The lead teacher there, he went and moved his desk upstairs with the Arabic-speaking teachers, and he moved some of his team up there, and moved some of the other team downstairs with the English department to see if they could mix and get along, which apparently, so far, it’s working. (Faizan)

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Therefore, it is vital to note that the culture of a school is not set in stone. Although it may be established prior to a new teacher’s arrival, the culture is dynamic and teachers can alter it, just as they may be affected by it themselves. Martina admitted that a more integrative culture in her school occurred for a simple reason: “We kinda started talking to them!” These results and others demonstrate that teachers have the agency to move school or department cultures in positive ways, again depicting cultures as dynamic and shaped by individuals (Holliday, 2011).

External Cultures Expectations of living in a foreign country inevitably mean interacting with locals in their language; however, the experiences of the participants in the UAE paint a very different picture. None of the participants interact regularly with Emiratis outside of work, and they all believe there is some form of separation between expatriates and locals. For example, Faizan described Emiratis in general and the tendency to separate: They’re very nice. They’re very accepting. I just think that they have their own culture, their own ways of thinking, and I think they like to be with each other, so that’s why I think, and to be honest, I don’t think I’ve made an effort to try and mingle. (Faizan)

Faizan’s comments represent several of the participants’ experiences. His description of Emiratis as nice and accepting was common, with another popular word being ‘tolerant’. Furthermore, instead of discrimination, several teachers described a preference for similarity which perhaps could be bridged if expatriates were “more into their culture and kind of accepted it and embraced it fully” as Martina suggested. Thus, the participants did not discuss feeling isolated, but rather admitted that in their experiences, neither locals nor expatriates make much of an effort to integrate with the other (Romanowski & Nasser, 2015). This point was further illustrated by several participants who revealed that there are Arabic lessons available for expatriate faculty, but they do not avail themselves of the lessons for both lack of need and interest, similar to participants in other studies (Devitt, 2014). Life outside of work, however, is generally positive and enjoyable, according to participants. They spoke of their free time in terms of all the options they have to enjoy, like sports, socializing, or activities at home like reading or watching movies. The amount of free time was the most important benefit according to several participants. Martina said, “I love it here because I have time. (…) For me, there is a balance between work and private life.” The participants generally socialized with other expatriates, although they come from a wide range of countries. Cary provided a description of his social circle as also revolving around sport: Let’s see, last Friday night, I was out, and there were Serbians, Irish, English, and yeah, that was it. Three different nationalities when we were out. Yeah, because some of them did the half marathon, and we went out afterwards. (Cary)

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Thus, Cary paints a vibrant picture of active teachers, true for the single participants, who described socializing and mixing with other young people. The three married participants were also satisfied with their free time, but preferred spending it at home with their families. Overall, the teachers described a lifestyle comparable to that in their home countries, if not even improved in certain aspects.

Conclusions This study examines the cross-cultural experiences of expatriate English teachers working at state schools in the United Arab Emirates. Their experiences lead to certain conclusions regarding the three main themes investigated: new teacher orientation, internal cultures in their schools, and the cultures experienced outside of work. Concerning orientation, the teachers all showed that a warm welcome creates a large amount of goodwill amongst new teachers and uncertainty reduction; however, the participants also experienced uncertainty amplification due to lack of communication, particularly prior to arriving, finding accommodation, and providing a realistic job preview. In their schools, the teachers had a number of difficulties with student behaviour, but also reported improvement depending on time, the students’ levels, or the school itself. Teachers additionally reported pressure on them to give high grades, but that rubrics and stricter standards were beginning to ameliorate those stresses. Outside of their own departments, the quality of interactions with management and colleagues depended on the context and teachers’ willingness to engage. Finally, in their personal lives, participants generally experienced separation from locals, but made little effort to bridge that gap. At the same time, there were no reported feelings of isolation, but rather a great deal of enjoyment in their free time, spent actively with other expatriates. Those results have implications for expatriate English teachers and school administrators in the region. School administrators are recommended to pay greater attention to the pre-arrival stage of an expatriate teacher’s hiring. Providing a clearer timeline and advance notice on schools’ location can both help teachers in their planning and in avoiding certain reported stresses. A veteran teacher mentor connected prior to arriving can also take pressure off administrators and assist new teachers (Graybill et al., 2011). Orientation must include a realistic job preview of classroom dynamics, but teachers can also exercise their own agency to observe other classes as part of their induction. Within their positions, it is key that teachers feel supported with issues of student behaviour and assessments. In that way, principals and other managers can have dramatic effects on school cultures, so positive management in that vein is an important role; on the other hand, each teacher can contribute by seeking out colleagues from other backgrounds or departments to build collegiality. Although there was a great deal of satisfaction with their lives outside of school, such a strict separation from the local population can potentially have adverse effects (Fish, 2005), so language lessons or partaking in other Emirati traditions could contribute

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to more satisfaction as part of the local society and assist in connecting better with local students. There are additional implications for future research. Different approaches to sampling, sample size, or data collection could provide a broader picture of teachers’ experiences. More in-depth studies of new teacher orientation should examine teachers’ pre-arrival contacts and actions. The orientation period provides an area of research particularly important for looking at teacher professionalism, as well as socialization research for expatriates. It is an aspect of the teacher development continuum (Bartell, 1995) that is ripe for action research. Further research into teacher cognition regarding student behaviour, grades, and collegiality in such diverse contexts is additionally called for, as are studies into the means of creating or managing culture in schools with diverse faculty members. Within such schools, the participants under study need further diversification, including not just teachers or other faculty members, but students, as well. Ethnographic or longitudinal research into expatriates’ wider experiences could more fully examine their daily lives and adjustment practices in the UAE, helping others to better understand, relate, and acclimate themselves. Overall, research of this sort should be undertaken with the aim of understanding expatriate teachers’ experiences to thereby improve teaching and learning across varied contexts.

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Phillipson, R. (2016). Myths and realities of ‘global’ English. Language Policy, 16(3), 313–331. Pring, R. (2014). Philosophy of educational research (3rd ed.). Continuum. Punch, K. F. (2009). Introduction to research methods in education. SAGE. Richardson, J., & Zikic, J. (2007). The darker side of an international academic career. Career Development International, 12(2), 164–186. Romanowski, M. H., & Nasser, R. (2015). Identity issues: Expatriate professors teaching and researching in Qatar. Higher Education, 69(4), 653–671. Saks, A. M., & Gruman, J. A. (2011). Organizational socialization and positive organizational behaviour: Implications for theory, research, and practice. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 28(1), 14–26. Saldana, J. (2009). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. SAGE. Scott, W., Lemus, D., Knotts, G., & Oh, J. (2016). Why learner-centered new faculty orientations matter: Organizational culture and faculty retention. Journal of Faculty Development, 30(1), 15–22. Sonleitner, N., & Khelifa, M. (2005). Western-educated faculty challenges in a gulf classroom. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, 2(1), 1–20. Stupinsky, R. H., Weaver-Hightower, M. B., & Kartoshkina, Y. (2015). Exploring and testing the predictors of new faculty success: A mixed method study. Studies in Higher Education, 40(2), 368–390. Thompson, N. (2017). Why do we have expat teachers? The effect of expatriate teachers on school culture. In L. Smith, S. Fullerton-Cooper, & E. Gordon (Eds.), The Caribbean in a changing world: Surveying the past, mapping the future (Vol. 2, pp. 2–19). Cambridge Scholars. Tierney, W. G. (1997). Organizational socialization in higher education. The Journal of Higher Education, 68(1), 1–16. Troudi, S. (2005). Critical content and cultural knowledge for TESOL teachers. Teacher Development, 9(1), 115–129. Troudi, S., & Alwan, F. (2010). Teachers’ feelings during curriculum change in the United Arab Emirates: Opening Pandora’s box. Teacher Development, 14(1), 107–121. Trowler, P., & Knight, P. (1999). Organizational socialization and induction in universities: Reconceptualizing theory and practice. Higher Education, 37(2), 177–195. Turner, D. W. (2010). Qualitative interview design: A practical guide for novice investigators. The Qualitative Report, 15(3), 754–760. Tuzlukova, V., & Stead, D. (2016). Teacher induction in context: The case of language educators in Oman. Asian Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 5(1), 69–79. Wilkins, S. (2010). Higher education in the United Arab Emirates: An analysis of the outcomes of significant increases in supply and competition. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 32(4), 389–400.

David Knott is currently working in the UAE as a lecturer of general studies at the Higher Colleges of Technology, Ras Al Khaimah campuses, teaching research and writing courses. Dr. Knott has been teaching English for over 15 years, also working in Poland and Saudi Arabia over that time. He has a doctorate of education (Ed.D) in TESOL from the University of Exeter and is additionally the holder of a Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA). His research interests focus on expatriate teachers’ experiences and cognitions, with cultural issues, particularly orientation, as central themes.

Chapter 8

Making the Transition from Blended Learning to Fully Online: Reflections from Two-Tertiary Level Teaching Professionals Lana Hiasat and Ghada Ali Abstract This chapter is a descriptive research study based on a reflective theoretical framework. Two researchers collected reflective data from two different divisions; Engineering and General Studies during an eight-week transition period that saw the institution move from a blended learning environment to fully online learning due to the global lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic starting in March 2020. As a result of this move from blended to fully online teaching and learning, the researchers propose six recommendations for effective online teaching in higher education. Keywords Online · Blended learning · Educational technology · Pandemic · Synchronous classes · Asynchronous classes · Online learning

Introduction Online learning is not new to the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) educational systems. There are many eLearning platforms available to provide UAE students with online instruction including but not limited to the Madrasa platform that was launched in October 2018. Other platforms include Duroosi, Diwan eBook Reader, Mohammed bin Rashid Smart Learning Project, and Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart-University (The United Arab Emirates’ Government Portal, 2020). This chapter expands on the eLearning pedagogy applied in the UAE by reporting on the reflections and applied experiences from two tertiary-level instructors. It is focused on the transition from two applied blended learning models to a fully online model that came about due to the global COVID-19 crisis. The chapter begins with a brief background on the institutional models of blended learning and the transition to fully online. Theoretical applications of both blended and online are discussed. The research approach was based on a reflective framework and the

L. Hiasat (B) · G. Ali Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai, United Arab Emirates e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_8

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outcomes are discussed resulting in a framework of six recommendations as proposed by the researchers.

Background Literature What is the Institutional Teaching and Learning Context? The institutional context is a governmental tertiary institution in the United Arab Emirates. The teaching models described are from two different divisions: Engineering and General Studies. The blended learning model for the Engineering division consisted primarily of broadcasting lectures from one campus to different campuses. Transmitter and receiver campuses were in specially assigned lecture halls that had the live broadcasting technology for live audio and video synchronous classes. The receiving campus had a support technician (TA) who was not the subject matter expert but who was there to provide support for attendance and the administration of exams set by the main specialist instructor. Lab instructors who received the assignments were qualified to supervise the assessments and could be asked to grade the assessments and projects in some cases. This model of blended learning was developed due to a lack of qualified instructors and lecture scheduling issues. In the General Studies department, the blended learning model was based on a rotational approach where students were divided into two groups. Each group met once for a synchronous meeting with the instructor while the other group was working asynchronously on flipped learning assignments. This approach was adapted to accommodate a large number of students and make the best use of resources. The transition to fully online began on March 22, 2020. Fully online teaching meant that the same schedule was maintained and instructors used the institutional Learning Management System (LMS) Blackboard Learn tools to deliver online sessions in addition to using the video conferencing tool Zoom. Collaborate Ultra in Blackboard Learn was used as the main teaching platform for online lessons. Lesson duration was initially kept as scheduled in the face-to-face teaching plans and ran for the duration of 120 min. In addition, some higher education leaders in the United Arab Emirates introduced three key elements a student should have and framed those in a student persona 4.0 (Al Shamsi, Feb. 12, 2020). These characteristics included digital, entrepreneurial, and professional capabilities. The application of blended learning and then the transition to fully online teaching and learning was an opportunity to develop persona 4.0. The next section includes a discussion of the theoretical applications of blended and online learning.

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Theoretical Applications of Blended Learning Blended learning in its simplest form is a blend of online teaching and traditional educational models. Bonk and Graham (2012) defined blended learning as a blend that can occur on different levels based on the course, program, and institution. Furthermore, Bonk and Graham have established models that they term as rotation, flex, self-blend, or enriched blend. Educational leaders have described extensively the application of blended learning designs in higher education. For example, Almazova et al. (2019) described the application of a blended learning approach in an experimental study to teach project-based programming content to IT students. Almazova et al. (2019) concluded that the blended learning design worked well for applied projects and for the ‘learning by doing’ teaching approach. In another study, Alammary et al. (2014) identified three distinct design approaches for blended learning. The researchers listed low-, medium-, and high-impact blends (Alammary et al., 2014). The high-impact blended course included face-to-face lecture, prelecture quiz and face-to-face lecture, Google hangout and face-to-face consultation, pre-reading and face-to-face tutorial, and an online test. This high-impact approach was similar to the blended learning approach applied in this study’s General Studies department context. The teaching approach of blended learning in General Studies in the post-secondary institution described in this chapter included face-to-face applied activities, an online tutorial for consultation which also served as office hours, and flipped learning. Every face-to-face lesson would begin with a quiz based on the flipped learning activities content. As Zainuddin (2015) reported, the approach of blended learning made the General Studies program more attractive and effective with the application of available technology. The researchers in this study’s educational context did not face the common challenges faced in some institutions such as low Internet broadband, availability of technology tools, and utilization of technology for teaching and learning (Zainuddin, 2015). However, as VanDerLinden (2014) has emphasized the importance of a strategic approach to blended learning, the blended learning approach in our educational context was based on a plan to make the best use of available technology, instructional design, and a clear understanding of the student’s motivational levels and needs. Similarly, VanDerLinden (2014) explains the importance of the role of technology, faculty, and institution in creating the appropriate blended learning approach for the educational institution. Alternative approaches to instruction have yielded positive results creating an active learning environment and solved possibly preexisting problems such as pre-instruction gender gaps. Bazelais and Doleck discovered a gender difference in pre-tests with male students scoring higher than females in science education subjects while the post-tests done after the blended learning instruction had happened were the same indicating that female students benefitted from a well-structured blended learning instructional approach (Bazelais & Doleck, 2018). With the rapid growth of technology since the late 90 s, higher education institutions have made efforts to evolve their format of teaching and those efforts have

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significantly benefitted from the Internet. Blended learning has recently become a new model of pedagogy in many higher education institutes globally (Mirriahi et al., 2015). For some institutions, for example, Penn State, alternative names were used such as hybrid learning, mixed-mode learning, and even, flexible learning. (For more information, the Hybrid learning model is available at: https://sites.psu.edu/hybrid learning/what-is-hybrid/). To put blended learning into practical use, an institution must have an optimized technology infrastructure with a reliable learning management system (LMS). The eLearning platform must provide a user-friendly system for faculty and students to ensure quality services. The widely used platforms that are well recommended include WebCT, Moodle, BlackBoard, and Canvas (Liu & Tourtellott, 2011). One of the largest tertiary institutions in the UAE found success in the adoption of blended learning. A major challenge was with the limited faculty resources and another main challenge was having students spread throughout the seven Emirates. At the time, the institutional model of teaching was brick and mortar with limited exploration of the opportunities within the technological realm. Blended learning as a pedagogical approach offered a solution where faculty based in one Emirate were able to live broadcast courses to many students, regardless of where they were located. The model also offered course resource sharing via the Learning Management System. As a result, Blended Learning has ultimately changed the way learners learn and the way instructors teach. This model has elevated the traditional methods of teaching by integrating technology to facilitate ease, improve effectiveness, and add value to the lives of faculty and students overall.

Theoretical Applications of Online Learning Following the global announcement of COVID-19 as a worldwide pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020, higher education institutions and schools had to transform their education system across the globe. As a result and given the significant rise of online learning, the education industry has changed dramatically and teaching now takes place on digital platforms. The new model has led millions of students into ‘home-schooling’ education, until further notice. Educational institutions have quickly adopted available online platforms to enable the continuity of their academic year. The impact was also evident across all educational institutions within the United Arab Emirates (The United Arab Emirates’ Government Portal, 2020). The rapid adjustment undertook strong efforts to transform the course designs from traditional methods into digital modes via technology. Thomas J. Hochstetler, a commissioner of the Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA) of the Emirates’ Ministry of Education, observed that “first, higher education institutions, by and large, grasped immediately the challenges of converting to eLearning, mid-semester and … faculty and administrators alike threw themselves, heart and soul, into the herculean task… Second, many institutions have in the process become Learning Organizations.”

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Instructors and students had to embrace the new way of learning with the help of technology. Online tools such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams are in use as a medium to communicate amongst and between instructors, students, and management teams. One of the largest tertiary education institutions who was already using technology in their education system has rapidly developed their previous Learning Management System (LMS) to cater to the needs of fully online course delivery.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Learning Although online learning has initially proven to be an efficient mode of teaching for many reasons, it does have its setbacks. Various concerns have arisen including teaching practice, collaborative technology, assessment, and student success. As a response to the current climate, online learning has sufficed as an ‘emergency model’ for the education industry as a global solution. Blended learning has been characterized as a flexible and active approach to learning. Online learning is also flexible and has exponentially generated interest in the present climate. This was due to the forced push to online learning with the global COVID-19 pandemic that countries have faced. Educational leaders were faced with one option of learning: online. The common ‘anytime and anywhere’ claims of online learning were put to the test when educational institutions were instructed to go fully online on March 22, 2020, in the United Arab Emirates. In reviewing the literature on online learning, Houlden and Veletsianos (2019) analysed the claims of ‘anytime and anywhere’ narratives claiming that such flexibility is neither universal nor neutral. The researchers pointed out that such flexibility of online learning assumes learners are autonomous, self-reliant, and individualistic. Such critiques hold within the context of forced online learning during the pandemic because flexibility is challenged by contextual educational situations and efforts to make curricula work within an online environment for all learners. Houlden and Veletsianos (2019) asked important and relevant questions including who does flexibility benefit and in what ways. In the context of this chapter, flexibility benefited the higher education institution because both students and instructors were ready for the transition to flexible online learning.

Literature Review To explore relevant literature on online learning, the researchers reviewed articles relevant to their region and limited online learning to the latest updates due to the pandemic which had forced the closure of educational institutions. The Gulf News, a local online newspaper, reported thoughts on online learning in the Gulf. For example, Marques (May 12, 2020) shared the fears parents had with the lockdown and the

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requirement of juggling working from home and kids at home on the one hand, and the quality of education children would receive online on the other. Because of the forced online learning, parents realized that schools could utilize the online option to develop independent learners and base the learning approach on a more problem-based design. Flexibility helped some students master the content faster; however, Houlden and Veletsianos (2019) had questions about flexibility in the online environment and suggested that the online environment created a digital divide that related to having a personal study space, fast Internet connection, parents at home, and personal laptops. Similar concerns were also made by Marques, 2020. Another important conclusion that came out of online learning in the Gulf is that physical schools still mattered because they develop good study habits and offer opportunities for parents to work while their children are in a safe place. The question that educational leaders are pondering now at the time of writing this chapter is about the model of educational system we should build moving forward and when educational institutions will reopen. This forced online experience has helped parents and educational leaders experience the gaps and identify more clearly what is working in their educational institutions. In another article from the Gulf News (May 28, 2020), there was an important reminder that the process of learning did not stop for 1.2 million students in the UAE. The UAE leaders emphasized the importance of cooperation and empathy to make eLearning an effective process. Even though the results of online learning in the UAE were generally positive, many problems were also exposed within the educational systems. Nathan (2020) collected qualitative data about the effectiveness of online learning in the Gulf from higher education institutions. The researcher reported that universities in the Gulf have shared the positive effects of online learning and the speed of transition to online teaching and learning. However, some university leaders have noted as well that the transition was to go online while still applying the same traditional pedagogical approaches as if the teaching and learning were face-to-face. Another challenge reported was the acceptance of online and distance education as accredited degrees in the Gulf region and educators hoped that with the online experience, accreditation bodies would accept the value of online learning (Nathan, 2020). A further challenge was the viability of the online examination. The assessment challenge has pushed educators to create new methods for assessing their students. In summary, Nathan’s study resulted in important points regarding the effectiveness of online learning provisions during the shutdowns, the impact on student enrolment, and graduate employment. Nathan (2020) presented important issues for higher education leaders to consider including authentic assessment, equitable student access to the Internet, and how to prepare students for post-pandemic challenges. The advancement of technology has enabled educational institutions to adopt an all-round digital teaching model that is 100% online, without any physical or faceto-face interaction. There are many terms used for this way of teaching, among them distance learning, distance education, eLearning, and web-based learning, and more commonly used online learning. For this literature review and for the purposes of this chapter, we will refer to this model as online learning.

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Having discussed briefly the theoretical applications of blended and online learning, the researchers share the reflective framework used to keep a log of online teaching and learning reflections in the next section.

Theoretical Framework Reflective Practice One of the researchers of this study collected data from General Studies qualitative reflective logs. The second researcher followed the same reflective framework to collect data from the Engineering and Mathematics courses. Both researchers used the same reflective framework which was based on Brian Stanfield’s focused conversation method. Stanfield (2000) summarized the method through four levels of questions called ORID referring to objective, reflective, interpretative, and decisional levels: (a) (b) (c) (d)

The objective level occurs where the questions are based on facts. The reflective level is asking questions about one’s reaction to the facts. The interpretative level is a reflection on the lessons learned. The decisional level refers to asking questions that bring the reflection to a close and enable the participants to make decisions.

The researchers decided to use the ORID method of reflection because it served as a means to better guide reflection that they felt could lead to well-informed decisions and/or recommendations. The researchers noted down their weekly reflections on an Excel sheet for eight weeks starting from March 22, 2020 (the first day the teaching went fully online) until May 17, (the last day for the final exams for the spring semester). These researchers wrote refection logs for the full seven-week period of online delivery and for the one-week final exam period. The two researchers in this study noted their reflections at the end of each week in brief points on an Excel spreadsheet which they did not share with each other to reduce any possible bias. The points for reflection followed the ORID structure with the addition of high and low points for the second level. These two points were added so that it was easier to identify the positive and negative aspects of the transition. The questions for reflections were as follows: 1. 2.

Objective level: What is happening? How would you describe your online class? (a) Reflective level: How do you feel about the online class? High Points. (b)

3. 4.

Reflective level: How do you feel about the online class? Low Points.

Interpretive Level: What have you learned from this? What does it mean for the organization and me? Decisional Level: So what? What changes are needed?

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Table 8.1 Demographic details Number of students 26 Gender

Male

Year of study

2 students in year 3, 11 students in year 2, 13 students in year 1 Note: Year one students typically take the course as an introductory course to research

Major of study

Mixed majors: engineering, business, applied media, and IT

The research and data collection for this project consisted of three phases. In phase I, the two researchers discussed the research plan and decided on the timeline for data collection. Phase II included the active data collection period, which was eight weeks long. Phase III was the write-up of the research project and the weekly meetings to discuss progress and analyse results. In summary, the project plan was as follows: • Phase I: Research plan, goals, and timeline. • Phase II: Data Collection. • Phase III: Data Analysis and write-up of the findings and recommendations. The next section is a summary of the main findings for the reflections noted during the eight-week data collection period; one from the General Studies division and the other from the Engineering division.

Reflective Journal I: General Studies Reflections The course I observed was a General Studies introductory course on research methods. All students were male Emirati students taking this course as a required part of their course plan regardless of their major of study. The demographics of the students are summarized in Table 8.1. The number of students in the class was twenty-six and they came from engineering, business, IT, and applied media programs. The demographic details were typical of previous semesters, and the pass and fail rates were within the acceptable ranges in the General Studies division. In terms of the main observations from the reflective logs, a summary of key findings is presented in the next section.

Objective Level Summary of Key Findings (a)

The online lesson preparation was unusually time-consuming in the first two weeks despite my in-depth knowledge of the content, curriculum, and use of educational technology tools.

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Student attendance improved by 50% after week three. Students did not read their emails or respond to instructions correctly and needed several reminders to complete the tasks on time. An important repeating issue was the ‘chasing up of students’ for the assessments and missed work. Online assessments and technology tools worked well in the last two weeks of the reflection period (weeks seven and eight).

Reflective Level Summary of Key Findings The reflective level included reflections that were based on both positive and negative emotions: (a)

(b)

Positive emotions included joy, pride, interest, and hope. Students showed interest in the online activities and appeared to enjoy the online lessons, which they showed through their active engagement in the activities using Kahoot, Quizlet, and polls. I felt proud that the online lessons were successful and generated engagement. The positive reaction that was captured in the online tools gave me hope that such a delivery mode could be successful. Negative emotions were fear, exhaustion, disappointment, and a feeling of being in a chaotic state. I was exhausted after each lesson because of the amount of time and effort that was needed to deliver 120 min of online class and prepare to engage every student. I was afraid that the level of instructor talk was high. I was disappointed with some of the students whom I called ‘free riders’ as I felt that these students were hiding behind the technology and getting free credit for the completion of tasks that they probably did not do. Class during week five was chaotic because of the introduction of too many new technology tools and assessment procedures at the same time.

Interpretative Level Summary of Key Findings The following main learning points came out from this reflection: (a) (b) (c) (d)

It was difficult to accurately know where students were doing well and where they needed more support despite the online polls and follow-up feedback. Technology delivers faster than the speed of the student’s comprehension of new knowledge. ‘Free riders’ needed to be identified early on. Students required training in learning online. Students are used to using technology but lack the knowledge to learn effectively online. Assessments needed to be changed to fit the online delivery.

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Decisional Level Summary of Key Findings Based on the reflective logs, the main priorities for change were the following: (a) (b)

(c)

(d)

Establish new methods of checking students’ comprehension of instructions and content. Allow more time for students to complete tasks. Lessons do not need to be a live session for two hours as per the traditional format of teaching. Online live sessions can be shorter to allow more time for students to engage with the content and for instructors to have individual or group discussions. Training is required for both instructors and students to acquire new adaptive technical skills, digital literacies, and virtual communication strategies in addition to problem-solving and troubleshooting. Programs require thinking of alternative means of assessments to meet the needs of future competencies and make the best use of online technology. Thinking in terms of proctoring students’ work and assessments is no longer relevant or needed. Assessments should be driven by research and pedagogies.

In summary, despite the fact that the switch to online delivery happened incredibly quickly, both instructors and students achieved the main goal of the academic semester, which was completing the semester without interruption. Students with special needs received the support they required and were able to succeed as well. However, it is important to understand what the challenges were during online delivery to move to a new culture in education. The appearing challenges could be summarized in these main issues; ‘chasing after students’, ‘free riders’, and the exhaustion and increased time spent resulting from lesson preparation and teaching live sessions. Reasons for not following deadlines and relying on others to complete the work could go beyond the obvious lack of motivation. It could be due to cognitive difficulties, problems with accessing materials, or other problems instructors may not have been aware of. Therefore, spending more time understanding the problem is critical rather than searching for solutions. It appeared that having a strong foundation and investment in technology tools and instructor trainings in addition to the strong technical support were the key factors in making the transition successful.

Reflective Journal II: Engineering Reflections Reflective Journal II: Engineering Reflections. This journal reflects the practice of the other researcher who is an Engineering and Mathematics Faculty member with more than twenty years of teaching experience in one of the largest higher educational institutions in the Gulf region. Additionally, this reflection was based on the same ORID reflective framework and presented the journey of online teaching during the lockdown period (March 22 until May 17) whereby the researcher covered the lessons learned and the observations made. The course reflections are categorized into three main points:

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Course Preparation and Delivery: Creating online classes is often a collaborative project between the instructor and the Educational Technology team. It is strongly advisable to have several Professional Development sessions to restructure the online courses and prepare the teaching material ahead of time. Since the researcher was well versed in Blackboard Learn with extensive experience over the years, they have solid knowledge in setting up courses on the platform within tight deadlines. Setting up the course requires gathering the needed teaching materials including notes, presentations, assignments, links to e-text and quizzes, and supporting media. An essential note to course preparation was to keep in mind that the directions for students needed to be detail-oriented and self-explanatory. This note applied to all course activities, such as lecture notes, presentations, and assignments. Ideally, those activities linked to examples and resources that illustrated the concepts taught at hand. Therefore, the entire course needed to have sufficient planning ahead of time. There was no doubt that teaching Engineering Mathematics in a virtual environment was a challenge from the start. The absence of human interaction made it difficult to explain the steps clearly, solve questions efficiently, and deliver the same quality as an in-person class in real time. This new way of teaching disabled the one-to-one attention that an instructor typically would dedicate to their students. Lastly, the technology barrier significantly reduced the visibility of body language, and emotions were blurred. The digital environment allowed for a new culture of learning. It was the responsibility of the instructor to build a virtual community of trust with the students without losing the experience of the traditional classes. This typically could be done by adding three ‘presences’ that scholars have already discussed in building communities online; cognitive presence, which is essentially content and what students will learn and do; instructor presence, commenting and interacting with students; and social presence, which is a way for students to get to know each other (Dimeo, 2017). In regard to my field of expertise and the field that I teach in, I faced specific obstacles when transforming the Engineering Mathematics course content. Despite the fact that the Learning Management System (LMS) was a highly sophisticated platform, it, unfortunately, did not have the required technology to type Mathematics equations. Hence, to combat this, I had to prepare ready solved examples in advance and present them to my students—a slightly lengthier process than traditional teaching on a chalk or smart board. Based on my experiences, the main lessons learned from my reflections, and observations for a smooth online session, the following recommendations are made: • Remain active online for student support to respond to questions and emails as quickly as possible. • Possess sufficient IT skills to use the teaching tools properly and effectively to enhance student learning.

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• Provide continuous feedback to student assignments in a timely and appropriate manner, using the different online tools for different types of feedback (e.g. emails for correction and individual feedback vs. posting in chat discussion for feedback that is positive and can benefit the whole class). • Deliver lessons with a high level of energy and enthusiasm so that students feel motivated, inspired, and more positive.

Assessment Organizing examinations and managing assessments proved to be the biggest challenge during this period. The instructors and academic managers teamed up and brainstormed different options for assessments; summative, formative, and e-assessments to evaluate the best way forward. Faculty and academic leaders ensured that all types of assessments aligned to their program accreditation body in the region and course learning outcomes mapped to the CAA credential. The team realized that it was unrealistic to have one uniform method of assessment for all types of courses. For a select number of engineering courses, instructors used project-based assessments to measure students’ learning. Other courses decided to use summative assessments such as midterms and finals via e-assessment (online assessment). The e-assessment was a remotely proctored exam conducted through a sophisticated software called Respondus LockDown Monitor (RLDM) (Available to view from https://web.respon dus.com/he/monitor). Respondus Monitor allows students to take a proctored exam from any remote location. This software captures the audio and video of students while they take their exams and requires the use of Respondus LockDown Browser. During the COVID-19 crisis and the lockdown period, many universities have used RLDM for exams because LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor integrates well with the commonly used LMSs that higher education institutions commonly use including Canvas, Blackboard Learn, Moodle, Schoology, and Brightspace. For the courses I taught, the best option was conducting e-assessments. Since it was a new technique to all, the students and their respective instructors had practised the technology on mock tests before the actual exam to experience and familiarize themselves with some of the technical problems that could happen during the actual final exams. This preparation helped ensure a smooth e-assessment with minimal technical issues. The Ministry of Higher Education issued on March 30th a new evaluation system to calculate the cumulative GPA for UAE university students. Universities continued using their traditional letter grade evaluation (A, B, C, D, and F) (Godinho, 2020). However, students were given the option to accept the grade they received and to have it added to their GPA but if they felt the grade did not represent their academic performance and did not want to have it added to and reflected in their GPA, students had the right to just get the credit hours for the course. If a student received a failing grade in the course, it would not count towards the GPA. Students reacted favourably

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towards this solution as they expressed their happiness with the decision on social media especially on Twitter posts.

Student Challenges to Learning and Academic Performance During the early weeks of the big shift to the digital model, our students faced some key challenges that are summarized in the following points: 1.

Lack of Digital Literacy

Although the new generation of our students is generally tech-savvy and thus able to manage computers/smart devices well, a lack of digital literacy was a major issue among students in the form of understanding online communication etiquette and knowing students’ rights and responsibilities in the virtual learning environment. This included knowing when to ‘raise a hand’ and participate in a discussion or ask a question, and the use of appropriate language when utilizing the live chat with an instructor and classmates. 2.

Technical Issues

Low Internet speeds in some student/instructor locations often caused disruptions and/or lagging during online classes, resulting in classes being much longer than scheduled. 3.

Class Preparedness

In a face-to-face class, students often just need to show up with the relevant course materials because instructors would regularly hand out the respective notes/formula sheet for that class. However, online classes required the students to download and have the relevant notes ready before class is in session. This was often not the case, resulting in time spent retelling students where to find and download what they needed before the class could begin. 4.

Motivation and Engagement

The lack of motivation and student engagement is a common challenge amongst our students. However, the online learning environment required an added level of motivation to complete tasks, stay engaged, and make progress for even the most engaged students. It was observed that with the physical absence of classmates and instructors, some students lost focus and started falling behind. 5.

Health and Stress

Using the computer and being isolated for long hours caused health problems such as muscle and joint pain, irregular sleep, anxiety, and some levels of depression. These problems could have a severe impact on students’ academic achievement and instructors’ ability to provide the same high level of instruction as in the physical environment. Besides, in the spring and fall semesters, some students had up to 6 h of back-to-back scheduled classes which caused both mental and physical strain.

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Positive Outcomes Even though in the first week the students and I faced challenges spanning from network connectivity issues, lecturing using new technology, and communicating with each other online, student attendance was a great achievement. There was around 95% attendance in the first online class. This percentage is considered very high in comparison to the attendance rate of the on-campus classes. This was a very pleasant start to a new challenging time. Students found it more convenient to log in to the online classes rather than travelling to their respective campuses. By the second to the third week of teaching, my students at all levels of their programs became more engaged and motivated in our class discussions. Surprisingly, I started to notice participation from some of the more silent students from the faceto-face traditional classes because they found it easier to participate virtually in class discussions and ask questions. Students became more responsible concerning time management and prioritizing their tasks. In fact, they were more committed to submitting their assignments on time and responding to emails. This could be the result of lockdown and staying at home for such a long period. However, this new environment has improved student commitment to learning and allowed them to find their learning path by exploring new methods of solving questions and explaining them during the online classes. Moreover, students started to learn from each other during the online sessions. Students at different levels of study also appear to have become more self-reliant. Another solution to overcome the above challenges that students faced was the creation of informal online sessions (tutorial sessions) during the common free time to help students solve problems that are more mathematical and discuss their online learning difficulties, as well as tutorial sessions. This has become a way to maintain a sense of online community, which was lost when face-to-face interactions ceased.

Recommendations Whatever the educational model higher education institutions decide to implement, the following list of recommendations is based on the premise that higher educational models cannot continue as they were before the global lockdown. The pandemic of 2020 has brought an opportunity to evaluate our educational models and expose the weaknesses. The recommendations that follow are based on the reflective data described in this chapter and are related to the online or blended learning educational model and address the mode of delivery, assessments, and student learning for higher education institutions. The set of recommendations that follow is a combined list of suggestions from the two researchers’ reflective journals and data collection and represents a general list of recommendations for transitioning to online learning in higher education.

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Recommendation 1—On-Site Exams The main deficiency that was revealed in this study was the lack of exam rigour and security despite technology tools such as the Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor (RLDM). To ensure exam security, higher education institutions are recommended to invest in transforming some of their campus spaces into secure exam centres similar to the ones used for international exam boards. Alternatively, internationally accredited and approved educational centres can be outsourced. The most important elements to ensure are the administration of the exam and exam content security.

Recommendation 2—Multiple Assessment Strategies Based on the course content, instructors are recommended to apply a multiplemeasures assessment strategy which incorporates both alternative and traditional forms of assessment. Online assessments or e-assessments should be varied to address progressive achievement from remembering and understanding to evaluating and creating new knowledge based on the revised Bloom’s taxonomy (Noble, 2004). It is recommended that assessments that use more traditional objective, closeended test items are randomized, whereby the items come from a pool or item bank of questions. The timing of objective MCQ-type tests should be more closely monitored (45 s approximately for MCQs that include 4 response options where stems are 20 words or fewer). These tests do not need to be exclusively developed within the Learning Management System (LMS) but could be done within other creative tools such as Quizzes, Socrative, Quizlet, and Kahoot challenges. Open-ended questions that require analysis, evaluation, and creation are recommended to be administered using collaborative online tools such as Google+ documents and presentations, Office 365 tools, collaborative Prezi, Padlet, Microsoft Teams, and One Note to name a few tools. Such tools help develop students’ digital literacies and important communication and collaboration skills. It is also recommended that alternative assessments like projects, presentations, and portfolios are used to supplement the more traditional types of assessments.

Recommendation 3—Modes of Course Delivery Online teaching during the pandemic has uncovered that the instructor talk time and lesson preparation appeared to be high. Therefore, modes of course delivery are recommended to be varied to include screencasts, online broadcasted live sessions, and online tutorial sessions. The purpose of screencasts is for students to watch the main content at their own speed and at a time convenient for them. It is suggested that

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activities for the live sessions be ones where instructors can follow up on the flipped content and help students engage with it and understand it more fully. Recommendations for Online tutorial sessions are that they be collaboratively planned with other instructors to offer Q and A sessions, where guest speakers can be invited to engage with students, and/or a space where the class can provide a showcase of exemplary assignments, etc.

Recommendation 4—Future-Ready Students To develop the student persona 4.0 (Al Shamsi, 2020) described earlier, researchers recommend planning activities that help develop students’ key future competencies which include human skills, foresight, and adaptive technical skills. Future research should include an investigation about the best ways to train and develop students’ skills and competencies to be future-ready as part of their academic programs.

Recommendation 5—Length of Online Sessions and Scheduling Live online sessions should be conducted for not more than one hour. Lengthy sessions are tiring for both the instructor and the students where students lose their attention span. A ten- or fifteen-minute break between the sessions is needed. There should be no more than four to five sessions per day. Further research is needed to accurately estimate the number of live sessions and the best ways to schedule classes for this new teaching environment in higher education because this shift was not the typical distance or online learning approach that has existed since the 1900s (Visual Academy, 2020).

Recommendation 6—Investment in Simulations and Software for Online Labs Virtual labs can be effectively delivered online and remotely only if the latest simulations and software programs are made available to students. This means that educational institutions are advised to invest in technology that is relevant to students’ majors and help prepare them for the new job market. Curriculum developers need to develop courses and activities that are suitable for the current job market needs. Instructors can be from the industry or/and outsourced to match job market requirements.

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Conclusion Before embracing a fully online learning model in higher education institutions, it is important to set realistic expectations and timelines of the implementation to be 100% fully comfortable and established for both faculty and students. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted every aspect of the global industries, the education industry, in particular, was considerably impacted. Some organizations had put preparation plans in place and in advance with well-equipped resources. An example of that is the Higher Colleges of Technology, one of the largest higher education institutes in the Gulf Regoin, “The decisions we have taken over the years paid off when it was mandated to move to online learning in less than a week. Our faculty were well-prepared, but more importantly, our students were receptive to this type of learning environment” as Dr. Abullatif Al Shamsi said, President and CEO of HCT (Forker, 2020). Additionally, Khaled Assaleh, provost of Ajman University in the United Arab Emirates, shared his experience acknowledging the speed at which faculty and students embraced online learning (Nathan, 2020). “It was a positive and pleasant surprise that things went better than most universities anticipated in terms of course delivery, student responsiveness, and faculty adaptation to this mode of delivery,” Assaleh said. “Even student attendance has been better than face-to-face classes.” (Nathan, 2020).

References Al Shamsi, A. (2020, Feb. 12). HCT retention and students at risk workshop. Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai, UAE. Alammary, A., Sheard, J., & Carbone, A. (2014). Blended learning in higher education: Three different design approaches. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 30(4). Retrieved from: https://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET/article/view/693. Almazova, N., Rubtsova, A., Krylova, E., & Almazova-Ilyina, A. (2019). Blended learning as the basis for software design. Annals of DAAAM & Proceedings, 30, 0806–0813. Bazelais, P., & Doleck, T. (2018). Blended learning and traditional learning: A comparative study of college mechanics courses. Education and Information Technologies, 23(6), 2889–2900. https:// doi.org/10.1007/s10639-018-9748-9 Bonk, C. J., & Graham, C. R. (2012). The handbook of blended learning: Global perspectives, local designs. Wiley. Dimeo, J. (2017, November 15). Take my advice. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/ digital-learning/article/2017/11/15/peer-advice-instructors-teaching-online-first-time. Forker, M. (2020, June 16). HCT CEO Dr. Abullatif Al Shamsi on how technology is reshaping the future of learning. Retrieved from https://www.tahawultech.com/interviews/hct-abullatif-al-sha msi-technology-reshaping-future-learning/. Godinho, V. (2020, April 21). New evaluation system for UAE university students, no dismissals during Covid-19 crisis. Retrieved from: https://gulfbusiness.com/new-evaluation-system-for-uaeuniversity-students-no-dismissals-during-covid-19-crisis/. Gulf News. (May 28, 2020). E-learning works—And we all must embrace it. Retrieved from Gulf News online: https://gulfnews.com/opinion/editorials/e-learning-works--and-we-all-mustembrace-it-1.70569606.

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Houlden, S., & Veletsianos, G. (2019). A posthumanist critique of flexible online learning and its “anytime anyplace” claims. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50(3), 1005–1018. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12779 Liu, Y. H., & Tourtellott, M. (2011). Blending at small colleges: Challenges and solutions. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 15(1), 58–67. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ9 18219. Marques, C. (2020, May 12). COVID-19: World’s greatest online learning experiment. Retrieved from Gulf News online: https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/covid-19-worlds-greatest-onlinelearning-experiment-1.71433769. Mirriahi, N., Alonzo, D., & Fox, B. (2015). A blended learning framework for curriculum design and professional development. Research in Learning Technology, 23. Nathan, S. (2020, May 11). Where does higher education go from here? Retrieved from AlFanar Media Website:https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2020/05/future-higher-education-go-from-here/. Noble, T. (2004). Integrating the revised Bloom’s taxonomy with multiple intelligences: A planning tool for curriculum differentiation. Teachers College Record, 106(1), 193–211. Stanfield, R. B. (Ed.). (2000). The art of focused conversation: 100 ways to access group wisdom in the workplace. New Society Publishers. The United Arab Emirates’ Government Portal. (April 6, 2020). eLearning, mLearning and distance learning. Retrieved from: https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/education/elearning-mlearn ing-and-distant-learning. The United Arab Emirates’ Government Portal. (May 4, 2020). Distance learning in times of COVID-19. Retrieved from: https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/education/distance-lea rning-in-times-of-covid-19. VanDerLinden, K. (2014). Blended learning as transformational institutional learning. New Directions for Higher Education, 2014(165), 75–85. https://doi.org/10.1002/he.20085 Visual Academy. (2020). The history of online schooling. Retrieved from https://www.onlinesch ools.org/visual-academy/the-history-of-online-schooling/. Zainuddin, Z. (2015). Exploring the potential of blended learning and learning management systems (LMSs) for higher education in Aceh. Englisia Journal, 2(2), 70. https://doi.org/10.22373/ej.v2i 2.287

Lana Hiasat has a doctoral degree in educational leadership with a specialization in educational technology. She is currently the Program Team Leader of the General Studies department at Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai Men’s Campus in addition to being Senior Lecturer. Lana is a Senior Fellow HEA (SFHEA) and certified in Future Foresight, intercultural intelligence, emotional intelligence, and Kaizen Creativity. Lana has published in the areas of future foresight, emotional intelligence, smart learning, blended learning, educational leadership, intercultural intelligence, and online teaching and learning. Lana has served as the co-chair for several international conferences. She is a member of the Social Science Curriculum Development team, a taskforce to develop the national social sciences curriculum in the UAE and has developed a certified executive leadership course on emotional intelligence for educational leaders. She is a proud Toastmasters communicator and leader.

Chapter 9

Enhancing Critical and Creative Thinking Skills in Math at Post-secondary Level: Examining STEM Versus STeM for Efficiency and Effectiveness Hisham Hanfy, Georgia Daleure, Kamal Abuquad, and Suhaila Al Hosani Abstract The UAE vision 2021 emphasizes the importance of developing creativity, identifying the Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) model of curriculum development for inclusion in educational material for schools and universities in the UAE. Abundant literature on STEM curriculum development identifies an important challenge to successful implementation to secure qualified engineering experts within the budget constraints of the educational institutions. Thus, this study uses computer simulation software, easily sourced by the institution and easily administered by the math teacher, to replace the human engineering expert in the STEM versus STeM (Science Technology [without Engineering] Technology) curriculum. A quasi-experimental design was utilized with a total of 80 students from three intact math classes at a federal post-secondary institution in the United Arab Emirates. Group 1, or the Control Group (N = 26), was taught mathematics via the traditional method, not STEM or STeM. Group 2 (N = 27), or Experimental Group A, was taught using a STEM project-based learning approach with a faculty member from the Engineering department to create an engineering project prototype for four months. Group 3, or Experimental Group B (N = 27), was taught using STeM projectbased learning in which students used a simulation software facilitated by the math teacher to create the project. The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) was modified and adapted to measure the students’ creative thinking skills before and after the course. Results of the one-way ANOVA showed that the experimental and control groups were similar in the creative thinking skills test before the intervention. After the four-month intervention, results of the one-way ANOVA and the post-hoc test showed that there were significant differences in creative thinking overall and the sub-skills of fluency, flexibility, and originality between the groups with the two experimental groups similar to each other but higher than the control group. In addition, there were no significant differences in the comprehensive final examination grades among the three groups. The findings indicated that the STEM (using H. Hanfy (B) · G. Daleure · K. Abuquad · S. Al Hosani Sharjah, UAE e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_9

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an Engineering Expert) and STeM (using computer simulation administered by the math teacher) yielded similar results, both of which were higher than using traditional math teaching methods. However, with the added benefit of using relatively inexpensive computer simulation software administered by the normal classroom math teacher, no additional expertise is needed to achieve the higher results making this alternative attractive to educational institutions at all levels who have budget limitations and may not be able to source engineering instructors to fulfil the STEM curriculum development model.

Introduction Interest in the Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) curriculum model incorporating Project-Based Learning (PBL), sometimes called Problem-Based Learning, in education has been gaining in popularity over the last decade as education experts advise that it enhances creative and critical thinking skills and prepares students for the so-called STEM professions such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (America, 2007; Asghar et al., 2012; Frykholm & Glasson, 2005; Mosier et al., 2013). The federal vision of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) emphasizes the importance of developing creativity, identifying the Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) model of curriculum development for inclusion in educational material for schools and universities in the UAE. In the transition from an oil-based economy to an economy where oil production is not a major contributor, the UAE is progressing towards establishing a knowledge economy in which nationals are sought after as ‘employees of choice’ in the private sector by domestic and international employers (Zawya, 2014). To do this, the federal government of the UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are restructuring their Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) systems and are introducing labour market reforms reoriented towards global employment in the private sector fields of STEM. In the UAE, nationals constitute only about 20% of the overall population and less than 10% of the total workforce. Although Arabic is the official language of the UAE and the language in which governmental functions are carried out, English serves as the main commercial language. English is so important in the international economy of the UAE that the federal government established English as the language of instruction in federally funded tertiary institutions and is a required subject in government-funded primary and secondary institutions (Daleure, 2017). Although the STEM model does not specifically address language proficiency, learning in an integrated, demonstrative, and project-based environment would better enable students learning in their non-native language to conceptualize more complex topics. In fact, one variation of the model, STEAM, specifically incorporates the A for Arts which includes communication skills development, humanities, social science, fine arts, etc. (Dugger & Fellow, 2011).

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Abundant literature on the STEM curriculum identifies an important challenge to successful implementation which is securing qualified engineering experts within the budget constraints of the educational institutions (Capraro et al., 2013). In addition, there is insufficient data to conclude that using the STEM model, including PBL, promotes the development of creative thinking skills and better prepares students in higher education in the specific context of the United Arab Emirates. Thus, this study explores using computer simulation software, easily sourced by the institution and easily administered by the math teacher, to replace the human engineering expert comparing the overall effectiveness of the S-T-E-M versus STEM versus STeM options and in which model, if any, creative and critical thinking skills are enhanced.

Literature Review The review of literature includes a brief overview of the STEM curriculum model, highlighting the benefits and challenges of this method in general and in specific the case of the UAE. The section concludes with an explanation of creative and critical thinking skills.

STEM Model Although multiple definitions for the STEM model curriculum exist, Gerlach (2012) considers STEM education to be an interdisciplinary approach to learning where rigorous academic concepts are coupled with real-world applications of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in contexts that make connections between school, community, work, and the global world reality. He equates the development of STEM literacy and with the ability of students to compete in the workplace of the knowledge economy. At the post-secondary level, the most common course delivery method for science and mathematics courses is the traditional method which consists of offering lectures followed by labs with optional tutorial sessions for students who choose to participate in them (Nepal & Jenkins., 2011). That means that the flow of information is basically one way, from the teacher to the student. According to Cangelosi (2003) with lectures lasting up to two hours and completely separated from the interactive lab classes, with not all courses having lab segments, students often lose interest and motivation as passive recipients of knowledge rather than active participants in their own education. Planty and Provasnik (2007) advocate modern methods of teaching, based on cognitive science which motivates students to build knowledge rather than expecting students to absorb information as it is disseminated. In the more modern methods, students are motivated to use real-world concepts, experiences, technologies, and tools and are required to perform in teams to acquire, share, and identify knowledge to solve real issues. Some examples include project-based learning, integrated learning

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approaches, and worked integrated learning, all of which include the extensive use of problem-solving to enable students to connect theoretical concepts to concrete examples of how the concept is applied in authentic situations. Researchers including Cangelosi (2003) recommend Project-Based Learning, sometimes termed Problem-Based Learning (PBL), especially for math and engineering instruction because it is a collaborative, interactive, student-centred, and active learning approach which has been found to be particularly effective with math and engineering students. Students learn about the process, concept, or ideation while simultaneously applying it in a familiar or realistic situation so that the concept and the application are not separate in the minds of the students. PBL is one integral component of one of the most widely acclaimed teaching methods in recent educational literature, the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) model. Asghar et al. (2012) surmise that the popularity of the STEM model seems to centre on a belief among educators that students are more interested and attentive in the educational process when the components are integrated in an interdisciplinary way in an all-encompassing project. Anderson and Maninger (2007) concur stating that because the STEM model combines knowledge across disciplines, a new curriculum is formed to be taught as a whole, rather than in splintered parts. Lin et al. (2012) add that enabling students to learn complex topics by absorbing them in a project in which students are solving real-life issues provides a richer and deeper learning experience. Variations of the STEM model exist. In most American schools, each component of the model is taught separately then combined in one project sometimes near the end of the learning experience. This is referred to as S-T-E-M, signifying that all components are introduced separately. Another variation is STeM, signifying that Math, for example, is taught simultaneously with Science and Technology but not using an Engineering application. Another variation could be sTEM in which Science is not included in the application of an Engineering problem using Math and Technology to solve. Criticism of the obvious omission of the general studies subjects such as elements of the affective domain and arts topics in the STEM model has led to the development of one additional model, STEAM in which the A was added to represent Arts including communication skills acquisition, humanities, social science, and fine arts (Dugger & Fellow, 2011). Another significant criticism of the STEM model of curriculum development is the inability to source appropriate experts to appropriately implement the model. Institutions or educational systems may elect to move towards STEM education but neglect to properly train existing educators and/or experience an inability to hire teachers specializing in the STEM areas. Expert teachers in areas such as Engineering may demand higher salaries stretching budgets past their breaking point. Even if hired, existing teachers may feel resentful of colleagues drawing a higher salary with workplace conflicts arising. More often, experts are not hired, and existing teaches are expected to carry on in the absence of the professional with less-than-desirable results (Ejiwale, 2013). Teachers are human beings and as such their reservations and/or resentment in having a new and unfamiliar system imposed on them may cause frustrations. Those

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frustrations may then be carried forward to the students. This can happen when a non-specialist teacher is conducting a segment of a lesson in which the teacher is not an expert and experiences difficulties in front of the students. Training is often superficial or is not addressing lesson details so teachers may need to improvise with unexpected outcomes (Meyrick, 2011).

Creative and Critical Thinking Skills Although education experts agree that creative and critical skills are necessary skills for the future, experts cannot agree on one comprehensive definition (Bacanlı et al., 2011). Some experts such as Gardner (2011) have attempted to describe creativity, upon which creative and critical thinking skills are derived, instead. He insisted that creativity is the talent that enables students to solve problems and design new products in addition to creating new questions to solve designs further. Davis (2004) boils down creativity into the four ‘Ps’ specifically, product, process, person, and press, again another definition centred in design manufacturing. A more comprehensive explanation of creativity was put forward by Harris (1998) involving three elements: an ability, an attitude, and a process. Creativity involved being able to imagine or originate something new. This does not mean envisioning a new concept which has never before existed but also means the skills needed to envision existing or familiar objects or concepts in a new way for a new purpose or combining existing concepts or items to formulate something new or being used in a new way. Harris proposed that curiosity and flexibility be viewed as an attitude or willingness to toy with possibilities. The third part of Harris’ explanation stated that creativity must be used as part of the process of gradual and continual refinement. With creativity an elusive target to define, researchers shifted their focus to creative and critical thinking skills which can be more precisely defined, observed, and measured. Creative thinking skills involve the synthesis, investigation, and application of new ideas and solutions to problems which are well-known components of curriculum development taxonomies (ACARA, 2017). Siswono (2010) posits that creative and critical thinking skills can be measured by the fluency, flexibility, and novelty that students demonstrate in problem-solving by their ability to explore different strategies and solutions to open-ended questions and in students’ abilities to generate new problems as a result. In recent years, the UAE has attentively worked towards improving and upgrading the quality of public and private education in the country. In doing so, the UAE is focusing on STEM-based learning to produce human capital with better qualities to enhance the human capital in the country to assure that the upcoming graduates of the educational system will be the ‘employees of choice’ by public and private employers to maintain a healthy and vibrant economy especially in the areas in high demand including those in science and technology. Presently the acquisition of those skills at the primary and secondary levels is measured in terms of the performance on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) exams

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and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams (Malaeb, 2016). While the TIMSS and PISA may measure performance on discrete items related to STEM subjects, creative and critical thinking skills are not specifically singled out or measured. In order to ensure the development of creative and critical thinking skills, there must be a suitable tool to measure such skills at the formative and summative levels. Okere (1986) found that creativity, i.e. creative and critical thinking skills, is measurable in mathematics education. The formal psychometric measurement was initiated by Guilford in 1950 with a tool emerging from his group in 1967. Building upon Gilford’s efforts, the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) tests were developed (Kim, 2005; McIntyre et al., 2003; Scott & Mumford, 2004). Other tests include the Wallach–Kogan creativity test (Wallach & Kogan, 1956) and the Creative Achievement Questionnaire (CAQ) which measures attainment throughout ten creativity domains developed by Carson et al. (2005). For the purposes of this study, the definition of the University of Michigan (2008) is used which is the ability to use fluency, flexibility, and originality to solve problems. Having stated this, it is acknowledged that in the mathematics classroom, especially in pre-calculus, the creative thinking skills of teachers must also be enhanced. Teaching with creative teaching skills enables students to improve conceptions, attitudes, abilities, and behaviours in creative mathematics development. In addition, teaching with creative thinking skills encourages students to think wider and more broadly; appreciate creative ideas; and develop curiosity, confidence, and self-initiation in mathematics learning (Cheng, 2011). However, none of the tests mentioned in this section are suitable for testing creative and critical thinking skills in mathematics, the researchers adapted similar techniques to develop a test that measured creative and critical thinking in mathematics in the context of the UAE.

Methodology and Procedure Study Design This study examines the differences in the development of creative and critical thinking skills in three types of math delivery using a quasi-experimental approach with three intact groups of general math (pre-calculus) students in a federally funded post-secondary institution in the UAE. Group 1, the control group, was taught using the S-T-E-M, or traditional teaching method with all subjects taught separately. Group 2, the Treatment A group, was taught using the STEM delivery method using PBL with specialist teachers for each area (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Group 3, the Treatment B group, was taught using the STeM with a regular math teacher trained in using affordable easy-to-use simulation technology in place of the Engineering component.

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Group 1, the control group, was given traditional instruction similar to the other groups of students taking the same course at the same institution. The lessons consisted of traditional teaching methods such as lectures and labs with formative and summative assessments. Group 2, Treatment Group A, was taught using the STEM project-based learning approach. Students learned about pre-calculus topics while using an engineering design to create a prototype. Selected course periods were taught by a lecturer from the engineering department who was an expert in designing such projects. An engineering lab was available and used for the classes taught by the engineering lecturer as needed. Group 3, Treatment Group B, was taught using STeM project-based learning approach. Students learned about pre-calculus concepts using a simulation software that enabled students to work through a project in which pre-calculus skills were introduced and practised in the context of the project. The same math teacher taught all three groups. She was instructed to carry out the teaching with the control group as usual. She received training from a member of the research team on how to incorporate STEM PBL techniques using the two versions (STEM and STeM) models. She was given additional training in how to restructure the lessons to achieve the STEM PBL and STeM PBL models. The engineering lecturer that co-taught Group 2 (Treatment Group A) received training from the lead researcher on how to co-teach using the STEM model. This study followed the progress of the three cohorts over a 16-week period with the following measures in place for data collection: 1.

2. 3.

In the first week of class, Pre-tests were administered. The pre-tests were administered to all three groups and measured creative and critical thinking skills and students’ beliefs about the unity of knowledge. The control group received no intervention while Treatment Groups A and B received their respective treatments. In the last week of class (week 16), post-tests were administered to three groups measuring their creative and critical thinking skill and students’ beliefs about the unity of knowledge.

The process is shown in Fig. 9.1. In this study, the independent variables are the methods of delivery, i.e. STEM or STeM while the dependent variables are the scores on the post-tests as compared to the pre-test scores.

Participants All participants were from intact classes in a federally funded post-secondary institution in the UAE. Federally funded post-secondary institutions in the UAE practise gender separation in male and female campuses. Since the study took place on a male campus, all participants were male although the math lecturer was female and the

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Fig. 9.1 Experimental design

engineering lecturer was male. All participants were advised of the study and indicated their willingness to participate. All students were in the general math course (pre-calculus) offered in year 1 of their program of electrical engineering. All students lived in the specific catchment area in the northern Emirates assigned to the institution. All students were native Arabic speakers sharing a close social, economic, and cultural environment. Some students attended public secondary schools while others had attended private secondary schools. A total of 80 students participated with 26 students in Group 1, the Control Group, and 27 students in each of the Treatment Groups.

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Instruments Before the intervention, the researchers administered a pre-test designed to measure creative and critical thinking skills and a survey designed to understand the students’ beliefs about the unity of knowledge. After the intervention, students were given a post-test which was another version of the text designed to measure creative and critical thinking and another survey to understand students’ beliefs about the unity of knowledge. To create the assessment, the researchers reviewed several different tests including the following: • Torrance Test of Creative Thinking or TTCT (Torrance, 1966); • The Scientific Creativity Test (Hu & Adey, 2002); • The Primary School Mathematics Creative Thinking Skills Test (Abdel Fattah, 2008); • The Scientific Creativity Test (Pekmez, Aktamis, & Taskin, 2009); • Teachers’ Mathematical Creativity Test (Feeterly, 2010); • Grade Six Students Creative Thinking Skills Test (Abu Zaid, 2012); • The Physics Creative Thinking Skills Test (Farah, 2014); and • Creative Thinking in Mathematics: Are we able to solve mathematical problems in a variety of ways? (Maharani, 2014). Although items were not used from any of the exams mentioned, the concepts represented by the items in terms of how to assess for creative and critical thinking skills were reflected upon and synthesized into fresh items relevant to creative and critical thinking skills in math. Caution was taken so that the language level and vocabulary were appropriate for year 1 students studying in their non-native language. The Creative and Critical Thinking Assessment (CCTA) contained 10 items with six sub-sections: asking questions, cause guessing, cause guessing of an occurrence, improving products, alternative uses of common materials, and supposing. The subsets are described as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Asking questions: Students are asked to produce the largest possible number of questions based on a certain or given picture. Cause Guessing: Students are asked to state all the possible reasons that led to what appears in a given picture or graph. Cause guessing of an occurrence or an event: Students are asked to mention all that could result from a given or suggested situation or incident. Improving Products: Students are asked to write all amendments or additions that can be added to improve the product. Alternative Uses of Common Materials: Students are asked to give as many possible numbers of scientific uses as they can for some mathematical tools. Supposing: Student is asked to display why a default position is impossible and asked to write everything that he/she can that results from the occurrence of this situation on the assumption of impossibility and students must write all ideas and guesses that can arise if this event occurs.

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Table 9.1 Marking Rubric Skill

Statement

Fluency

• One point for every idea or response made by students for each of the given questions that are included in the six test questions • Marking scale excludes inappropriate ideas • Total score reflects the creative skills and fluency

Flexibility • One point for each category of responses that have the same or similar content • Total score reflects the creative skills, fluency, and flexibility Originality • One point for each not exceeding response percentage repetition of (5%) and the exclusion of any answer or response over the percentage repetition • Total score reflects the creative skills and originality

As recommended by the preceding test developers, the assessment items were open-ended and marked according to the following criteria: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Responses must demonstrate problem-solving and problem posing. Divergent answers and ways of solving should indicate flexibility, originality, and fluency. Associating responses with more than one mathematics knowledge/concept given covered in the classes. Easily and clearly understood information should capture the meaning without having a second interpretation.

Allocating marks was done by following a rubric modelled after the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) (Torrance, 1966). The target areas are shown in Table 9.1. There was no cap to the scores, and the scores are for comparative purposes among the three cohorts. The assessment was administered to a pilot sample of 30 students outside the participants of the study with the results examined for internal validity using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Skill

Correlation coefficients

Fluency

0.972

Flexibility

0.982

Originality

0.840

Findings This study investigated whether there was a significant difference in creative thinking among the three groups of students:

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• Group 1, the control group, who were taught using the traditional approach towards mathematics, • Group 2, Treatment Group A, the experimental group who were taught using the STEM project-based learning approach, and • Group 3, Treatment Group B, the experimental group who were taught using the STeM project-based learning approach with computer simulation. To do this, researchers administered two assessments, one before the intervention (pre-test) and one after the intervention (post-test).

Pre-test Results The researchers checked the homogeneity of variance between the experimental and control groups for the creative thinking test by using Levene’s Test before running an ANOVA. The results indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the Control and Treatment Groups. Means and standard deviations for the experimental and control groups in the creative thinking test (fluency, flexibility, originality, and overall) were calculated followed by a One-Way ANOVA test to determine the differences between the mean of the two experimental groups and the control group in the creative thinking test. The results of descriptive statistics are shown in Table 9.2. The data shown in Table 9.2 reveal the means and standard deviations for the Control and Treatment Groups were close in the CCTA overall and in the individual areas of fluency, flexibility, and originality. The results of the One-way ANOVA analysis are shown in Table 9.3. Similarly, as shown in Table 9.3, the results of the One-way ANOVA analysis indicate that there was no significant difference between the mean scores of the Control Group and Treatment Groups overall, nor in any of the individual skills criteria. Table 9.2 Means and standard deviation for the CCTA Assessment criteria

Control group (26)

Treatment group A STEM N(27)

Treatment group B STeM N(27)

Fluency

Mean

18.03

18.19

18.59

Flexibility

Mean

SD

Originality Overall

6.1

5.16

5.97

11.9

12.07

12.11

SD

2.89

2.6

2.78

Mean

1.61

1.44

1.67

SD

2.09

1.45

2.04

Mean

31.58

31.70

32.37

SD

10.62

8.68

10.31

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Table 9.3 One-Way ANOVA Table for the CCTA ANOVA Sum of squares Fluency before intervention

Between groups

Flexibility before intervention

Originality before intervention

Creative thinking skills test before intervention

df

Mean square

F

Sig

0.066

0.936

0.034

0.966

0.103

0.902

0.050

0.952

4.396

2

2.198

Within groups

2549.554

77

33.111

Total

2553.950

79

Between groups

0.523

2

0.261

Within groups

588.365

77

7.641

Total

588.888

79

Between groups

0.729

2

0.365

Within groups

272.821

77

3.543

Total

273.550

79

Between groups

9.715

2

4.858

Within groups

7546.272

77

98.004

Total

7555.988

79

Post-test Results After the intervention, the CCTA was administered to all three groups (the Control, Treatment Group A, and Treatment Group B). The data were analyzed by calculating the mean and the standard deviations of the students’ scores in the post-test overall and in the individual areas of originality, fluency, and flexibility. They were then compared to the pre-test results as shown in Table 9.4. Table 9.4 Comparison of pre-test and post-test scores Skill criteria

Group

Pre-test Mean

Fluency

Flexibility

Originality

Mean

Difference SD

Mean

SD

Treatment A

18.19

5.16

52.93

5.21

34.74

0.05

Treatment B

18.59

5.97

49.48

7.44

30.89

1.47

Control

18.03

6.1

22.96

5.08

4.93

−1.02

Treatment A

12.07

2.6

24.22

2.71

12.15

0.11

Treatment B

12.11

2.78

23.56

2.86

11.45

0.08

Control

11.9

−0.8

2.89

15.15

2.09

3.25

Treatment A

1.44

1.45

4.33

2.27

2.89

0.82

Treatment B

1.67

2.04

3.96

2.82

2.29

0.78

Control Overall

Post-test SD

1.61

2.09

2.19

2.1

0.58

0.01

Treatment A

31.70

8.68

81.48

9.76

49.78

1.08

Treatment B

32.37

10.31

77.00

44.63

2.29

Control

31.58

10.62

40.31

8.73

−1.79

12.6 8.83

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As is evident from the data in Table 9.4, improvement was found in the scores of all Groups. A slight improvement was found in the Control Group and significant improvement in both Treatment Groups in all three skills criteria was present. The best overall improvement occurred in the Treatment A Group, using the STEM model, whose overall mean score increased by nearly 50 marks. Independent sample t-test reveals the value of t (52) = 1.461, p = 0.150 > 0.05, which indicates that there is no significant difference between the mean scores of the Treatment A Group and the mean scores of the Treatment B Group in the overall creative thinking test. In the individual skills criteria of fluency, the Treatment B Group demonstrated an overall improvement of nearly 45 marks. The independent sample t-test reveals that t (52) = 1.971, p = 0.054 > 0.05. Thus, there was no statistically significant difference between the mean scores of Treatment Group A and the mean scores of Treatment Group B for fluency. In all of the individual criteria area for flexibility, Treatment Group A outscored the other two groups with the Treatment Group B scores not far behind. The independent sample t-test reveals that t (52) = 0.880, p = 0.383 > 0.05. Thus, there was no statistically significant difference between Treatment Group A and Treatment Group B. In the area of originality, Treatment Group A outscored the other two groups with Treatment Group B not far behind. The independent sample t-test reveals that t (52) = 0.531, p = 0.597 > 0.05. Thus, there was no statistically significant difference between Treatment Group A and Treatment Group B. In summary, while all three groups, (Control Group, Treatment Group A, and Treatment Group B), exhibited increases in post-test scores, the two treatment groups vastly outscored the control group in overall mean scores. In addition, Treatment Group A, using the STEM model, outperformed Treatment Group B, using the STeM model, in overall mean scores and in individual areas, but not to a statistically significant degree.

Conclusion This study demonstrated that students who experienced the STEM and STeM treatments did much better than students who received instruction in the traditional learning environment. Further, although students receiving the STEM treatment exhibited slightly higher scores than students receiving the STeM treatment on an assessment measuring creative and critical thinking skills, the differences were not statistically significant. The students receiving Treatment B, the STeM model, were taught by the normal classroom math teacher trained in STeM PBL techniques. She was trained to use relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use simulation software to create the PBL learning environment. The results of the study demonstrate how learning environments can be created which significantly increases students’ ability to use creative and critical thinking skills in a way that is cost-effective and utilizes the normal classroom teacher.

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Educational institutions which struggle to maintain high-quality educational programs while facing funding cuts may find the STeM option attractive. After receiving training in STeM techniques, regular classroom teachers using appropriate computer simulation software may be able to provide solutions that enable students to develop their creative and critical thinking skills in a way that the institution can afford.

References Abdel Fattah, I. E. (2008). The effect of using strategy (Think Pair participated) in the teaching of mathematics on the development of communication and creativity athlete have primary school pupils. Faculty of Education—Zagazig University. Abu Zaid, M. M. (2012). the effectiveness of using mathematical modeling on the development of creative thinking skills among sixth grade students in Gaza governorate. Al Azhar University— Gaza. ACARA. Critical and creative thinking learning continuum. Retrieved on 5 October 2017, https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/1072/general-capabilities-creative-and-criticalthinking-learning-continuum.pdf. America, I. (2007). Innovation America. The National Governors Association’s Innovation America. Anderson, S. E., & Maninger, R. M. (2007). Preservice teachers’ abilities, beliefs, and intentions regarding technology integration. Educational Computing Research, 37(2), 151–172. Asghar, A., Ellington, R., Rice, R., & Johnson, F. (2012). Supporting STEM education in secondary science contexts. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 6, 86–125. Bacanlı, H., Dombaycı, M., Demir, M., & Tarhan, S. (2011). Quadruple thinking: Creative thinking. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 12, 536–544. Cangelosi, J. S. (2003). Classroom management strategies: Gaining and maintaining students’ cooperation. Wiley Publishers. Capraro, R. M., Capraro, M. M., & Morgan, J. R. (2013). STEM project-based learning an integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) approach (2nd ed.). Sense Publishers. Carson, S. H., Peterson, J. B., & Higgins, D. M. (2005). Reliability, validity, and factor structure of the creative achievement questionnaire. Creativity Research Journal, 37–50. Cheng, V. (2011). Infusing creativity into Eastern classrooms: Evaluations from student perspectives. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 6(1), 67–87. Daleure, G. M. (2017). Emiratization in the UAE labor market: opportunities & challenges. Springer Publishing. Davis, G. (2004). Creativity is forever. Kendall/Hunt. Dugger, W. E., & Fellow, J. S. (2011). Evolution of STEM in the United States. International Technology and Engineering Educators Association. Retrieved from http://www.iteea.org/Res ources/PressRoom/AustraliaPaper.pdf. Ejiwale, J. A. (2013). Barriers to successful implementation of STEM education. Journal of Education and Learning, 63–74. Farah, H. (2014). The effectiveness of the brainstorming technique toward enhancing creative and critical thinking skills among secondary iraqi physics students. University of Malaya. Fetterly, J. M. (2010). An exploratory study of the use of a problem-posing approach on preservice elementary education teachers’ mathematical creativity, beliefs, and anxiety. Florida State University Libraries. Frykholm, J., & Glasson, G. (2005). Connecting science and mathematics instruction: Pedagogical context knowledge for teachers. School Science and Mathematics, 105(3), 127–141.

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Gardner, H. (2011). Creating minds: An anatomy of creativity as seen through the lives of freud, einstein, picasso, stravinsky, Eliot, G. Hachette UK. Gerlach, J. (2012, April 11). Books & resources. Retrieved from National Science Teacher Association: http://www.nsta.org/publications/news/story.aspx?id=59305. Hu, W., & Adey, P. (2002). A scientific creativity test for secondary school students. International Journal of Science Education, 389–403. Harris , R. (1998, July 1). Introduction to creative thinking. Retrieved April 5, 2017, from VirtualSalt: http://www.virtualsalt.com/crebook1.htm. Kim, K. (2005). Can only intelligent people be creative? A meta-analysis. Journal of Advanced Academics, 16(2–3). Lin, C. H., Liu, E. Z., & Huang, Y. Y. (2012). Exploring parents’ perceptions toward educational robots: Gender and socioeconomic difference. British Journal of Educational Technology, E31– E34. Maharani, H. R. (2014). Creative thinking in mathematics: Are we able to solve mathematical problems in a variety of ways? In International conference on mathematics, science, and education 2014 (pp. 120–125). Sultan Agung Islamic University. Malaeb, I. (2016). Science, mathematics education helps creative, critical thinking. Khaleej Times, Online, Education Section. http://khaleejtimes.com/education/Science-Mathematics-educationhelps-creative-criticalthinking. McIntyre, F. S., Hite, R. E., & Rickard, M. K. (2003). Individual characteristics and creativity in the marketing classroom: Exploratory insights. Journal of Marketing Education, 143–149. Meyrick, K. M. (2011). How STEM education improves student learning. Meridian K-12 School Computer Technologies Journal. Mosier, G., Levine, J. B., & Perkins, T. (2013). The impact of project-based learning on stem education in high-need schools. PBL and STEM education in high-need schools. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Nepal, K. P. & Jenkins, G. A. (2011). Blending project-based learning and traditional lecture-tutorial based teaching approaches in engineering design courses. In 22nd annual AAEE conference on engineering education (pp. 338–343). Fremantle, Western Australia. Okere, M. (1986). Creativity in physics education. Unpublished doctor of philosopy. University of London. Pekmez, E., Aktamıs, H., & Taskın, B. (2009). Exploring scientific creativity of 7th grade students. Journal of Qafqaz University, 26, 204–214. Planty, M., & Provasnik, S. (2007). High school coursetaking findings from the condition of education 2007. National Center for Education Statistics. Scott, G., & Mumford, M. D. (2004). The effectiveness of creativity training: A quantitative review. Creativity Research Journal, 361–388. Siswono, T. Y. (2010). Levelling students’ creative thinking in solving and posing mathematical problem. Journal of Mathematical Education, 1(1), 17–40. Torrance, E. (1966). The torrance tests of creative thinking-norms-technical manual research editionverbal tests. Forms A and B-Figural Tests, Forms A and B. Retrieved from http://ststesting.com/ ngifted.html. University of Michigan. (2008). Critical and creative thinking. Retrieved from 4th Ed. Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering: http://www.umich.edu/~elements/5e/probsolv/strategy/critn-creat.htm. ValueInnovations. (2016, March 17). The UAE plans to be The Most Innovative Nation by 2021. Retrieved from Value Innovations: https://valueinnovations.com/the-uae-plans-to-be-the-mostinnovative-nation-by-2021/ Wallach, M., & Kogan, N. (1956). Modes of thinking in young children: A study of the creativityintelligence distinction. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

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Zawya. (2014, February 17). Why science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields don’t attract more GCC women. Retrieved from Zawya: https://www.zawya.com/story/Why_Sci ence_Technology_Engineering_and_Mathematics_Fields_Dont_Attract_More_GCC_WomenZAWYA20140209060403/.

Hisham Hanfy is a mathematics faculty at the Higher Colleges of Technology with more than 24 years of experience in teaching mathematics in high school and higher education. Also, he has a solid background in the fields of Quality Assurance, Professional Development, Statistical Analysis and Curriculum Innovation. He believes that education is the milestone in building strong free students and that it is their key to succeed in life and be able to carry the responsibility of developing their own country.

Chapter 10

Tertiary Students in the UAE: Learning for Outcomes and the Social Affective Component James McLaughlin

Abstract This article describes an investigation into student learning approaches and course delivery at a higher education program in the United Arab Emirates. Interviews were carried out with thirteen male students attending required English for academic purposes courses at the college. Analysis of the interview data indicates strong use of social-affective strategies aimed at objective outcomes. Differences were noted between those classified as deep or surface-oriented learners in terms of their goals and the extent to which they described engaging in independent learning. As a whole, the results indicate that the students had an orientation to socially oriented teacher-focused learning and that this may have compensated for less well-developed independent learning skills. It is argued that a highly structured approach to instruction with considerable built-in support is likely to benefit learners in the current context.

Cultural Factors and Learning To date, there has been little empirical research on how cultural factors interact with learning within specific regional contexts. The research which is available suggests that learner motivation tied to outcomes and the use of cooperative strategies may be more important in some non-Western contexts. Frambach et al. (2014) carried out a qualitative comparative case study of problembased learning in medical colleges in Western Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia. For the Middle Eastern students, the authors noted that the students showed hesitance and uncertainty in problem-based discussion sessions particularly in the early stages. This was attributed partially to the teacher-centred nature of public school education in the region. The possibility for loss of face in a cultural context where public image is of high importance was also seen as a likely factor. When faced with the uncertainty of a new learning approach, the authors described the Middle J. McLaughlin (B) Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_10

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Eastern students making use of social-affective strategies. This included consulting with senior students on a case problem. In addition, the students organized informal meetings before a session where they agreed who would talk about what and made sure that all the learning topics were covered. In such a way, they reduced much of the uncertainty and risks associated with the activity. The authors found that Dutch students, conversely, were more inclined to challenge the opinions of other group members during the sessions. The Dutch students were described as more focused on the discourse process rather than group relations and outcomes. Fields (2011) investigated the learning habits of Emirati college students taking English courses in the UAE. The qualitative study found a narrow range of cognitive strategies and described metacognitive strategies as not part of the student learning repertoire. On the other hand, social-affective strategies were reported as most developed and used to compensate for the deficiencies in the other areas. Kember (2000), in a study of students at the University of Hong Kong, found students showed a strong orientation to achievement-focused learning, but this was frequently social and cooperative in nature rather than individualistic and competitive. He also discussed the importance of career relatedness to student motivation. He noted that courses seen by the students as providing good career preparation were linked to high motivation. Conversely, courses not seen as contributing to career preparation were associated with lower levels of motivation. The participants in the above studies likely shared a stronger collectivist cultural orientation than is the case with most Western students. Collectivist culture is characterized by the interdependence of group members and individual behaviour which is strongly guided by group norms (Hui & Triandis, 1986). People with collectivist values have a heightened awareness of their social context and place a high value on the relationships within that context. Students from such a background will place considerable importance on the opinion of others such as parents, teachers, other authority figures, and their classmates. As such, what they perceive is important about learning is highly attuned to social relationships, expectations, and perceived requirements in the greater learning context (Aktas, 2012). Hofstede et al. (2005) placed Arab culture approximately mid-way on the collective index with a score close to that of China. As might be expected, Western countries have the lowest collective scores. For the indigenous peoples of the Arab Gulf states, a collectivist orientation is evident in a strong adherence to gender roles and dress conventions, concern for public modesty, and conformity of religion. As well, Naffsinger (1995) states, for Arab peoples, dignity, stature, and public reputation are matters of great personal concern. It is, therefore, likely that Emirati students will perceive as important outcomes linked to social standing. The evidence from the studies above suggests that such students may more readily cooperate and employ other social-affective strategies to achieve outcomes, ease anxiety, and maintain motivation.

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The National and Institutional Context Formal education and particularly higher education are quite new to the Arab Gulf states. At the time the UAE gained independence in 1972, there were no universities and few schools. Since then, the expansion of public education has led to remarkable progress in reducing the illiteracy rate. Prior to independence, more than 80 per cent of the population was illiterate. However, by 2000, literacy had increased to the point that about three-quarters of the adult population were classified as literate (Clarke, 2006). Despite such progress, public education in the UAE is characterized by its critics as ignoring creativity and problem-solving skills while emphasizing rote learning (Bahgat, 1999). Professional deficiencies among public school teachers and insufficient support for professional development are often cited as factors in perpetuating these shortcomings. Lack of parental involvement is also mentioned as a problem (Dada, 2011; Macpherson et al., 2007). Emirati students have been described as passive in their approach to learning and relying heavily on content memorization over understanding (King, 2011). To the extent that such characterizations are true, Emirati students might be expected to have difficulty coping (especially in the early stages) with the more unstructured and individually oriented context of college. However, to date, there is little empirical research on how Emirati students go about their studies. The current study was conducted at a technology college for Emirati men. The language of instruction was English, whereas Arabic was most often spoken at home. Although most students attended in the daytime, there were a sizable number of employed students attending in the late afternoon and evening. The participating students were enrolled in an applied bachelor’s program. Upon entering the program, students took English for academic purposes courses (EAP) in reading, writing, and spoken communication. The aim of the current study was to investigate the interaction between student learning approaches and course design at the college. Although the investigation focuses on the English for academic purposes (EAP) courses, evidence linked to other courses forms part of the analysis.

Method The Research Approach Qualitative methodologies are generally associated with the interpretive research paradigm. This approach does not accept that human behaviour is determined; rather it holds that people are wilful agents who take deliberate action. Human interactions are multi-layered, non-static, and subject to multiple understandings. The primary theory of knowledge underpinning interpretive research is constructivism. Constructivism maintains that people build meaning out of their interactions with the ‘realities’

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of the world. Further, people often construct differing meanings in different ways about the same thing. Since knowledge is developed and transmitted within a social framework, culture plays an important role in the construction of meaning (Cohen et al., 2007; Crotty, 1998). The research approach used in the current study was not meant to determine student behaviours and attitudes in measurable terms. It, instead, intended to suggest factors that may be important in the way students approach learning in the current context, especially in relation to their courses.

Participant Selection The participants indicated their readiness to participate in a questionnaire used as part of a related quantitative study (McLaughlin & Durrant, 2017). Those contacted to be interviewed scored high on either the deep or surface domains of the Revised Study Approach Questionnaire (Biggs et al., 2001). Deep learning is linked to intrinsic motivation and learning for mastery and meaning. Surface-oriented learning, on the other hand, is associated with extrinsic motivation and strategies to achieve short-term outcomes. It was intended that both types of learners be represented in the interviews. Of the individuals interviewed, eight respondents had scores associated with deep learning and three had scores associated with the surface learning approach. The analysis also includes data from the pilot interview. The pilot interviewee scored high on the deep approach, which qualified him for inclusion. The questions asked were substantially the same as those during the other ten interviews.

Interview Procedure The interviews employed a semi-structured format. The questions were presequenced to ensure an orderly progression during each interview and to aid in data analysis across the transcripts (Appendix 1). The interviewer sometimes asked follow-up questions to probe for more information, narrow in on points of interest, or receive clarification on interviewee statements. If necessary, the interviewer rephrased questions for clarification. The aim of the interviews was to gain insight into the motivations and learning strategies of the participants especially as they pertained to their EAP courses. However, the discussion often moved to other courses as well. With the consent of the participants, the discussions were recorded. They were conducted in English, which was the language of instruction at the college the students were attending. The interviewer told the participants that the interview was in no way an evaluation and that there were no right or wrong answers. The discussions ranged in time from 11 to 22 min.

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Interview Data Analysis Two forms of coding termed structural and process were applied to the interview data. In structural coding, the coder applies topics to identify and label large segments of text. Often, the text segments are associated with interview questions, which, in turn, are an outcome of the research focus. Unexpected topics arising during the interviews are also coded in this way. Saldana (2013) states structural coding is appropriate when there are multiple participants. She also maintains that it is appropriate for semi-structured interview transcripts. During process coding, on the other hand, the coder applies action words (gerunds—verbs with ‘ing’) to suggest actions in the data. Saldana (2013) states that this type of coding is appropriate when looking for action, interaction, or emotion. These often occur because of situations or problems the interviewee is facing. They are often linked to efforts to manage problems or achieve goals. During cycle 1 coding, the coder coded the transcripts one at a time. Along with structural codes, structural sub-codes were added as appropriate. Process coding occurred simultaneously with the structural coding. During cycle two coding, emergent process code themes were identified under the structural codes across the transcripts (see Figs. 10.1 and 10.2). Where appropriate, notes were added to the codes to reflect how the comments related to other statements made by the participant.

• Transcripts individually coded

Cycle 1

Cycle 2

Fig. 10.1 The coding cycles

• Look for code themes across parƟcipant transcripts • Codes sharing a common theme are grouped and named

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•Analyze all process codes which occur with a given stuctural code (eg., ‘Learning Strategies’)

Analyse

Organize • Group the codes according to their common themes

•Give names to the process code themes under the structural code •Repeat process

Catagorize

Fig. 10.2 Cycle 2 process coding

Results The tables in this section contain the codes from the cycle 2 coding. The numbers in the brackets indicate how many informants provided information in relation to a given code. This is not intended to suggest that the codes can be viewed as proportional to one another in a quantitative sense. It is only intended to indicate the relative importance of some codes relative to others. From here, one might consider the possibility of their relative strengths in the population from which the informants were drawn. In the discussion below, structural codes are shown as underlined and process codes are highlighted in bold print. Those categorized as deep and surface learners were analysed separately for the structural codes of motivation or learning strategies (Table 10.1). It was anticipated that differences might emerge between deep and surface learners in relation to these two topics. In addition, this helped to ensure that the perspectives of the surface learners were given fair treatment given their smaller number. Table 10.1 is organized into columns showing learner style, main structural code, and process codes. Attending to the teacher was a prominent code for both the deep and surface categorized learners under learning strategies. Mohamed (a deep learner) says attending to the teacher was an important part of the student’s overall approach along with practicing: First of all focusing on the teacher. And writing notes. And attend the classes without any absence. Then I should practice at home. Without practicing I am going to forget everything.

Faris (a surface-oriented learner) describes attending to the teacher in a way that is more classroom context-dependent: Well the first one because—you know—in classroom—what you study in classroom is everything—is pretty much the material and you know… how can I say this .. What you study in the classroom is what you learn and you should take that seriously because you know—your tests are going to be based on that, your projects

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Table 10.1 Codes for deep and surface learners Learner style

Structural

Process

Deep approach (8)

Learning strategies

Practicing (7) Attending to the teacher (5) Understanding concepts (4) Practical learning (2) Group learning (2) Taking Notes (2)

Surface approach (3)

Avoiding Learning (3) Practical learning (2) Attending to the teacher (2)

Deep approach (8)

Motivation

Intrinsic Interest in learning (7) Career and professionally related learning (4) Learning for academic success (3) Attaining grades (2)

Surface approach (3)

Externalized outcomes (2) (attaining marks; progressing in the college) Avoiding learning (2)

Understanding and practice was a prominent code for those categorized as deep learners but which does not occur with the surface learners. This comment is representative of avoiding learning which is a theme limited to the surface learners: I do what teacher ask to do. I don’t like to do extra things. Because sometimes I don’t have time.

Intrinsic interest in learning, under motivation, is a prominent theme among those categorized as deep learners with seven respondents having process codes under the theme. Next, career and professionally related learning has four students providing comments linked to this code. The statement below characterizes a combination of these two themes: Well that’s just the thing about me—If I understand a topic completely, like I said that something is practical, I just find it interesting. It’s just the way it is. For example, I am a businessman to be honest. I have my own business and accounting goes so hard for me until I became account my own business. Well I mean after I just worked on it—just became easier, became more interesting after I know how to do it

The statement below suggests strong intrinsic interest in career-relevant content: First of all, the personal satisfaction is like for achieving. Whenever you achieve something, you have some satisfaction. So for me when I learn something and if I learn it very quick and like I master it, so for me I feel like I did something new, I achieved something. So this would help me in my future life. For example, like when we learn about interviews or like communications, these help me a lot. And about the interesting once I get into it, of course, everything new for me is interesting.... So like I learn it I get in to it because I want to learn

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something new in it. For example, the security, I want to learn how to hack. I want to learn how to protect myself from hacking so on

Table 10.2 has the structural codes that are more closely linked to the curriculum. This table is organized into structural, sub-structural, and process codes. For course-focused strategies, in total, five themes emerged for the two EAP courses that the participants were taking. The leading theme to emerge was moving from guided to more independent learning. Other codes occurring were attending to prescribed outcomes, mastering content, and developing writing skills. Using the teacher as a resource (teacher resourcing) showed up as a minor code. Under the topic of course-specific motivational factors, valuing course skills relevant for career goals was the only theme to emerge in relation to both the EAP reading and writing course and spoken communication courses. This statement is indicative of the importance students place on developing skills relevant to career goals: When we graduate from the college, we will need to do a presentation like we work in any company they usually have the presentation, have the meeting, it’s very important

For the reading and writing skills course, under the topic of valued course-related outcomes, developing independent learning skills was a reoccurring code with four students giving comments in relation to this theme. Developing academic reading and writing skills is associated with three student comments. Finally, developing analytical skills is associated with two student comments. For valued outcomes in the oral communication course, four students provided comments linked to developing career-related skills. The next most prevalent theme was developing presentation skills. Finally, developing independent learning skills was linked to statements from two of the six interviewees providing comments under this topic. Across both EAP courses under the topic of valued course-related outcomes, developing independent learning skills is the only theme emerging. Of interest is that the majority of students when discussing EAP spoken communication linked it to career skill development. However, career skill comments did not come about in relation to the reading and writing skills course. The interaction below indicates the importance the participant places on career skill development as an outcome of the oral communications class: ..best thing about the course. I would say the project that we had, the meetings, the business meetings- I mean they were more practical, they make you understand and listen more just reading papers or something so I mean just practicality

You say they’re practical—in what way are they practical? Well. Let’s say for example, the business meeting. I mean we pretend to group of five and we had to sit down, and just talk like pretend that we are at a work place and just … I mean evolve our skills- just business skills

Providing structured, manageable, and outcome-focused content is the only process theme to emerge for valued teaching approaches. This provides more

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Table 10.2 Curriculum linked codes Structural

Structural sub-code

Process

Course-focused strategies

EAP reading and writing (5)

Moving from guided to more independent learning (4) Attending to prescribed outcomes (3) Mastering content (3) Developing writing skills (3) Teacher resourcing (2)

EAP spoken communication (5)

Moving from guided to more independent learning (4) Mastering content (4) Attending to prescribed outcomes (3)

Course-specific motivational factors

EAP reading and writing (5)

Valuing course skills relevant for educational goals (2) Valuing course skills relevant for career goals (2)

Valued course-related outcomes

EAP spoken communication (5)

Valuing course skills relevant for career goals (3)

EAP reading and writing (5)

Developing independent learning skills (4) Developing academic reading and writing skills (3) Developing analytical skills (2)

EAP spoken communication (6)

Developing career-related skills (4) Developing presentation skills (3) Developing independent learning skills (2)

Described other student motivation factors (9)

Social interaction at the class level (4) Making course material practical (2) Passing the course (2)

Improving the course

Making courses more practical (2)

Other student learning strategies (3)

Teacher-focused learning (3)

Valued teaching approaches (5)

Providing structured, manageable, and outcome-focused content (5)

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evidence for an orientation towards outcomes (supporting achievement) and a desire for considerable instructional support to achieve outcomes. In regard to what they saw as important in motivating other students, having social interaction at the class level was the strongest theme with making course material practical and passing the course occurring as minor themes. Under other student learning strategies, the theme which emerged was teacher-focused learning. These themes point to a perception of social factors as being important while providing further evidence of the importance of practical outcomes to the students. The comments below suggest the importance of social interaction and practical content as valued learning components: Ah..in my view, the college is it’s already motivate us like give some exhibition some practice we must do it, things like that. It motivate the student. Even the doctors in the class they like sometimes when teaching make a time for say funny things, and to talk about like match, talk about what’s happening, like your problems, something outside the topic, like just a discussion

As this one: To me, you need to concentrate on their interests. Most students don’t like to study. Most students don’t like the teacher to talk so much from the board, give us paper, give us homework and so on. Give them their interest, make your class more interactive even if it’s like English, math and so on. Make them work like put it in a real life event—a real life situation. This way they will interact with you.

Discussion I will now discuss what the data indicates about the motivational orientations and learning strategies of the participating students. Later, I consider the implications of the findings to EAP instruction in the Gulf context and possibly other learning contexts.

Social-Affective Strategies and Context-Based Learning One of the main findings to emerge from the data is the importance of social-affective strategies among the participants. Across the two learning orientation groups (deep and surface), attending to the teacher was an important theme in how the students went about learning. Further, it is the only theme to emerge in how the participants described the way other students went about learning. There was also evidence that students looked to peers as learning resources. The student comments below are an example: Um..if you want to know, nobody studies alone in the college—they always study in groups. There is a leader and there’s the followers. The leader is the one who understands and teaches other students. The other students who cannot understand.. lets say the lesson themselves,

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have to go to the leader and he is the one teaches them the subject and they are the ones who memorize the subject. So there are like basically two parts.

That the participants indicated an orientation towards social-affective strategies (in that they resourced their teachers and peers) coincides with Fields’ (2011) findings that students make use of social-affective strategies to help overcome deficiencies in their individual learning strategies. It also to some extent corresponds to Frambach et al.’s (2014) findings of Arab students seeking out experienced students for guidance and group preparation for assessment. Besides teacher centeredness, other themes emerged from the analysis that also point to a perceived need on the part of the participant for on-going support and skill mentoring. These include moving from guided to more independent learning; developing independent learning skills; providing structured, manageable, and outcome-focused content; in addition to attending to the teacher. The educational background of the participants may partially explain the prominence of the attending to the teacher theme. Most of the students had come from a public education system characterized as highly teacher-centred and lacking emphasis in the development of independent learning skills (Bahgat, 1999; Shah & Baporikar, 2011; King, 2011). The recent introduction of modern education and literacy to the region is likely a factor. Cultural practices that promote independent learning (such as reading for pleasure, being encouraged to pursue topics for interest alone) may not yet be established in Emirati society. It is perhaps not surprising that the students would expect strong teacher and course content support for their learning given this sort of background. Despite the points outlined above, the results also suggest that among the participants classified as deep learners, independent learning strategies were indicated with the themes, practicing and understanding concepts. Understanding concepts may correspond to cognitive strategies such as paraphrasing, identifying important points, making analogies and generalizations, making connections, and expanding on the material that has been presented. While practicing might only involve memorization, it is likely to also involve efforts to understand and master content (Lyke & Kelaher Young, 2006). Therefore, while students may have employed social-affective strategies to compensate for learning skill deficiencies and expected highly structured content to support their learning, it is also evident that students, in many cases, were working to develop their independent learning skills.

Outcome-Focused Learning In the interviews, practical and career-related learning was often linked to reports of intrinsic motivation. This suggests that the students received satisfaction from learning while at the same time being motivated towards grade attainment and learning for career goals.

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This finding parallels Kember’s (2000) finding that students in Hong Kong were more motivated towards course content that they were able to link with career outcomes. This tendency may be a result of a shared collective orientation in the students where learning is valued in relation to socially prescribed outcomes. As Aktas (2012) discusses, individuals belonging to more collectivist cultures (as such may be the case for Emirati students) are likely to place increased emphasis on socially prescribed outcomes and will be highly attuned to the opinions of socially significant others such as classmates, parents, teachers, and other agents of authority. Coinciding with Frambach et al. (2014) and Fields (2011), the students in the current study seem to employ social-affective strategies to help achieve outcomes. This is done by attending to the teacher more than might be expected in other tertiary contexts and collaborating with other students to overcome the uncertainties of tertiary-level learning. In addition, the students indicated a desire and expectation for structured content with clear outcomes built in, especially in the earlier stages of their college programs.

Implications for Instruction and Course Design In contexts where students may not be ready for the high degree of independent learning associated with tertiary study, greater teacher and content support may be required. Kember (2000) in his investigation of the learning approaches of East Asian students noted that change from the didactic teacher-centred teaching approaches (which the students were familiar with) to student-centred approaches required enough time and support for the students to adapt (Kember, 2000). Emirati students may similarly need time and support to move from the sort of content reproduction approach that they are familiar with to an approach that focuses on learning material assimilation and novel production. Students entering a tertiary system may first need to take courses aimed at developing their general learning skills. This might include courses on study skills, communication skills, and research skills as part of a first-year general studies program or foundations year program. Such courses would contain easily accessible content possibly on an online platform. In addition, the content would be highly ordered and likely linked to weekly instructional outcomes. Assessments would occur often and may be relatively low stakes. In this way, students would receive regular feedback on their performance. Well-structured tasks (WSTs) are linearly and hierarchically designed activities that incorporate resources, useful information, and sub-goals. This might include detailed information on clearly defined topics along with highly structured worksheets. WSTs are also likely to provide specified grading criteria in the form of detailed rubrics (Lodewyka et al., 2009). Conversely, ill-structured tasks (ISTs) are characterized by more ambiguous problems that require the learner to connect or fuse information; make use of existing knowledge; locate external resources and information; consider the problem from various points of view; and work with less precisely

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defined task requirements. In addition, assessment criteria, useful for gauging the current state of success or progress, are less detailed (Lodewyka et al., 2009). At the start, students working with WSTs are likely to experience greater selfefficacy and will tend to perform better than with ISTs. This is because WSTs contain more support. However, a potential drawback of a WST approach is that the students may become task support-dependent. This, in turn, may dampen the development of self-regulation and the ability to apply what has been learned to novel situations. Unsurprisingly, moderate academic achievers experience more success with WSTs than with ISTs (Lodewyka et al., 2009). In the case of the current context (and perhaps other tertiary settings in the Gulf states region), a WST approach may promote student affect and provide greater feelings of accomplishment in students. As well, students working to achieve greater independence may be bolstered by an approach with strong teacher involvement. This involvement would take the form of increased feedback, explanation, and, in some cases, intervention to help students to achieve motivating outcomes while learning.

Appendix Interview Questions Opening • How long have you been a student at the college? • Could you tell your major subject? • Last semester, did you take (reading and writing) or (spoken communication)? Let’s talk about how you like to learn. • How do you like to learn the content from your classes? • What do you think is the best way to learn the sorts of things taught in your classes at the college? • Do you mind if we talk about your answers to the questionnaire about the course? – You give very (a) high (low) scores for the item(s) …. Can you tell me why? – In this (these) other item(s), your scores are somewhat different? Why do you think that is? • How do most students in this college like to learn? Let’s talk about your experience with the academic reading and writing/spoken communication course. • What was the best thing about the course? • Was there anything you didn’t like about it? • Do you feel the course will be helpful to you in the future? How so? – What was more important about this course, remembering things or understanding things? Why?

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– To do well in the course, what was more important, following the instructions or thinking of the best way to do things on your own? • To do well in the course, what was most important? • Would you say the course encourages student independence (so that they can learn things by themselves)? In what ways? (why not?) • What would you change about the course to make it better? • What’s the best way to motivate students at this college?

References Aktas, M. (2012). Cutural values and learning styles: A theortical framework and implications for management deveopment. Procedia—Social and Behahavioral Sciences, 41, 357–362. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.04.041 Bahgat, G. (1999). Education in the Gulf monarchies: Retrospect and prospect. International Review of Education, 45(2), 127–136. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003610723356 Biggs, J., Kember, D., & Leung, D. Y. (2001). The revised two-factor study process questionnaire: R-SPQ-2F. British Journal of Educational Pychology, 71(1), 133–149. https://doi.org/10.1348/ 000709901158433 Clarke, M. (2006). Beyond antagonism? The discursive construction of ‘new’ teachers in the United Arab Emirates. Teaching Education, 17(3), 225–237. https://doi.org/10.1080/104762106 00849698 Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research methods in education. Routledge. https:// doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8527.2007.00388_4.x Crotty, M. (1998). The foundations of social research: Meaning and perspective in the research process. Sage. Dada, R. (2011). Teacher leadership in the Arab Gulf: Expatriates and Arab educators mentor each other. In C. Gitsaki (Ed.), Teaching and learning in the Arab world (pp. 205–228). Peter Lang Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2011.01247_4.x. Fields, M. (2011). Learner motivation and strategy use among university students in the United Arab Emirates. In C. Gitsaki (Ed.), Teaching and learning in the Arab world (pp. 29–48). Peter Lang Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2011.01247_4.x. Frambach, J., Driessen, E., Beh, P., & Van der Vleuten, C. (2014). Quiet or questioning? Students’ discussion behaviors in student-centered education across cultures. Studies in Higher Education, 39(6), 1001–1021. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2012.754865 Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2005). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. McGraw Hill. Hui, C., & Triandis, H. (1986). Individualism—Collectivism: A study of cross-cultural researchers. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 17(2), 225–248. https://doi.org/10.1177/002200218601 7002006 Kember, D. (2000). Misconceptions about the learning approaches, motivation and study practices of Asian students. Higher Education (40), 99–121. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004036826490. King, M. (2011). Implementing problem-based learning in the Gulf: A case study of Arab students. In C. Gitsaki (Ed.), Teaching and learning in the Arab world (pp. 357–376). Peter Lang AG. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2011.01247_4.x. Lodewyka, K. R., Winne, P. H., & Jamieson-Noel, D. L. (2009). Implications of task structure on self-regulated learning and achievement. Educational Psychology, 29(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/01443410802447023

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Lyke, J. A., & Kalaher Young, A. J. (2006). Cognition in context: Students’ perceptions of classroom goal structures and reported cognitive strategy use in the college classroom. Research in Higher Education, 47(4), 447–490. https://doi.org/10.1007/sl1162-005-9004-1 Macpherson, R., Kachelhoffer, P., & El Nemr, M. (2007). The radical modernization of school and education system leadership inthe United Arab Emirates: Towards an indigenized and educative leadership. International Studies in Educational Administration, 35(1), 60–77. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/1741143216636112 McLaughlin, J., & Durrant, P. (2017). Student learning approaches in the UAE: The case for the achieving domain. Higher Education Research and Development, 36(1), 158–170. https://doi. org/10.1080/07294360.2016.1176998 Naffsinger, P. A. (1995). ‘Face’ among the Arabs. Retrieved October 25, 2013, from Central Intelligence Agency: https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/ vol8no3/html/v08i3a05p_0001.htm. Saldana, J. (2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Sage. Shah, I. A., & Bapopikar, N. (2011). The suitability of imported curricula for learning in the Gulf States: An Oman perspective. In C. Gitsaki (Ed.), Teaching and learning in the Arab world (pp. 275–292). Peter Lang Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2011.01247_4.x.

James McLaughlin has an Ed. D. (TESOL focus) from the University of Exeter. He has taught at the tertiary level in the United Arab Emirates for 18 years and is currently an assistant professor at the Higher Colleges of Technology. As a leader of English for academic purposes and research methods courses he has developed a strong interest in student learning approaches and course design. He has presented at international conferences in Dubai, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi. His research publications include Student learning approaches in the UAE: The case for the achieving domain in Higher Education Research and Development, 2017.

Chapter 11

Students’ Perceptions and Attitudes Towards Using Blogs as a Supplementary Learning Tool to Enhance Writing Skills at a Private University in Dubai Jessica Saba Abstract Writing is one of the English language skills that is crucial for university students’ academic success. However, it can be very challenging for second language learners to master this skill, and English language instructors often face challenges when trying to motivate students to write using the target language. The modernization of education has introduced Web 2.0 technologies that can assist in the teaching and learning process, and they include social networking sites, media sharing tools, and collaborative editing tools such as blogs. Blogs can easily be integrated into writing courses to make this particular skill more interesting for students. The following study aims to explore and investigate students’ perceptions and attitudes towards using blogs as a supplementary learning tool to enhance writing at a private university in Dubai, UAE. The findings of this study have proven to show positive attitudes towards this learning tool that was used to improve students’ writing skills in an English Communication Skills course. Keywords Blogs · Writing skills · Student perceptions and attitudes

Introduction Writing is one of the most important English language skills and is a major requirement in colleges and universities (Warschauer, 2010). It is very important for students in higher education to be exposed to writing skills for several reasons; it is a crucial skill for academic success, it aids in the development of academic language proficiency, and it helps students raise awareness of knowledge gaps, and allows instructors to better understand students’ thinking process (Yih & Nah, 2009; Aljumah, 2012). Even though writing is one of the most important skills of the English language, it can be challenging for second language learners to master. Witte (2007) explains that students show little interest when it comes to writing; he also explains J. Saba (B) Uptown Motor City, Dubai, UAE e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_11

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that one of the main reasons for not being able to master writing easily is directly linked to the demotivation that they feel when it comes to writing. Because motivation plays a big role in teaching and learning English as a second language, instructors find it challenging to design and implement the best methods to keep students motivated. Instructors specifically struggle with motivating students to write and with keeping them engaged in such activities. There are several reasons that justify students’ demotivation towards writing; their anxiety that results from their weak writing skills is one of those reasons (Yih & Nah, 2009). Other reasons can be that students find this skill boring, or it just takes time and effort. Some students might not find interest in writing when the teacher is the only audience and might have writer’s block as a result (Yih & Nah, 2009). Because of these challenges and concerns, educators have started to resort to modern education techniques and tools that can make writing interesting for students. The modernization of education requires the introduction of innovative technologies such as Computer Technology, the Internet, and Web 2.0 technologies that aim at the “development of creative thinking, productive imagination, memory, attention, and cognitive activities” (Kuimova & Zvekov, 2016, p. 157). Not only have the internet and Web 2.0 technologies been taking over people’s daily lives, but they have also emerged into education as well since the internet has become more available in different parts of the world (Greenhow et al., 2009 as cited in Luo & Franklin, 2015). Web 2.0 is defined as a “collaborative medium that allows users to communicate, work together, and share and publish their ideas and thoughts” (Rollett et al., 2007, p. 93 as cited in Heo & Lee, 2011, p. 133). The Web 2.0 technologies, which can assist in the teaching and learning process, include ‘social networking sites’ like Facebook and Twitter, ‘media sharing” tools such as YouTube, and ‘collaborative editing tools’ such as blogs (Luo & Franklin, 2015, p. 236). Weblogs, or blogs, are one of the most popular Web 2.0 technologies which can easily be integrated into a second language learning environment and that can aid in making the writing skill interesting for students (Li et al., 2013). They are one of the most popular social media forms that are specifically used in higher education (Al-Qallaf & Al-Mutairi, 2016; Moran et al., 2011 as cited in Garcia et al., 2019). However, the engagement of students with blogs depends on their perceptions and attitudes of using blogs in the ESL classroom; therefore, it is crucial to deeply look into what students think about using blogs in a learning environment (Garcia et al., 2019). There are many studies that already exist on the use of blogs as educational tools in ESL classrooms (Abu Bakar et al., 2010; Nadzrah Abu Bakar, 2009; Nadzrah Abu Bakar & Kemboja Ismail, 2009; Seitzinger, 2006; Pinkman, 2005; Zhang, 2009; Sun, 2009; Song & Chan, 2008 as cited in Aljumah, 2012), but more research needs to be conducted because the use of this educational tool is still fairly new and its benefits can be vague to many ESL instructors (Pinkman, 2005 as cited in Aljumah, 2012). There is a gap in the literature when it comes to studying the use of blogs in ESL classrooms in the United Arab Emirates and what students think of this tool. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore and investigate students’ perceptions and attitudes towards using blogs as a supplementary learning tool to enhance writing

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at a private university in Dubai, UAE, in the hopes that this will add to the literature and existing studies done in the UAE. This study aims to explore and answer the following research question. What are students’ perceptions and attitudes towards using blogs as a supplementary tool for English writing skills?

Context of the Study A growing body of empirical research has demonstrated positivity towards the use of Web 2.0 technologies, especially blogs, in the ESL classrooms (Isakovic & McNaught, 2013). Universities in the UAE are expected to incorporate technology into their lessons (Engin, 2014), and this is the case in the private, English-medium university where this study was conducted. The private university where the study took place has incorporated the use of technological tools into education. The study focussed on the basic English Communications Skills I course, or English 101, where the use of blogs has been recently added to the syllabus. Students who are placed in this class have an SAT score between 380–439, a TOEFL score between 527–567, and an IELTS score between 5.5–6.5. One of the course learning outcomes listed in this course’s syllabus entails that students utilize digital technologies that serve to develop oral and written communication in the twenty-first century. The use of blogs in this course was done via the Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) platform. Moodle is an open-source learning platform that helps instructors create an effective online community for their classes where they can share material, have discussions, and create a private space for learners to post blogs, do online activities, and check resources (https://moodle.org). Moodle’s blog forum allows instructors to post a prompt for students to read and reply to. The blog prompt would sometimes be related to a personal opinion about an activity. At other times, the blog prompt would ask students to discuss their opinions about a certain theme in the book. Students can read each other’s posts and they can comment on each other’s blogs. Everything is visible to the students of that particular class. Students in English 101 were expected to respond to two blog posts every week, for a duration of one month in order for the researcher to be able to conduct the study.

Literature Review The literature review section defines weblogs and identifies the different types of blogs. It also looks closely into attitudes and perceptions of blogging in higher education and the benefits of using blogs in the English classroom. Furthermore, this part also compares learning through blogging to traditional education.

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Weblogs The term ‘weblog’ was initially used by Barger in 1997 (Blood, 2000 as cited in Li et al., 2013), but the term was then shortened to ‘blog’ by Merholz in 1999 (Loving et al., 2007 as cited in Li et al., 2013). Sim and Hew (2010 as cited in Li et al., 2013, p. 173) explain that blogs can be used for many reasons; they can be used to gather information around a particular topic; as a personal journal to record and store information; “as course management tools; as assessment tools; and as communication and interaction tools”. Because of their user-friendly and interactive nature, in addition to their simplicity, blogs have become more popular in education (Alexander, 2006; Scheidt, 2009). Moreover, the fact that social networking sites attract younger age groups of users, or students, makes blogs even more popular in education (Luo & Franklin, 2015). Efimova and De Moore (2005 as cited in Garcia et al., 2019, p. 63) developed The Rhythm of Blogging, and this term is identified by writing, reading, and ‘commenting in’ and “commenting out’ of blogs, and because of this rhythm, a web conversation successfully takes place. What Efimova and De Moore (2005 as cited in Garcia et al., 2019) mean by ‘writing’ is the way the individual writes his/her own blog post. ‘Reading’ refers to how individuals absorb their comments and posts to a blog. ‘Commenting in’ refers to the comments that an individual receives from others on his/her blog post, and ‘commenting out’ refers to an individual leaving comments on other people’s blog posts.

Types of Blogs Campbell (2003 as cited in Aljumah, 2012) describes three types of blogs, which are the tutor blog, the learner blog, and the class blog. The tutor blog is run by the instructor of the course. He/she can assign readings or different types of practices, including writing practices and sharing opinions. Learner blogs are run by the students themselves. Class blogs are the outcome of the collaborative effort of all the students in the class who have participated in posting a blog and commenting on others’ blog posts. (Campbell, 2003 as cited in Aljumah, 2012).

Attitudes and Perceptions Towards Blogging in Higher Education According to the literature, various researchers have focussed their studies on learners’ attitudes and perceptions towards using blogs in higher education because of the high importance of learners’ perceptions towards their learning process (Ellison & Wu, 2008; Halic et al., 2010; William & Jacobs, 2004 as cited in Li et al., 2013).

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Today’s higher education students are the first generation that have full engagement with social media applications, “and therefore, these students are expected to have natural affinity with digital technology, using the internet as the first choice of information sourcing” (Al-Qallaf & Al-Mutairi, 2016; Moran et al., 2011 as cited in Garcia et al., 2019, p. 63). This generation refers to the internet and digital environments for entertainment and also for communication purposes; they are known as the web generation, and because of this ubiquity, students are expected to have positive attitudes and perceptions towards the use of blogs in the English classroom (Garcia et al., 2019). According to William and Jacobs (2004), higher education students in the USA have reported positive attitudes towards the use of blogs in their classrooms. They further explain that, in some studies, the focus was not only on students’ perceptions, but also on teachers’ perceptions. Similar to the positive results of studies conducted on students’ attitudes, teachers also revealed to be inclined towards using blogs in their classrooms due to many motivational factors that blogs have on students (Garcia et al., 2019).

The Benefits of Using Blogs in an ESL Classroom A growing body of research has shown that blogging has proven to provide students with many benefits in the ESL classroom as it creates a motivating learning environment, makes way for learners’ independence, and gives instructors more opportunities to help students learn the language (Kuimova & Zvekov, 2016). Blogging also enhances learners’ creativity, provides peer interaction by allowing students to share ideas and comments, and helps them enhance their writing skills. It also supports reflective thinking (Good & Whang, 2002; Xie et al., 2007; Yang, 2009 as cited in Li et al., 2013). Moreover, another important benefit of using blogs in classrooms is that it provides students with an informal learning environment. This informal learning environment gives students a sense of relief and helps them feel more comfortable when writing using English as a second language (Koban Koç & Koç, 2016). Along the same lines, Hoe et al. (2012 as cited in Koban Koç & Koç, 2016) identify the effects of blogging on informal learning. They state that there are three dimensions to the learning process when using blogs, and they are ‘acquisition’, ‘meaning-making and self-reflection’, and ‘learning through social interaction and engagement’. The meaning-making and self-reflection dimension takes place when learners reflect on what they have written, comment on each other’s thoughts, and then read those thoughts and comments. The dimension of learning through social interaction and engagement takes place in the online world and not in a traditional classroom, which is something that appeals to students nowadays. Furthermore, blogs are able to provide a ‘beyond classroom’ (Luo & Franklin, 2015) learning concept and can offer “student-centered pedagogical practices that could better promote learner autonomy” (Dettori et al., 2005; Oravec, 2002; Sun, 2010 as cited in Luo & Franklin, 2015, p. 241). Mag (2005) and Ramsay (2014 as cited in Garcia et al., 2019) also add that blogging can motivate students to write in order to gain admiration from

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their peers or instructors, in addition to gaining helpful feedback from them and interacting with them online. Another benefit of blogging is that it supports collaborative learning. Collaborative learning strategies, if applied correctly, play a crucial role in enhancing students’ critical thinking skills “through the processes of evaluating, assessing, supporting, or opposing different viewpoints” (So & Brush, 2008 as cited in Top, 2012, p. 25). The literature states that researchers have come to an agreement when it comes to blogging being used to support collaborative learning; they believe that blogging enhances “learning performance in both individual knowledge development and group knowledge sharing” (Top, 2012, p. 25). Yang (2009 as cited in Top, 2012), after conducting a study on blogging as a reflective platform, found that blogs allow discussions and sharing of opinions amongst students, in addition to allowing them to reflect on their own writing and giving them the ability to communicate with other bloggers. Another study conducted by Makri and Kynigos (2007 as cited in Top, 2012) on blogging in a postgraduate course concludes that blogging allows the emergence of informal dialogue between students, thus making them share ideas collaboratively.

Learning Through Blogging Versus Formal Education Park et al. (2011) highlight the difference in characteristics between informal learning through blogging and formal education. In terms of the learner’s role, they explain that when students learn through blogging, they are able to make more self-meaning, they become more self-directed, they are able to motivate themselves, and can also keep themselves active. Their role can also be voluntary because they choose to comment on certain people’s posts and discuss what seems interesting to them. Whereas in a traditional setting, learners are usually passive in many situations and are non-voluntary. Moreover, learning through blogging helps students discuss social and everyday life issues if the topics are related to the lesson, or students might even link their responses to personal experiences when responding to a blog post. This makes the learning process more authentic and directly linked to their personal lives. Learners can also be subjective since they can provide their own opinion; students can relate themselves to the content and can easily express what they feel. However, in formal classroom settings where blogging does not take place, learning contents are mostly theoretical and curriculum-based. The content is ‘fixed’ and disciplinary rather than subjective and situated. In such cases of formal classroom settings, the learning process is mostly outcome-oriented, fixed, structured, and guided, whereas learning through blogging is more process-oriented, flexible, and self-regulated (Park et al., 2011).

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Research Design A review of literature indicates the importance of conducting more studies on students’ perceptions and attitudes towards using blogs to enhance writing skills. In the case of this study, and to be able to adequately answer the research question, an interpretive approach with an exploratory methodology was adopted for this study. The interpretive paradigm expresses its concern for the individual, and this is why it is used in this study (Cohen et al., 2011; Grix, 2004). The researcher is concerned about students’ perceptions and attitudes towards blogs, which are used in ESL classes as a supplementary tool to enhance students’ writing skills. This paradigm seeks to understand individuals and how they interpret the world based on their lived experiences, and this study will approach students who will share their personal experiences and express their opinions.

Research Methodology Methodology is the “overall research strategy reflecting a theory of acquiring knowledge” (Troudi, 2010, p.2). The interpretive methodological designs focus on exploring reality through the eyes of participants (Assalahi, 2015). For this reason, the study will be an exploratory study aiming to explore students’ perceptions and attitudes towards using blogs as a supplementary tool to enhance writing skills.

Data Collection Methods The need for qualitative methods, such as interviews, is crucial in order to elicit the perceptions and attitudes of students regarding a certain topic. Because they help the researcher ‘understand’ what the participants think and feel, interviews are commonly used as a primary data collection method for qualitative studies. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were used as the only data-collection method in this study. Punch (2009) states that the interview is one of the most convenient data collection tools used for accessing perceptions and opinions of others and it helps us to understand others. In the case of my exploratory study, semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to elicit the attitudes and perceptions of students towards using blogs as a supplementary tool to enhance their writing skills. The benefits of semi-structured interviews are that there are pre-set questions, but the respondent is able to elaborate further (Punch, 2009). Two sets of interviews were needed in order to conduct this study. The first interview took place ‘pre-blogging’; in other words, before students were exposed to any blogging activity, and the second interview took place ‘post-blogging’; after students were exposed to writing two blog posts every week over a period of one month. The

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‘pre’ and ‘post’ interview questions were designed to answer the research question, and they were all conducted face-to-face with the five participants.

Participants In an interpretive study, the participants’ attitudes, views, and perceptions form the lens through which this research is conducted (Mackenzie & Knipe, 2006). In this qualitative study, the perceptions and attitudes of students towards the use of blogging as a supplementary tool to enhance writing were studied. The participants in the study were five freshman students that are enrolled in a basic English communications course, English 101 at a private university in Dubai. The five participants had never been exposed to any blogging activities previously. Prior to any blogging activity, the researcher interviewed students and asked them general questions about their exposure to technology, which technological device they use the most, if they had ever used blogging in educational settings before, their perceptions on writing as a skill, how they feel about the possibility of blogging in their English class, and so on. After blogging for a month, the same students were interviewed again with a different set of interview questions. They were asked if they enjoyed using blogs, if they faced any difficulties using blogs, if they feel blogging is accompanied by any disadvantages, what their attitude towards blogging is, and so on. The participants were all interviewed face-to-face and pseudonyms were used to protect their identities.

Ethical Considerations Prior to getting consent from the participants, approval from the University of Exeter was obtained and an ethics form was sent for approval. Moreover, the name of the institution was kept anonymous; the institution is a private English-medium institution in the UAE but mentioning that would not reveal the institution’s name since UAE has several private and English-medium institutions. The five participants were given a consent form to sign and a participant information sheet. After ensuring anonymity, the participants willingly signed and participated in the study. Both the consent form and participant information sheet were translated into Arabic since it is the students’ native language. Translation of these sheets was crucial since English is not the native language of these students, and they are placed in a basic communications skills course based on their official English test results. Therefore, the researcher intended to avoid any misunderstandings and translated the sheets for students to fully understand and comprehend what the study entails and what was expected from them. Students were assured that pseudonyms would be used in order to conceal their identities. They were also informed that they had the right to withdraw from the study at any time.

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Credibility, Validity, and Reliability The terms validity and reliability are rooted in quantitative research and have to be redefined for their use in qualitative research (Golafshani, 2003). Qualitative research uses a naturalistic approach in order to understand the phenomena in a ‘context-specific setting’ rather than the use of surveys as in quantitative research (Patton, 2001, p. 39 as cited in Golafshani, 2003, p. 600). Credibility must be demonstrated in both quantitative and qualitative research; it depends on instrument construction in quantitative studies, whereas in qualitative studies, “the researcher is the instrument”, and this means that credibility depends on the effort of the researcher (Patton, 2001, p. 14 as cited in Golafshani, 2003, p. 600). In qualitative research, unlike quantitative research, reliability and validity are not viewed separately, but instead, “terminology that encompasses both, such as credibility, transferability and trustworthiness are used” (Golafshani, 2003, p. 600). Patton (2001 as cited in Golafshani, 2003) adds that a criterion for quality case studies is generalizability; however, in this qualitative study, which is context-based, only one data collection method was used to study a very small sample; there is no triangulation of the data, so the findings will not be used for generalizations but for general understanding only, and comparability and transferability will replace generalizability.

Data Analysis Interviews were conducted with five English 101 students, and the interviews were recorded, transcribed, and categorized into main themes that emerged from the interviewees’ responses and were then analysed with respect to the research question. The data analysis process was guided by the research question that this study was based on. For the process of analysing the data, the transcribed interviews were made more straightforward by eliminating repetitions. After the transcription phase, the researcher discussed with students their transcribed interviews to give them the chance to comment on the interpretations made, if they had any. Afterwards, bracketing and coding the qualitative interview data were then done to identify the major themes. According to Hycner (1985 as cited in Cohen et al., 2011, p. 471), bracketing and reduction mean “suspending as much as possible the researcher’s meanings and interpretations and entering into the world of the unique individual who was interviewed”. In this case, the researcher will listen to and interpret what the interviewee is saying, and not what the interviewer expects them to say. The themes emerged based on the similarity and recurrence of ideas in the participants’ answers to the interview questions. The data analysis process was guided by the major research question, which is: what are students’ perceptions and attitudes towards using blogs as a supplementary tool for English writing skills? This approach is very useful as “it

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draws together all the relevant data for the exact issue of concern to the researcher” (Cohen et al., 2011, p. 468).

Findings and Discussion The results of this study are presented and discussed under the following sections: (a) students’ technological experience and blogging exposure, (b) students’ perceptions towards using blogging as a tool to enhance writing skills, (c) blogging versus traditional in-class writing, (d) students’ beliefs of the advantages of using blogs in ESL classrooms, and (e) students’ beliefs of the disadvantages of using blogs in the ESL classroom.

Students’ Technological Experience and Blogging Exposure When asked about what kinds of technological devices they frequently use, the five student participants stated that they spent the majority of their time only on their smartphones. They barely used laptops or computers prior to entering university. They only used computers to prepare PowerPoint presentations. Now that they are first-year university students, they always use their phones to check their e-mails and to check Moodle for any posts from instructors. They also use their phones for online practices or online tasks assigned by instructors at the university; therefore, using Moodle to post blogs should not be a difficult or burdensome task for them. George explains, “I only use my phone. Everything is on my phone. Even my passwords. Everything is on there. I even write my homework on it.” Along the same lines, Billy adds, “I even use my phone to do my online homework. It’s easy for me and I can do it wherever I want. Our professor’s post on Moodle and practices are online. I always use my cell.” All five participants claim that they had never used social media platforms in education. They have never used blogs before, neither in an educational setting nor just for fun. They have heard of the term and know that there are “bloggers” all around the world, but they had never had this experience before. Natasha explains, “In my English class, we didn’t use blogs. I know what bloggers do, but I never wrote one. In my school, we only used the internet to do research, like if we had a PowerPoint presentation or something.” Tatiana further explains, “Sometimes when I look up something online google takes me to blogs. I know that you can post something, and people write comments, but I have never used it in English before.” According to the literature, blogs are emerging into education around the world. In the case of this study, students had never been exposed to blogs before. This shows that the use of blogs is/was not common in the high schools in Dubai that the students graduated from.

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Students’ Perceptions Towards Using Blogs as a Tool to Enhance Writing Skills The analyses of qualitative data indicate that students’ responses towards the blogging tool prior to any blogging activity were very positive. Students do not feel that blogs are very unfamiliar to them even though they had not used them before this study was conducted. The fact that blogs are technological tools and can be accessed through phones and laptops was exciting for students who are today’s technological generation. All five participants did not show any concern when asked about their feelings concerning the possibility of using blogs as a writing tool in the English classroom. Alexandra explains, “No, I haven’t used them before, but I think that it will be very fun and interesting. If it’s done online on my cell then yeah, I will like it!” Along the same lines, Billy expresses, “…I think it would be fun to learn how to use a blog in English. Sometimes English can be boring haha. We should have something different.” After being exposed to posting blogs in the English classroom, students who were interviewed stated that using blogs via Moodle was very easy for them to use. No technical difficulties were mentioned, and no problems or challenges were mentioned when it came to posting blogs. Natasha asserts, “I think that posting on a blog was the easiest thing ever. We have Moodle applications on our phones and we can access any time… It was very easy to reply to any post, also.” All in all, the five participants were very positive about the technological tool that was used in their English classroom. They were also happy that they could access it from their phones at any time and anywhere through the Moodle application instead of being confined to using their laptops or desktops. They described it as “interesting, easy, fun, and enjoyable”. Students feel that writing through blogs encourages them to write better. They know that their peers can read their posts and they are thus encouraged to be more creative. Even though one student felt that it adds some pressure knowing that the blog could be read by anyone in class and not only by the teacher, the student still preferred using blogs because they are more fun. Sometimes knowing that something is posted for everyone to see adds some encouragement and motivates students to become better writers. Tatiana explains, “Sometimes it’s nice to know that people other than your teacher will read your posts. It gives responsibility. You feel that you want your blog to be fun to read. Just like a nice essay. It made me write better.” The findings of this study are in line with the literature; students have positive attitudes towards blogging. Park et al. (2011) and Witte (2007) explain that students in higher education enjoy learning in diverse and flexible settings. Flexibility aids in making students feel more motivated because this type of learning is what they prefer, and blogs offer this kind of flexibility. Students also enjoy learning on their own with technology because it helps them in making sense of their lives and transforming the

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way they learn (Merriam, 2001 as cited in Park et al., 2011). Furthermore, along the same lines, a study conducted by Gasaymeh and Jwaifell (2013) explains that when an instructor requires a student to post on a blog for educational purposes, students will become motivated and their perceptions towards blogging will be positive.

Blogging Versus Traditional In-Class Writing When comparing writing on blogs to writing on paper in a traditional classroom setting, student participants showed very positive attitudes towards blogs. Students explained that they preferred writing activities that took place online much more than those done in a traditional classroom setting. The enthusiasm towards blog writing was very obvious amongst the five participants. Some students expressed the preference for typing rather than writing using a pen. George expresses, “Sometimes I find it easier when I type than when I write. It’s easier for me to delete and re-write also. My ideas just flow.” Tatiana also explains, “before when our teacher used to say you have writing practice, I used to feel like I wanna cry. Now writing is more fun. Really.” Students felt that they were more confident writing online rather than in class. They also felt that when posting blogs, they had more time to write and express their ideas if the blog post was assigned as homework. Classes are only an hour and a half long, and therefore, when writing in class, students feel pressured to keep up with the time. Billy explains, “I prefer blogging because I like typing. When I type I can think better and faster. I find it hard to write in class because we don’t have time. Typing is easier and my ideas I can write them easier.” Moreover, students don’t worry about making mistakes when writing blogs. One thing that comforts students when writing on blogs is the fact that they can use spellcheck and check their mistakes, which lowers their writing and spelling inhibitions and eliminates the need for dictionaries in the classroom to check for mistakes like in a traditional classroom setting. While writing on blogs, they can prepare a draft and edit it as much as they want. Another benefit that students expressed is that they learned new vocabulary from their friends’ blog posts and were able to benefit from reading their writing and language styles. Because they have to reply to each other’s posts, they have to read first. When students write in class, they do not bother reading each other’s paragraphs or essays. George explains, “When I type I learn new words and how to spell them and this is why I like it. Spell-check makes everything wrong underlined. I can also use thesaurus to use new words.” The findings are in line with the literature that states that there are many advantages to blogging in comparison to traditional writing. Abu Bakar et al. (2017) explain that blogging can help in reducing anxiety when compared to in-class writing because blogs provide students “with a non-threatening working atmosphere where no one is watching them” (p. 207). Students can also write at their own pace, and they do not

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have to worry about spelling mistakes as well because of spell-check. Moreover, Abu Bakar et al. (2017) also believe that when students communicate with each other over blogs, they are developing their language and improving it by learning from each other, and this does not happen frequently when writing in a traditional classroom setting.

Students’ Beliefs of the Advantages of Using Blogs in an ESL Classroom One of the advantages of using blogs to enhance their writing skills was the fact that students enjoyed writing paragraphs. Even though they were asked to produce blog posts of at least a hundred and fifty words, they were not restricted or asked to write essays when posting blogs. That fact alone made them feel motivated to write. Another advantage discussed by students is the fact that they could express their ideas freely through blogs rather than say them out loud as some of them do not feel comfortable and confident enough to speak in front of a whole class. Even though speaking is one of the main skills that is practised in ENGL101, students felt more comfortable expressing thoughts and opinions through blogging. When writing on blogs, they don’t have to be very formal. They can just express themselves freely, which lowers the inhibitions of students who lack self-confidence when writing using the target language. Students also enjoyed the fact that they felt more connected to their classmates by responding to their blog posts and sharing ideas with them. The following examples shed light on how students perceive blogging. When asked about the relationship with peers, Billy explains, “Sometimes we leave class still talking about what we commented on each other’s posts. I think it made us more connected.” When asked about the advantages of blogging, Alexandra explains, “When I write blogs I feel that I can express myself easier than when I write in class. I prefer to write, not speak.” Abu Bakar et al. (2017) assert that blogging relieves students from face-to-face discussions. They explain that through blogging, students develop “the confidence to write and speak in English” and feel “less pressured and less embarrassed” when discussions take place online instead of face-to face (p. 207). Mitchell et al. (2013) add that students who use blogs can communicate with one another and build relationships because they are more relaxed. This process of collaborative and contextualized learning successfully created positive attitudes towards the use of blogs. Abu Bakar et al. (2017) further explain that ‘scaffolding’ is one of the advantages of blogging. They explain that the activity of blogging “provides the space for the learners to practise using the language, share opinions and ideas, take control of their own language, and reflect on their learning experiences” in a relaxed environment (p. 202). They further explain that blogs can function as a “novel and effective writing platform

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for the learners to practise and develop their writing skills in English” without being afraid (p. 208). Abu Bakar et al. (2017) further explain that learning takes place when students also receive feedback from their peers. When students interact with each other via blogs, shared learning takes place and discussions between students can enhance their critical thinking skills. This also strengthens the relationship between students, not only improves their language. “Language learning, vocabulary, and sentence structures can be acquired by all group members as the writing activities during the discussions in blogs can be seen/read and this will eventually lead to further incidental learning” (Abu Bakar et al., 2017, p. 209). Not only does blogging improve writing skills, but it also improves reading skills, vocabulary, and sentence structure.

Students’ Beliefs of the Disadvantages of Using Blogs in an ESL Classroom According to the collected data, there are minor disadvantages to using blogs as a tool to enhance writing skills in the English classroom. One student reported that he/she lacks self-confidence when it comes to writing using the target language. This means that some students might feel awkward when other students read their posts because they might lack self-confidence. However, no other disadvantages resulted from using blogs in this study. Tatiana explains, “Because I’m not so good at English writing, I get shy sometimes when people read my blog posts. But it’s not a big problem.”

Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research The first limitation of this study is the use of one data collection method. Another limitation is the focus on one aspect of the English language, which is the enhancement of writing skills. Future studies can focus on other aspects of the English language, not only on the attitudes of students towards using blogs to enhance their writing skills. Future researchers can also approach teachers and look closely into their perceptions of using this tool in their classrooms. The main concern of this study was only students. Furthermore, future studies can focus on the content of blogs and look closely at students’ progress in a certain language skill. Researchers can compare ‘pre’ and ‘post’ blogging documents and analyse the development of a certain language skill. Last but not least, the only internet or Web 2.0 tool that the study focussed on is the weblog. Hence, future researchers can look at other tools and study how they might be able to help in the teaching and learning of English as a second language.

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Conclusion Since the use of the internet in education is expanding, instructors must do their best to use internet and Web 2.0 tools in their classrooms in order to motivate students. Today’s students are part of the technological generation, and it is crucial to satisfy their educational needs. Curricula and syllabi must be developed based on the generation’s motivational needs. The Weblog can certainly be considered a valuable tool for teaching and learning, especially in the ESL classroom. The findings of this study have proven to show positive attitudes towards this learning tool that was used to enhance students’ writing skills. Students who were never exposed to blogging in educational settings before found the tool to be very motivational and they were able to enhance their writing skills. Students felt more comfortable when typing an assignment for blogs rather than writing using pen and paper. They were able to learn the spelling of many words and were exposed to the different writing styles by reading their peers’ posts. They were also able to express their ideas freely and felt more connected with their classmates by responding to their posts and sharing different ideas with them. Few disadvantages resulted from the data in this study. Abu Bakar et al. (2017) state that “ESL learners seem to make positive progress in their mastery of the target language even though it is a small-scale level, when they participated in social interactions with their peers rather than learning the language by themselves” (p. 210).

References Abu Bakar, N., Latif, H., & Ya’acoub, A. (2017). Fusion of technology with language learning: Blog community. The Southeast Journal of English Language Studies, 23(4), 200–211. Alexander, B. (2006). Web 2.0: A new wave of innovation for teaching and learning? Educause Review, 41(2), 32–44. Assalahi, H. (2015). The philosophical foundations of educational research: A beginner’s guide. American Journal of Educational Research, 3(3), 312–317. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org. Aljumah, F. H. (2012). Saudi learner perceptions and attitudes towards the use of blogs in teaching English writing course for EFL majors at Qassim University. English Language Teaching, 5(1), 100–116. Cohen, L., Manion, L. & Morrison, K. (2011). Research methods in education (7th edn). Routledge. Engin, M. (2014). Extending the flipped classroom model: Developing second language writing skills through student-created digital videos. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 14(5), 12–26. Garcia, E., Moizer, J., Wilkins, S., & Haddoud, M. Y. (2019). Student learning in higher education through blogging in the classroom. Computers and Education, 136, 61–74. Gasaymeh, A. M., & Jwaifell, O. (2013). A study of Jordanian graduate students’ attitudes toward and use of weblog in a blended learning course. Journal of Information Technology and Application in Education, 2, 67–79. Golafshani, N. (2003). Understanding reliability and validity in qualitative research. The Qualitative Report, 8(4), 597–606. Grix, J. (2004). The foundations of research. Palgrave Macmillan.

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Heo, G. M., & Lee, R. (2011). Blogs and social network sites as activity systems: Exploring adult informal learning process through activity theory framework. Educational Technology & Society, 16(4), 133–145. Isakovic, A. A., & McNaught, A. (2013). Supporting learning through the use of self-reflection blogs: A study of the experience of blended learning students in the United Arab Emirates. Open Praxis, 5(4), 355–363. Koban Koç, D., & Koç, S. E. (2016). Students’ perceptions of blog use in an undergraduate linguistics course. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 12(1), 9–19. Kuimova, M. V., & Zvekov, O. D. (2016). Blogs as a means to enhance writing skills in EFL classes. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 11(4), 157–160. Li, K., Bado, N., Smith, J., & Moore, D. (2013). Blogging for teaching and learning: An examination of experience, attitudes, and levels of thinking. Contemporary Educational Technology, 4(3), 172–186. Luo, T. & Franklin, T. (2015). Tweeting and blogging: moving towards education 2.0. International Journal on E-Learning, 14(2), 235–258. Mackenzie, N., & Knipe, S. (2006). Research dilemmas: Paradigms, methods and methodology. Issues in Educational Research, 16, 4–14. Mitchell, R., Myles, F., & Marsden, E. (2013). Second language learning theories. Routledge. Park, Y., Heo, G. M., & Lee, R. (2011). Blogging for informal learning: Analysing bloggers’ perceptions using learning perspective. Educational Technology & Society, 14(2), 149–160. Punch, K. F. (2009). Introduction to research methods in education. Sage Publications. Scheidt, L. A. (2009). Diary weblogs as genre (Doctoral dissertation). Indiana University Bloomington. Top, E. (2012). Blogging as a social medium in undergraduate courses: Sense of community best predictor of perceived learning. Internet and Higher Education, 15, 24–28. Troudi, S. (2010). Paradigmatic nature and theoretical framework in educational research. Inspiring Academic Practice, 1(2). Retrieved from http://education.exeter.ac.uk. Warschauer, M. (2010). Invited commentary: New tools for teaching writing. Language Learning & Technology, 14(1). William, J. B., & Jacobs, J. (2004). Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher education sector. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 20(2), 232–247. Witte, S. (2007). That’s online writing, not boring school writing: Writing with blogs and the talkback project. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 51(2). Yih, M. B., & Nah, E. A. (2009). Writing web logs in the ESL classroom: A study of student perceptions and the technology acceptance model 47. Asian Journal of University Education, 5(1).

Jessica Saba is a Senior Lecturer of English at the University of Balamand in Dubai. She teaches a variety of English service courses and English major courses to undergraduates. She is currently pursuing her Ed. D in TESOL from the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. Prior to joining UOBD, she taught English at several renowned universities in the UAE and Lebanon. Before going into her higher education career, Ms. Saba also taught elementary and secondary classes at different schools in Lebanon. Her vast ten-year experience makes her an advocate of studentcentered learning and using different tools to make the teaching-learning process more effective. Her main research interests are in the areas of professional identity and professional development of higher education faculty, motivation and job satisfaction of ESL instructors, critical pedagogy and critical applied linguistics, and classroom-based research. She is also interested in using technology to enhance students’ English language skills.

Chapter 12

Reader Response to Text Adaptation: A Study of Female Emirati Undergraduate Students Larysa Nikolayeva

Abstract Current research explores the response of female Emirati undergraduate students to text adaptation. Incorporated at the time of developing learning aids, students’ response can serve as one of the tools for enhancing students’ language skills required for their academic success. The analysis is based on the response of two groups of students (24 and 25 students respectively) obtained through a test and a text difficulty survey addressing their comprehension skills of authentic versus adapted texts. The effect of the text and sentence length, grammatical complexity, vocabulary, and cohesion on students’ comprehension were considered in the study. The research identifies requirements for amending the text for Emirati female students, and the areas of concern that helps material designers working in the Arab world to choose the most appropriate approach to text manipulation. Keywords Text adaptation · Reader response · Academic reading · Language skills

Introduction Equipping students with reading and comprehension skills enables their interaction with the world of knowledge required for further development and success. Reading plays one of the most important roles in students’ English studies and serves their personal and professional development. The aim of the teacher is to ensure that his/her students do not just mechanically process the text while reading but that they understand it, learn from it, and use this knowledge to enrich their life experience. Reading is an infinite source of information that is available to the audience at any point of time. Our role as educators is to motivate and encourage students to use it, supporting the development of their reading skills. One of the ways to do so is to design teaching materials that would enhance students’ willingness to read, improve their language competence so as to impact their academic achievements positively. L. Nikolayeva (B) College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zayed University, 144534, Khalifa city A, Abu Dhabi, UAE © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_12

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Purpose of the Study The current research aims to compare three types of response, objective, behavioral, and subjective, to authentic and adapted text difficulty. It is meant to explore (1) the effect of reading materials authenticity on students’ comprehension and performance, and (2) identify the relationship between behavioral and subjective types of response to text difficulty, and (3) identify the most problematic aspect of the text.

Research Questions 1. 2. 3.

What is the impact of objective response on behavioral response to text difficulty? What is the relation (if any) between behavioral and subjective types of response to text difficulty? What is the most problematic aspect of text comprehension?

Literature Review Authentic or Adapted? International classroom teachers of reading usually face a dilemma of choice between authentic and adapted reading materials. The followers of authentic reading often insist on the advantage of cultural component presence in the text (Roberts, 2014; Goodman & Freeman, 1993; Case, 2012; Kuimova & Kobzeva, 2011), natural grammar and language use and the need to provide students with a text exceeding their reader ability. On the other hand, components belonging to a different culture might have a negative impact on students’ comprehension (Murphy, 2013). Text appropriateness is a matter of concern when it comes to substantial background difference of Eastern and Western cultures, and it is especially relevant in the context of the Arab world. Natural grammar structures used for conveying content related ideas is another argument supporting text authenticity, whereas simplified grammar of adapted texts can sometimes appear more difficult to the reader than its original version (Long & Ross, 1993; Roberts, 2014) instead of making it more readable (Crossley & McNamara, 2016). At the same time, it is claimed that students do not comprehend a text produced by a native speaker in the same way as native speakers do, so, consequently, a text should not exceed students’ capabilities to a great extent (Krashen, 1988). The ability of the reader is also a matter to consider before choosing a particular type of text. It is directly related to students’ motivation as well. A text that is beyond the student’s comprehension ability would be the wrong choice as it can discourage the reader to complete the task (Case, 2012).

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There are numerous ongoing discussions of benefits and disadvantages of both with no particular outcome (Crossley & McNamara, 2016; Green & Hawkey, 2011). The decision is always to be taken by a particular educator based on the course and student’s language competence.

Readability and Its Measurements Readability is defined as “The sum total (including all the interactions) of all those elements within a given piece of printed material that affect the success a group of readers has with it. The success is the extent to which they understand it, read it at an optimal speed, and find it interesting” (Dale & Chall, 1949, p. 12). This section discusses three different approaches to measuring the readability of a text using a variety of tools. They are (1) readability formulas (Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease formula and Lextutor), (2) intuitive adaptation, and (3) reader response. (1) Readability formulas are utilized to assess reading complexity to identify whether selected text is comprehensible for a specific group of readers. Nowadays there are around 200 readability formulas (DuBay, 2004) that differ in their quality, measurement features, and success rate (Torki, 2013). The Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease formula is one of the most popular measurements used by a variety of researchers. It calculates the readability of a text based on a score from 0 to 100, where 0 means that the text is very difficult to read and 100 indicates its very high readability. In addition, the formula identifies the grade of the assessed reading which indicates the grade-school level the text is accessible for (Table 12.1). The tool is limited though to a number of features such as text and sentence length, number of sentences and words comprising them, and passive structures. It does not assess the vocabulary which is an essential part of any reading impacting comprehension. Lextutor was used to fill in the gap in reading ease assessment of the text intended for eliciting reader response. It is an online tool that evaluates lexical complexity of a text. The vocabulary of any selected reading is divided into four groups according Table 12.1 Flesch-Kincaid reading ease score

Score

School grade

Readability

90–100

5th

Very easy

80–90

6th

Easy

70–80

7th

Fairly easy

60–70

8th–9th

Standard

50–60

10th–12th

Fairly difficult

30–50

College

Difficult

0–30

College graduate

Very difficult

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to their frequency in the language: ‘(1) the most frequent 1000 words of English, (2) the second most frequent thousand words of English, i.e. 1001 to 2000, (3) the academic words of English (the AWL, 550 words that are frequent in academic texts across subjects), and (4) off list or the remainder which are not found on the other lists’ (https://www.lextutor.ca/vp/research.html, para 1). (2) Research on text difficulty measures vary in terms of classifications and taxonomies. However, there are similar features that are identified by the majority of researchers. Tamor (1981) mentioned three measures which are vocabulary, syntax, and content. There are some considerations here as not all the types of response (objective, behavioural, and subjective) can measure each of the mentioned features equally and fairly. For example, if vocabulary and syntax are possible to assess through any of the three types of response, content can definitely not be evaluated objectively (i.e. automatically with the help of any available online tools). Difficulty or appropriateness of content is assessed by the teacher or reading material designer. Hence, here an intuitive approach should be considered. Teaching international students involves many different aspects that we need to pay attention to at the time of text selection and amendment. For instance, Islamic culture is particularly sensitive to some content, which might be appropriate in the West. Response wise the same author (Tamor, 1981) identified objective, behavioural, and subjective difficulty stating that objective text difficulty remains the same whereas behavioural and subjective difficulties will always vary. Murphy (2013) combined all of these points establishing a taxonomy that includes three considerations of text difficulty assessment. She groups the measurements around the reader and the task, surface, and deeper text complexity shifting the focus of hierarchy from objective to subjective difficulty. So, Murphy insists on ‘readerability’ rather than ‘readability’ in assessing complexity of the text. Moreover, she introduces another, deeper insight into text difficulty that requires attention to content (ideas and concepts). This insight is similar to that of Tamor (1981) and goes even further suggesting representational modes as one of the measurements. In comparison, Hervey (2013) provided a classification of three complexity features based on The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) to be addressed which includes qualitative (addressing a mixture of aspects such as layout, language, text structure, etc.), quantitative (addressing vocabulary), and reader-based. Among the three mentioned researchers Hervey (2013) was the only scholar who pays attention to the value of the teacher’s knowledge of his/her students in evaluating text difficulty. (3) As there are a variety of tools available to the teacher to evaluate text complexity and help amend difficult reading to match multiple requirements of the course and the reader, a logical question to ask would be “Why do we need to seek students’ responses to provided materials?” The answer to consider would be a list of interrelated advantages provided by the reader-based approach. Identifying students’ needs through both behavioural and subjective response elicitation would give a teacher the key to the task of improving their (students’) reading skills (Berardo, 2006; Richards, 2018). Considering and comparing the results of performance-based response to the subjective feedback on a variety of text aspects enable the teacher to address identified

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gaps and help students become confident readers. The result of assessing comprehension as part of the behavioural response equips the teacher with an understanding of the students’ proficiency as well as lacking knowledge that might be related to a particular text aspect. As such, this would enable him/her to choose a specific strategy of text adaptation that would improve comprehension (Richards, 2018; Roberts, 2014; Spiegel, 1998). Another benefit of reader response consideration is identifying gaps in vocabulary knowledge. Obtaining this data via both behavioural and subjective response enables the teacher to address difficulties experienced by the students as well as improve their current vocabulary retention (Carter & McCarthy, 2014; Hulstijn, 1992; Yoshii & Flaitz, 2002). Moreover, by providing subjective response to a variety of text related difficulties students apply critical thinking skills in evaluating their own strengths and weaknesses (Demeni, 2012; Spiegel, 1998). Hence, teachers should listen to students’ voices attentively to fulfil the task of an educator in a particular environment and to reach the required learning outcomes. These approaches logically add to one another providing the teacher with valuable points to consider before bringing a text to the classroom. Although priorities of the material designers differ based on circumstances and personal preferences, they all serve the main purpose of language teaching which is equipping students with necessary skills to keep them motivated and engaged.

Methodology The Source Reading material used for the investigation was a paragraph from the text ‘Digital natives or digital refugees? Why we have failed Gen Y’ by Combes (2009). Two versions of the text were used for the current study: authentic and adapted. The text was manipulated based on two grounds: (1) reading ease statistics (FleschKincaid text evaluation and Lextutor vocabulary assessment) that provide objective responses on the difficulty of particular elements of the text and (2) the opinion of the teacher/researcher who amended the text bearing his/her students’ attributes in mind (e.g. their linguistic competence, educational, cultural, and religious background). Text amendments can be classified according to the Green and Hawkey (2011) taxonomy that includes seven types of text adaptation: deletion, consolidation, expansion, permutation, move, substitution, and insertion. The changes made in this study were syntactical, grammatical, and lexical (Nikolayeva, 2019) which were done for the purpose of reading simplification.

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Types of Response Three types of response were considered in this chapter which are related to both authentic and adapted text: objective (OR), behavioural (BR), and subjective (SR) (Tamor, 1981). An objective response to text difficulty is obtained with the help of text evaluation tools available online as per the reading materials designer’s preferences. The current study uses statistics based on Flesch-Kincaid text assessment that focuses on the surface features (Murphy, 2013) of text complexity, such as word, sentence, and text length as well as passive structures. Flesch-Kincaid statistics do not provide any vocabulary evaluation. Hence, another automated tool, Lextutor, is involved in the study to obtain objective response on the text vocabulary difficulty. This program provides vocabulary statistics in the form of frequency-based word lists (Cobb, 2018). According to this tool the lexis of the text is divided into K1, K2, academic (AWL), and off-list words. Based on the objective response the teacher can decide on the suitability of a text to a specific group of students. The second type of response is behavioural. It is a performance-based text difficulty evaluation that was obtained with the help of a test. The test administered to the students included twelve multiple choice items with four response options each that aimed at testing comprehension, understanding of coherence, and knowledge of vocabulary used in the provided reading. The last type of response was students’ subjective feedback on the text complexity elicited with the help of a survey that focused on general evaluation of text difficulty and assessment of complexity of a specific aspect of the text (i.e. vocabulary, sentence structure, and grammar). In terms of ease of the text as a whole and its specific elements the students used a 3-point Likert scale choosing an option from the range between ‘agree’, ‘neutral’, and ‘disagree’. This kind of response would enable the teacher to estimate the success of adaptation and consider any further improvements that might be required in the future.

Research Sample The subjects of the research were female Emirati students, taking English Composition 3, a course which is compulsory for all Zayed University students. The group consisted of students of various colleges and specializations. Data were collected from two groups of students. Group 1 consisted of 24 students and Group 2 of 25 students. Group 1 provided their behavioral and subjective response to authentic reading, and Group 2 worked on the manipulated version of the text.

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Results Collected data includes three types of response to text difficulty: objective, behavioural, and subjective response. The analysis that follows presents a study of three types of response to authentic and adapted reading.

Objective Response Objective response to text difficulty was the first type of response considered in the present study. Both of the texts (authentic and adapted) were evaluated with the help of two tools: Flesch-Kincaid reading ease statistics was utilized to identify the readability of selected reading material and Lextutor helped examine the complexity of the text vocabulary (see Tables 12.2 and 12.3). According to Flesch-Kincaid evaluation the reading ease of the authentic text score was identified as 13 out of 100. This falls within the range of 0–30 meaning that the text is very difficult to read. The grade level of the text in question is 22.9, which makes it appropriate for a college graduate native speaker. The text was then manipulated based on the provided statistics, a vocabulary analysis, and the opinion of the teacher. The reading ease of the text increased from the authentic score of 13 points to 36, which is within the range of 30–50 out of 100 points. This means that the adapted text is appropriate for a native speaking college student. Table 12.2 Comparison of Flesch-Kincaid statistics of authentic and adapted texts

Flesch-Kincaid statistics

Authentic text

Adapted texts

Words

231

208

5

8

Words per sentence

46.2

26

Passive sentences (%)

40

37.5

Flesch reading ease

13

36

Flesch-Kincaid grade level

22.9

14.6

Sentences

Table 12.3 Comparison of vocabulary complexity of authentic and adapted texts

Type of vocabulary

Authentic text (%)

Adapted text (%)

K1

72.41

82.58

K2

3.88

4.37

Academic vocabulary

11.21

6.29

Off-list vocabulary

12.50

Total

100

6.76 100

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The total number of words decreased from 231 to 208 as a result of sentence structure amendment applied during the adaptation process. As for the count of sentences in the text, their number increased from five to eight. Consequently, as some of the sentences in the text were modified from compound or complex into simple ones to ensure better comprehension, the number of words per sentence decreased from 46.2 to 26. Passive sentences comprised 40% of the authentic text, and their number was reduced to 37.5%. As Flesch-Kincaid statistics is limited to particular features of the text, Lextutor was used for assessing vocabulary difficulty of the text. According to this tool lexical items used in the reading are divided into four different groups based on their usage frequency. They are K1 words, which are the first 1000 most used lexical items, K2 the second 1000 most frequent words, academic word list (AWL) and off-list words which were the least frequently used vocabulary items and considered to be difficult for understanding. Table 12.3 presents comparative statistics on the vocabulary complexity of the authentic and adapted reading. The number of K1 words was increased to enable better reading comprehension. The authentic text contained 72.41% of the most frequently used lexical items whereas in its manipulated version the percentage increased to 82.58%. The number of K2 words remained close to its percentage in the original and changed from 3.88 to 4.37%. The number of AWL vocabulary items identified by Lextutor in the authentic reading was 11.21%. After the adaptation it decreased to 6.29%. The changes were considered carefully by the teacher based on the familiarity with the language competence and educational background of the students participating in the research. Off-list vocabulary was mostly substituted by K1 words, and its percentage was reduced from 12.50 to 6.76%.

Behavioural Response Behavioural response to text difficulty was elicited with the help of the test. It consisted of twelve multiple choice questions that assessed comprehension, cohesion understanding, and knowledge of vocabulary.

Behavioural Response: Grade Based Figure 12.1 presents comparative statistics of the performance by the sample where Group 1 was tested on the authentic reading and Group 2 was tested on its manipulated version. Figure 12.1 demonstrates the percentage mean of correct and incorrect answers to the questions of the test. As Fig. 12.1 shows, Group 1 who worked on the authentic reading demonstrated considerably lower results as compared to Group 2, who were tested on the adapted

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90.00% 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% AuthenƟc Text Correct answers

Adapted Text Incorrect answers

Figure 12.1 Behavioral response to text difficulty: quality based

text. Group 1 provided 82.6% of correct answers to the test questions. The remaining 17.4% of the answers were incorrect. Group 2 showed an almost similar performance with 85% of correct and 15% incorrect answers to the test questions. The adapted text appeared to be only slightly less challenging for the students than the authentic one. These results demonstrate a small degree of relation between objective and behavioural responses to text difficulty, i.e. the students produced a behavioural response of only a moderately higher quality to adapted text compared to the authentic reading.

Behavioural Response to Text Difficulty: Aspect Based The difficulty of three text aspects (vocabulary, cohesion, and comprehension based on grammar and sentence length) was identified based on the response quality mean. There were three questions on vocabulary understanding, four questions on cohesion, and five questions on comprehension. Figure 12.2 demonstrates a better overall mean of Group 2 who worked with a manipulated text (6.827) as compared to Group 1 who were tested on the authentic reading (6.531). The same applies to vocabulary and general comprehension. As for cohesion, readers of the authentic text scored better than the ones who read the adapted version. Based on the average score on each of the questions related to a specific aspect of the text under study vocabulary appeared to be the most challenging for the readers of the authentic text who scored 6.08 on average compared to the second group tested on the amended reading who scored 6.85 on the same type of questions. Group 2 experienced more difficulties related to cohesion and scored lower (6.018) than Group 1 who worked on the authentic passage (6.345).

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8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Vocabulary

Cohesion

General comprehension

AuthenƟc text

Overall average score

Adapted text

Fig. 12.2 Text difficulty: quality mean by aspect

General comprehension questions demonstrated the highest average score among the other text aspects where Group 1 results were 7.168 which was slightly lower than Group 2 with their 7.614 score.

Subjective Response Subjective response was elicited with the help of a survey on text ease. It was comprised of sixteen statements and aimed to identify students’ response to reading and comprehension ease, evaluation of overall linguistic, syntactical, grammatical, and lexical complexity of the reading, content familiarity and appeal, length of the text, time allotted for reading it and its cohesion. A three point Likert scale (‘agree’, ‘neutral’, and ‘disagree’) was used to obtain the feedback of the students on text ease. The statements were phrased in a way that the choice of the option ‘agree’ would mean positive response, and on the contrary ‘disagree’ would mean a negative response. For example: The text was easy to understand, The topic of the text was familiar, etc. Figure 12.3 demonstrates a comparison of subjective response by two groups of female Emirati students, for 24 and 25 students in Group 1 and 2 respectively. The results of the comparison show a high level of similarity between the two groups under study. The response of the majority appears to be highly positive on all the surveyed aspects of the text. It means that the students found the text easy, familiar and interesting to read, and experienced very few difficulties in comprehension. It is worth noting that the positive response rate to reading ease by Group 1 who worked on the authentic text is higher than by Group 2 who read the amended text. These results confirm an idea that text manipulation towards simplification can sometimes cause an opposite effect and make comprehension more difficult (Crossley et al., 2014).

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25 20 15 10 5 0

PosiƟve response AU

PosiƟve response AD

NegaƟve response AU

NegaƟve response AD

Neutral AU

Neutral AD

Fig. 12.3 Subjective response to text ease

Both groups provided equally positive feedback on the duration of the test (19 responses in each case), familiarity with the topic (14), and simplicity of the language (14). Length of the sentences and connection between the ideas of the reading were evaluated as more approachable by adapted text readers (19 vs 16 positive responses in the first case and 16 vs 15 in the second). The maximum number of neutral responses among Group1 was five and among Group 2 it was eight. A negative response in both groups was relatively low with the maximum of 4 authentic text readers identifying the topic of the text as unfamiliar and the maximum of 4 adapted text readers specifying that the text topic was not interesting.

Comparison of Behavioural vs Subjective Responses Figure 12.4 displays a comparison between the behavioural and subjective responses of the two groups of female Emirati students under study. Positive behavioural response (BR(+)) means the percentage of correct answers to test-tasks, whereas negative behavioural response (BR(−)) is the percentage of incorrect answers. Positive subjective response (SR(+)) includes the percentage of students who gave positive feedback on the ease of the text they read and accordingly negative subjective response (SR(−)) rates presents the opinions of the students who considered specific aspects of the text difficult. In the case with the subjective response there

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100.00% 80.00% 60.00% 40.00% 20.00% 0.00%

PosiƟve AU PosiƟve AD Behavioural response

NegaƟve AU NegaƟve AD SubjecƟve response

Fig. 12.4 Comparison of behavioural and subjective responses

was an option ‘Neutral’ which means the students considered the reading neither difficult nor easy. There was no such option in the behavioural response, so the decision was made to add neutral responses to positive ones to enable further comparison (Fig. 12.4). Presented statistics allow us to compare students’ subjective opinions on reading ease to their actual performance. In the case with the authentic text used with Group 1 it can be seen that the students underestimated the text difficulty as the percentage of their SR(+) is higher than BR(+): 95.25% versus 82.60%. This means that they considered the given text less difficult than it actually was according to the results of their performance on the test. The results demonstrated by Group 2 are similar; their SR(+) is 90.69% which is higher than the BR(+) of 85%. Negative response comparison illustrated the same tendency to text difficulty underestimation with both groups under study. Group 1 (authentic text) BR(−) rate was 17.40% compared to only 5.35% of their SR(−). Group 2, who worked with adapted reading provided BR(−), was 15% compared to their 9.31% SR(−). This indicates that the percentage of incorrect answers exceeded their estimation of authentic text complexity. Overall, both of the groups under study equally evaluated the text as easy and linguistically accessible. However, the results of the test demonstrated that the students had difficulties with vocabulary and cohesion.

Conclusions The paper presented a discussion of female Emirati undergraduate students’ responses to text adaptation. Two groups of students were investigated. The objective, behavioural, and subjective response to authentic and manipulated text difficulty was compared. The tools chosen for the study were automated text evaluation, a test, and a survey. The research reveals direct relation between objective, behavioural, and subjective types of response to the text complexity.

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Authentic reading was defined as challenging by objective response. However, the results of behavioural response of the sample as well as their subjective response demonstrated that both of the versions of the text were almost equally accessible for the students involved in the research. Students who worked with the adapted reading scored moderately better on the test than the ones who worked with the authentic reading. Although both groups scored well on the test, their performance revealed several difficulties they faced completing it, such as vocabulary meaning recognition and cohesion. Hence, text adaptation is required based on students’ read-er-ability determined by their specialization, level of intervention, and performance in the pre-requisite course. There is a clear relationship between BR and SR depending on the text ease. The results of text adaptation are reflected in both better performance and subjective difficulty evaluation. Comparison of behavioral and subjective responses demonstrated that students tend to underestimate text complexity to some extent. Their performance appears to be lower than their reading ease perception. This factor can be used as the grounds for particular choices to be made by the tutor in the process of reading manipulation towards simplification. The results of the text ease assessment in general as well as specific aspects of it are directly related to reader response. Positive response to adaptation depends on careful identification of problematic text areas and choice of manipulation approaches. A blend of objective and tutor-subjective reading ease assessment is of great importance here as the tutor needs to consider a number of variables such as students’ attributes and attitude in the process of text amendment. This approach would ensure a positive impact on learner’s performance. Vocabulary and cohesion were identified as the most challenging aspects of the text. It intervened with students understanding of the content. Hence, the development of skills related to these aspects is an essential part of language acquisition that should be addressed by a language course. A combination of the three types of response to adaptation can benefit the quality of manipulated reading materials as automated tools of text difficulty assessment do not consider a set of personal and professional characteristics of a particular group of students.

References Berardo, S. A. (2006). The use of authentic materials in the teaching of reading. The Reading Matrix, 6(2), 60–69. Carter, R., & McCarthy, M. (2014). Vocabulary and language teaching. Longman. Case, A. (2012). Advantages and disadvantages of using authentic texts in class. https://www.usi ngenglish.com/articles/advantages-disadvantages-using-authentic-texts-in-class.html. Accessed 15 Jan. 2018.

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Cobb, T. (2018). Why and how to use frequency lists to learn words. Lextutor.ca. https://www.lex tutor.ca/research/. Accessed 31 Dec. 2018. Combes, B. (2009). Digital natives or digital refugees? Why we have failed Gen Y? International Association of School Librarianship. Selected Papers from the Annual Conference, 1–12. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/236051593?accountid=15192. Crossley, S. A., & McNamara, D. S. (2016). Text-based recall and extra-textual generations resulting from simplified and authentic texts. Reading in a Foreign Language, 28(1), 1–19. Crossley, S. A., Yang, H. S., & McNamara, D. S. (2014). What’s so simple about simplified texts? Reading in a Foreign Language, 92–113. Dale, E., & Chall, J. S. (1949). The concept of readability. Elementary English 26(1), 19–26. Demeni, P. (2012). Developing written text production competence using the reader-response method. Acta Didactica Napocensia, 5(3), 53–60. DuBay, W. H. (2004). The principles of readability. Costa Mesa. http://www.impact-information. com/impactinfo/readability02.pdf. Accessed 21 November 2019. Goodman, K., & Freeman, D. (1993). What’s simple in simplified language. In M. L. Tikko (Ed.), Simplification: theory and application (pp. 69–81). SEAMEO Regional Language Centre. Green, A., & Hawkey, R. (2011). Re-fitting for a different purpose: A case study of item writer practices in adapting source texts for a test of academic reading. Language Testing, 29(1), 109– 129. Hervey, S. (2013). A beginner’s guide to text complexity. Generation ready. http://www.generationre ady.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Beginners-Guide-to-Text-Complexity.pdf. Accessed 31 Dec. 2018. Hulstijn, J. H. (1992). Retention of inferred and given word meanings: Experiments in incidental vocabulary learning. Vocabulary and applied linguistics (pp. 113–125). Palgrave Macmillan. Krashen, S. (1988). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Prentice-Hall International. Kuimova M. V., & Kobzeva N. A. (2011). Advantages and disadvantages of authentic materials use in EFL classrooms, Molodo yqeny, 3(2), 125–127. https://moluch.ru/archive/26/2844/. Accessed 11 Jan. 2018. Long, M., & Ross, S. (1993). Modifications that preserve language and content. In M. L. Tickoo (Ed.), Simplification: Theory and application (pp. 29–52). SEAMEO Regional Language Center. Murphy, S. (2013). Assessing text difficulty for students. What works? Research into Practice, Research monograph #44, http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/ ww_atds.pdf. Accessed 31 Dec. 2018. Nikolayeva, L. (2019). Adapting a text for testing purposes: Approach to academic reading and writing assessment design in the middle east. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 9(2), 204–216. Richards, J. C. (2018). Advantages and disadvantages of using instructional materials in teaching ESL. https://www.professorjackrichards.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-usinginstructional-materials-in-teaching-esl/. Accessed 15 Jan. 2018. Roberts, R. (2014). Authentic or graded? https://elt-resourceful.com/2014/02/27/authentic-or-gra ded-is-there-a-middle-way/. Accessed 15 Jan. 2018. Spiegel, D. L. (1998). Reader response approaches and the growth of readers. Language Arts, 76(1), 41–48. Tamor, L. (1981). Subjective text difficulty: An alternative approach to defining the difficulty level of written text. Journal of Reading Behaviour, 8(2), 165–172. Torki, S. (2013). Algerian University English language teaching materials: How readable are they? AWEJ, 4(4), 4–16. Yoshii, M., & Flaitz, J. (2002). Second language incidental vocabulary retention: The effect of text and picture annotation types. CALICO Journal, 20(1), 33–58.

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Larysa Nikolayeva is an Assistant Professor of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Zayed University. She is a Ph. D. holder in Linguistics. She has been teaching in the Gulf for 11 years. Dr. Larysa’s research interests include the development of academic reading and writing skills in both face-to-face and online contexts.

Chapter 13

General Studies Teachers’ Acceptance of Technology Use in the Classroom Within UAE Higher-Education Luke Mawer

Abstract This study examined the beliefs of forty-four General Studies teachers through their acceptance and use of technology at a higher-education institute within the UAE. The data was collected via a questionnaire based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTUAT) developed by Venkatesh et al. (MIS Quarterly 27:425–478, Venkatesh et al., .MIS Quarterly 27:425–478, 2003). As current educational polices within the United Arab Emirates (Ministry of Education in Ministry of education strategic plan 2017–2021. Ministry of Education, U.A.E Ministry Of Education, U. A. E. (2016). Ministry of education strategic plan 2017– 2021. Ministry of Education, U.A.E.) recommend an incorporation of technology into the teaching and learning environment, it is important to identify potential issues concerning its implementation. This research was conducted on the understanding that in order for a proposed reform to be enacted effectively, teachers’ beliefs must align with those of their social context. Furthermore, it is stated that teachers’ beliefs are considered a key determinant of their practices. The results indicate that the teachers’ beliefs, their intentions, and practices align with those of policy. However, the social influence upon their implementation of technology was reported as the least significant determinate of their intentions and behaviour. Additionally, some teachers’ reported feelings of anxiety towards using technology, indicating a potential barrier to its integration into the classroom. Keywords Teacher cognition · Educational technology · UTAUT · Technology acceptance

Introduction Within the developed world, technology has had a growing influence upon universities and colleges as educational authorities place a greater emphasis on the importance of technology integration (Ministry of Education Strategic Plan 2017–2021, L. Mawer (B) Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_13

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Ministry of Education, U.A.E, 2016; TEAP Scheme Handbook, BALEAP, 2014; UKPSF, HEA, 2011; US National Education Technology Plan Update, US Department of Education, 2017). This change in policy in addition to shifting pedagogical trends has steered the field of education towards a more technological approach to teaching practice and content delivery (Lai et al., 2016; Li, 2007; Watson, 2001; Zhu et al., 2010). Within recent years higher educational institutions have begun to implement a greater focus on technology use in the classroom, e-learning, and the creation of virtual learning environments with varying degrees of success (Thorne et al., 2015; Zemsky & Massy, 2004). This paradigm shift in education has had a marked effect on the role of many teachers, calling for a change in their attitudes, intentions, and actions. Up-to-date research is necessary in order to investigate how teachers’ are responding to an increased focus on technology in teaching and learning. Using the UTAUT framework, it is possible to gain insights into how teachers perceive technology as aiding their students’ learning and facilitating their teaching, their attitudes towards its effectiveness and ease of use, in addition to any contextual factors impacting their intentions.

Literature Review Issues with ICT Integration in General Education It has been noted how in the recent past, the field of education has not adopted ICT implementation with the same enthusiasm as that of the business world or our everyday lives (Mishra & Koehler, 2006; Watson, 2001). This can be attributed to the idea that not all teachers are comfortable using technology and that their confidence in their ability to use it effectively can be a major barrier (Ertmer, 1999). Additionally, a lack of technical skills may inhibit technology use for a fear of problems occurring with software or hardware (Silviyanti & Yusuf, 2015; Walker & White, 2013). A review of studies spanning over ten years (1995–2006) analysing ICT integration barriers was carried out by Hew and Brush (2007). The review found that a lack of teacher knowledge was cited in twenty-three per-cent of the studies appearing as the second most cited barrier. The most common barrier identified in the review was ‘resources’, cited in forty per-cent of the studies reviewed. This lack of resources can be taken to include many barriers external to the teacher and are seen as environmental restrictions. These include a lack of adequate computer-based facilities, poor or no internet connectivity or constraints of time. These external barriers have also been defined as ‘overt’ (Al-Kahtani, 2004) or ‘first order’ (Ertmer, 1999) barriers. Many researchers (Ertmer et al., 2012; O’Mahony, 2003; Pelgrum, 2001) have cited these external barriers as being particularly detrimental to technology integration While some studies continue to show that these barriers are relevant, especially in particular contexts (Shahrokni & Sadeqjoola, 2015;

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Silviyanti & Yusuf, 2015), it can be argued that access to resources has instrumentally increased since 2006. This has led to a large reduction in external barriers and as such much of the literature since that time has focused on teacher’s attitudes and beliefs towards ICT integration (Ertmer et al., 2012). Internal barriers associated with teachers’ attitudes and beliefs have been described as ‘covert’ (Al-Kahtani, 2004) or ‘second order’ (Ertmer, 1999) barriers. These barriers can also include context-specific issues that relate to religion and culture. However, it has been noted that dividing these barriers in such a way becomes problematic, as they “appear to interact in complex and dynamic ways” (Van Praag & Sanchez, 2015). Teachers’ attitudes and beliefs have been cited as major barriers to technological implementation in the classroom (Pelgrum, 2001; Samuel & Bakar, 2007). In the previously cited study by Hew and Brush (2007), teachers’ attitudes and beliefs were found to be the third most commonly cited barrier for technology implementation. Studies have shown that teachers’ who do not believe that technology can add any pedagogical advantage to their class, block its implementation (Angers & Machtmes, 2005; Watson, 2001).

Acceptance of ICT Use by Teachers It has long been established, with the help of understanding from work done in the field of psychology, that “teachers are active, thinking decision-makers who play a central role in shaping classroom events” (Borg, 2006, p.1) and that major influences upon these actions derive from teachers’ attitudes and beliefs. It is argued that a main source of teachers’ attitudes and beliefs arise from their own ‘personal practical knowledge’ (Clandinin & Connelly, 1987) in addition to beliefs formed from teacher education and professional development. The effects of teachers’ attitudes and beliefs on their practices with ICT have attracted a fair amount of interest, and this research highlights the importance of beliefs in teachers’ implementation of ICT (Chien et al., 2014; Norton et al., 2000; Palak & Walls, 2009; Williams et al., 2000). An abundance of research illustrates how teachers with a more favourable outlook towards technology are more likely to make use of ICT within the classroom (Atkins & Vasu, 2000; Kessler & Plakans, 2008; Kim, 2002; Lam, 2000; Park & Son, 2009). Silviyanti and Yusuf (2015) found in their study that the teachers who had the highest motivation to use ICT, did so because of their positive beliefs (that it would make learning more interesting, enjoyable and effective). It is also important to note, the distinction drawn by Mumtaz (2000) and Ertmer and Ottenbreit-Leftwich (2010), that it is mainly teachers’ beliefs about the pedagogical value of using technology in the classroom that influences their practices. It is surmised that teachers’ beliefs of ICT use and their beliefs of pedagogy intersect and affect their practices (Prestridge, 2012). Conversely, there is also a disparity reported in research that shows how teachers’ beliefs about ICT integration do not match their actual practices (Basturkmen, 2012;

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Knezek & Christensen, 2008; Liu, 2011). It has been argued that these incongruities are largely as a result of contextual constraints (Ertmer et al., 2000) such as those mentioned as external barriers in the previous section. A further reason noted by Borg (2006) explains how teachers are not implementing ICT into their classrooms as they have already formed a routine, which they feel works for them and they do not wish to disturb it.

UTAUT In order to investigate the internal and external barriers to ICT use in education many attitudinal models have been employed by researchers. The current theoretical models adopted in much of the research investigating teacher attitudes and beliefs concerned with ICT use are based on models that have little associated to the context of General Studies (Baltaci-Goktalay & Ozdilek, 2010; Blackwell et al., 2013; Teo, 2015). The measures used in many studies adopt theories grounded in psychology, with applications that have predominantly resided in commercial areas. These theories include the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (Al-Hawari & Mouakket, 2010; Lee et al., 2010; Salleh, 2016; Teo, 2015). With the intention of addressing the issue presented by having a multitude of models and concepts to measure acceptance, attitude, and intention, the ‘Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology’ (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al., 2003) was formulated. The UTUAT model collates frequently used measures of attitude, acceptance, and intention together under one umbrella model. The UTUAT framework started with eight constructs of determining acceptance of technology, being performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), attitude towards technology (ATT), social influence (SI), facilitating conditions (FC), self-efficacy (SE), anxiety (ANX), and behavioural intention (BI). The results of the Venkatesh et al. paper provided statistical support for five of these determinants: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and behavioural intention (ibid). It was therefore the aim of this study to examine the suitability of the UTAUT model in its application for educational settings, specifically in the area of academic General Studies teaching. Furthermore, the UTAUT model claims that attitude and anxiety does not act as a significant indicator of intention and usage (Venkatesh et al., 2003). As this is contradictory to the literature within the English language-teaching field (Egbert et al., 2009; Kessler, 2007), the research aims to further investigate the validity of this claim.

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Method This study took place at Abu Dhabi Women’s College, part of a wider collection of public tertiary education providers within the UAE named ‘The Higher Colleges of Technology’ (HCT). The research analyses quantitative data collected from a non-probability sample. This data was collected through a survey distributed online, through email, to the General Studies faculty working at the college. The survey instrument was an adaptation of that used by Venkatesh et al. (2003) in the original UTAUT study.

Research Question and Hypothesis RQs: How do General Studies teachers’ acceptance of technology affect their intention to use ICT for teaching and learning? Hypothesis: Using the measures of UTAUT, it is theorized that the performance expectancy variable shall be the most significant influence on the intention of teachers to use ICT.

Participants The participants of this study involved forty-four General Studies faculty working at The Higher Colleges of Technology within the UAE. These faculty members include a mix of male and female staff with eighteen males and twenty-six females participating in this study. These staff members involved in the study were from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities, some native speakers of English from countries such as Australia, England, Ireland, and the US, in addition to non-native speakers from Poland, Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan. Each participant had a least a master’s degree and five years teaching experience (Tables 13.1 and 13.2). Table 13.1 Age

Frequency

Percentage

25–34

6

13.6

35–44

16

36.4

45–54

16

36.4

55–64

6

13.6

Total

44

100

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Table 13.2 Gender

Frequency

Percentage

Male

18

40.9

Female

26

59.1

Total

44

100

Instruments In order to collect the data used within this research, a questionnaire adapted from Venkatesh et al. (2003) was used. The initial questionnaire contained thirty-one items designed to capture the cognitions of General Studies teachers about their acceptance and intentions to use ICT for teaching and learning. These items were collated into eight variables that attempted to capture the participants’ performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), attitude towards technology (ATT), social influence (SI), facilitating conditions (FC), self-efficacy (SE), anxiety (ANX), and behavioural intention (BI). The questionnaire was distributed online. The questions in the survey were changed to reflect the use of ICT for purposes of learning and teaching.

Results The data collected from the questionnaire was analysed using SPSS v23 statistics software. The analysis tested the Cronbach’s alpha scores on the constructs used by Venkatesh et al.’s (2003) in the original UTUAT study. In order to improve the internal reliability of the constructs used in the survey, five of the initial questionnaire items were deleted. The results of the alpha scores, in addition to the mean, standard deviation, and variance can be seen in Table 13.3. As this study looked to test the model presented in the original UATUT (Venkatesh et al., 2003) paper, all eight constructs were used. Each of the eight constructs Table 13.3 Results of the alpha scores Construct

Mean

Std deviation

Variance

α

N of items

PE

1.5568

0.49375

0.244

0.778

4

EE

1.7121

0.604

0.365

0.835

3

ATT

1.5114

0.61226

0.375

0.949

4

SI

2.2045

0.65874

0.434

0.77

2

FC

1.8182

0.55431

0.307

0.757

3

SE

2.2159

0.74824

0.56

0.789

4

ANX

1.8295

0.75632

0.572

0.824

4

BI

1.2121

0.40084

0.161

0.877

3

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achieved a significantly high Cronbach’s alpha score to be deemed internally consistent (>0.7). The regression analysis results are presented in Table 13.4, which looked at the suitability for the seven variables of PE, EE, SI, FC, ATT, SE, and ANX used as independent variables for the prediction of the dependant variable: BI. From the regression analysis it can be observed that the model is a significantly significant predictor of the dependant variable with a R2 score of 0.573 and a sig. F score of 0.000 (Table 13.5). Using the Pearson correlation analysis, three of the seven independent constructs were found to be significant determinants of behavioural intention. These were effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, and anxiety. None of the other variables provide a significant correlation with the espoused behavioural intention of the participants. Using these results we have to reject our hypothesis that the performance expectancy construct is a main determiner of behaviour intention. In its place, the correlation analysis states that the anxiety in this case is to be considered as the main indicator of behavioural intention to use ICT.

Discussion The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of technology acceptance upon teachers’ intention to use technology. The research sampled General Studies teachers working in tertiary education within the UAE. The measures of acceptance and questionnaire items used were taken from the original unified theory of acceptance and use of technology study (Venkatesh et al., 2003). This was done as the original UTAUT research had been conceived to measure acceptance of technology, in order to predict the likely intentions and use of technology in the workplace. The model focused on a few diverse workplace sectors including entertainment, banking, telecommunications, and public administration. Yet, examining the acceptance of technology within the educational workplace environment has not been the focus of much attention in the UTAUT literature (Williams et al., 2015). The results of the quantitative correlation analysis indicate that the teachers’ inner thoughts of EE and ANX—the 2nd order barriers mentioned by Ertmer (1999)— play a vital role in shaping the intentions of teachers to use ICT. Furthermore, the significance of FC upon BI highlight the issue that 1st order barriers pose. This is a surprising result, as the context is one which wishes to propagate technology use, has a high level of affluence, and classrooms seemingly well equipped. The hypothesis that the PE of teachers is the most significant determiner to behavioural intention has to be rejected. The application of these results can be utilised by both scholars and educators. The implications for educational researchers are that these results support an alternative perspective of technology acceptance. As Dörnyei (2007) notes, research in education and in particularly on what happens in classrooms is very different to other realms of social science. Further research into teachers’ acceptance of technology and its use

b Dependent

0.490

Adjusted R2 0.28621

Std. error of the Estimate

(Constant), SE, FC, PE, EE, SI, ANX, ATT Variable: BI

0.573

0.757a

1

a Predictors:

R2

R

Model

Table 13.4 Model summary

0.573

R2 Change 6.906

F Change

Change statistics 7

df1

36

df2

0.000

Sig. F change 1.971

Durbin-Watson

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13 General Studies Teachers’ Acceptance of Technology …

201

Table 13.5 Correlations PE PE

EE

ATT

FC

SE

ANX

BI

Pearson 1 correlation

0.017

0.507** 0.428**

0.109

0.139

0.315*

0.192

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.912

0.000

0.004

0.479

0.368

0.038

0.211

44

44

44

44

44

44

44

1

0.439** −0.316* 0.380*

−0.108 0.552** 0.493**

0.003

0.037

0.011

0.485

0.000

0.001

44

44

44

44

44

44

1

0.254

0.383*

−0.164 0.180

0.053

0.097

0.010

−0.287 0.242

0.732

44

44

44

44

1

−0.235 0.109

−0.138 −0.286

0.124

0.482

0.370

0.060

44

44

N EE

ATT

SI

FC

SE

44

Pearson 0.017 correlation Sig. (2-tailed)

0.912

N

44

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.000

0.003

N

44

44

44

Pearson 0.428** −0.316* 0.254 correlation Sig. (2-tailed)

0.004

N

44

0.037

0.097

44

44

44

44

44

44

Pearson 0.109 correlation

0.380*

0.383*

−0.235

1

−0.025 0.461** 0.503**

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.479

0.011

0.010

0.124

N

44

44

0.874

44

44

44

44

−0.164 0.109

−0.025 1

0.241

0.115

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.368

0.485

0.287

0.482

0.874

0.115

0.457

N

44

44

44

44

44

44

44

0.552**

0.180

−0.138

0.461** 0.241

1

0.595**

0.000

0.242

0.370

0.002

0.115 44

0.038

N

44

44

0.000

−0.108

Sig. (2-tailed)

44

0.002

Pearson 0.139 correlation

ANX Pearson 0.315* correlation

BI

44

Pearson 0.507** 0.439** correlation

SI

44

0.000

44

44

44

44

Pearson 0.192 correlation

0.493**

0.053

−0.286

0.503** 0.115

0.595** 1

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.001

0.732

0.060

0.000

0.000

0.211

0.457

44

44

(continued)

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Table 13.5 (continued) N * Correlation

PE

EE

ATT

SI

FC

SE

ANX

BI

44

44

44

44

44

44

44

44

is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

** Correlation

should be aware of how PE may not carry the same weight for teachers as it does for other professions. For educators, these results present an alternative idea about what is needed to impart change upon teachers’ attitudes and beliefs. It is recommended that training and professional development programs support teachers who feel an emotional distance towards teaching with technology. In addition to highlighting how ICT can improve PE and focusing on raising SE of teachers, teacher development should aim to calm the anxiety teachers have towards using digital innovations. This is shown in the results as ANX, rather than SE, was deemed the most statistically significant determiner of BI. However, as the mean score for SE reported was higher than others (2.2), this can be seen as evidence that teachers are still in need of this training and development. The internal validity of the study and regression analysis indicate that the measures of UTUAT and the overall model are statistically significant models for measuring acceptance and intention to use technology by teachers. However, questionnaire items did have to be removed in order for an acceptable Cronbach alpha score to be achieved. This study reflects a similar study by Sumak and Sorgo (2016) who excluded items from the original UTAUT model during their data analysis. A noticeable similarity was the reduction of two SI indicators related to management of the institution. Hence, it is argued that within an educational setting these four constructs are not representative of social influence. According to the regression analysis results indicating an R2 score of 0.573 and a sig. F score of 0.000, the framework used in UATUT is supported by these results as a significant model for predicting behaviour. However, the constructs that are selected as direct determinants of behaviour in the UTUAT study by Venkatesh et al. (2003); PE, EE, SI, and FC do not align with those found in this study. Consequently, within an educational context these four constructs may not be the most beneficial or significant factors used for predicting behaviour using acceptance. While this research paper has presented some interesting and useful data, there exists within it some weaknesses that should be made salient. The methodological issue of using a questionnaire in order to investigate the cognitions of teachers as it is argued only superficial data can be extrapolated (Dörnyei, 2007). Teachers answering the questionnaire may give answers that they feel are desirable rather than what they actually think, feel, or do (Borg, 2006). As such it is suggested that a more in-depth qualitative analysis, looking deeper into the minds of teachers would be warranted. Additionally, a study that linked the behaviour of participants within this context would provide further clarification of the links between acceptance, intention, and use.

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Implications for Online Teaching In response to the COVID-19 virus and the social distancing policies put in place by governments around the world, schools and universities have been forced to shut their doors and shift the location of teaching and learning into the digital sphere. Teachers are required to work from home, delivering their classes online through video conferencing software and communicating with students through e-mails. While this study seeks to analyse intention to use technology, the world has now changed in a way that the freedom to choose has been removed. With the mandatory introduction of new digital tools and online spaces for teaching, teachers are likely to feel overwhelmed and anxious if unprepared. From an analysis of the results found within this study, it is concluded that a teacher’s ‘effort expectancy’, ‘anxiety’, and the ‘facilitating conditions’ of their environment are key determinants of their attitude towards using technology for teaching. Therefore, the results of this study are of relevance to those who wish to help ease this transition for teachers, providing a suitable framework for discerning and addressing their potential concerns. The implication of these results for this new global shift towards online teaching are that teachers’ attitude towards using technology should be taken into consideration, if the move is to be a success. Firstly, teachers may not have the levels of self-efficacy required to implement online learning appropriately. They may be unfamiliar with specific online learning strategies and certain software or applications they are required to use. Furthermore, factors such as the implementation of a new online teaching style, the mandatory use of unfamiliar software, and additional administrational tasks are all issues that are predicted to lead to teachers’ levels of effort expectancy and anxiety rising. Additionally, the conditions of a teacher’s home may not be suitable for facilitating online teaching. For example, teachers could have issues with the strength of their internet connection, they may not have access to a private room to teach from or have access to the necessary hardware such as a webcam to complete the tasks required of them. A failure to address these concerns is likely to negatively affect the successful implementation of any online teaching strategy. While the current move towards an exclusively online teaching practice might be temporary, it is not unforeseeable that in the future higher education could switch to solely using an online teaching methodology more permanently. If that were to be the case, it is essential that teachers are prepared for, and accepting of, the many aspects included in a digital pedagogy. Using a modified UTAUT framework for analysing potential barriers that need to be addressed would offer direction to trainers and institutions, providing guidance for them in understanding what aspects of teachers’ cognitions need addressing. According to the results of this study it is indicated that attempts should be made to limit the effort expectancy placed on teachers and that there should be a focus on ensuring teachers have the correct equipment and working environment available. Additionally, in order to adequately prepare teachers, effective training/professional development should be offered covering appropriate online teaching and learning strategies alongside demonstrations of how to use the appropriate software effectively. In addressing these concerns it is proposed that

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teachers will be less anxious in using the technology associated with online teaching and have a more positive attitude towards its use.

References Al-Kahtani, S. (2004). Deterrents to CALL in Saudi Arabia. Essential Teacher, 1, 26–30. Al-Hawari, M. A., & Mouakket, S. (2010). The influence of technology acceptance model (TAM) factors on students’ e-satisfaction and e-retention within the context of UAE e-learning. Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues, 3, 299–314. Angers, J., & Machtmes, K. L. (2005). An ethnographic-case study of beliefs, context factors, and practices of teachers integrating technology. The Qualitative Report, 10, 771–794. Atkins, N. E., & Vasu, E. S. (2000). Measuring knowledge of technology usage and stages of concern about computing: A study of middle school teachers. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 8, 279–302. BALEAP. (2014). TEAP scheme handbook. British Association of Lectures of English for Academic Purposes (BALEAP). Baltaci-Goktalay, S., & Ozdilek, Z. (2010). Pre-service teachers’ perceptions about web 2.0 technologies. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2, 4737–4741. Basturkmen, H. (2012). Review of research into the correspondence between language teachers’ stated beliefs and practices. System, 40, 282–295. Blackwell, C. K., Lauricella, A. R., Wartella, E., Robb, M., & Schomburg, R. (2013). Adoption and use of technology in early education. Computers & Education, 69, 310–319. Borg, S. (2006). Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice. Continuum. Chien, S.-P., Wu, H.-K., & Hsu, Y.-S. (2014). An investigation of teachers’ beliefs and their use of technology-based assessments. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, 198–210. Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (1987). Teachers’ personal knowledge: What counts as ‘personal’ in studies of the personal. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 19, 487–500. Department of Education, U. S. (2017). US national education technology plan update. US Department of Education. Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics. Oxford University Press. Egbert, J., Preuss, C., Huff, L., Sellen, J., & McNeil, L. (2009). Pedagogy, process, and classroom context: integrating teacher voice and experience into research on technology-enhanced language learning. The Modern Language Journal, 93, 754–768. Ertmer, P. A. (1999). Addressing first-and second-order barriers to change: Strategies for technology integration. Educational Technology Research and Development, 47, 47–61. Ertmer, P. A., Gopalakrishnan, S. & Ross, E. (2000). Technology-using teachers: Comparing perceptions of exemplary technology use to best practice, ERIC Clearinghouse. Ertmer, P. A., & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, A. T. (2010). Teacher technology change: How knowledge, confidence, beliefs, and culture intersect. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 42, 255–284. Ertmer, P. A., Ottenbreit-Leftwich, A. T., Sadik, O., Sendurur, E., & Sendurur, P. (2012). Teacher beliefs and technology integration practices: A critical relationship. Computers & Education, 59, 423–435. Higher Eductaion Academy. (2011). UK professional standards framework. Higher Education Academy (HEA). Hew, K. F., & Brush, T. (2007). Integrating technology into K-12 teaching and learning: Current knowledge gaps and recommendations for future research. Educational Technology Research and Development, 55, 223. Kessler, G. (2007). Formal and informal CALL preparation and teacher attitude toward technology. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 20, 173–188.

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Kessler, G., & Plakans, L. (2008). Does teachers’ confidence with CALL equal innovative and integrated use? Computer Assisted Language Learning, 21, 269–282. Kim, H. (2002). Teachers as a barrier to technology-integrated language teaching. English Teaching, 57, 35–64. Knezek, G., & Christensen, R. (2008). The importance of information technology attitudes and competencies in primary and secondary education. In International handbook of information technology in primary and secondary education (pp. 321–331). Lai, C., Yeung, Y., & Hu, J. (2016). University student and teacher perceptions of teacher roles in promoting autonomous language learning with technology outside the classroom. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 24(4), 703–723. Lam, Y. (2000). Technophilia versus technophobia: A preliminary look at why second-language teachers do or do not use technology in their classrooms. Canadian Modern Language Review, 56, 389–420. Lee, J., Cerreto, F. A., & Lee, J. (2010). Theory of planned behavior and teachers’ decisions regarding use of educational technology. Educational Technology & Society, 13, 152. Li, Q. (2007). Student and teacher views about technology. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 39(4), 377–397. Liu, S.-H. (2011). Factors related to pedagogical beliefs of teachers and technology integration. Computers & Education, 56, 1012–1022. Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: a framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108, 1017–1054. Ministry Of Education, U. A. E. (2016). Ministry of education strategic plan 2017–2021. Ministry of Education, U.A.E. Mumtaz, S. (2000). Factors affecting teachers’ use of information and communications technology: A review of the literature. Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, 9, 319–342. Norton, S., McRobbie, C. J., & Cooper, T. J. (2000). Exploring secondary mathematics teachers’ reasons for not using computers in their teaching: Five case studies. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 33, 87–109. O’Mahony, C. (2003). Getting the information and communications technology formula right: Access + ability = confident use. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 12, 295–311. Palak, D., & Walls, R. T. (2009). Teachers’ beliefs and technology practices: A mixed-methods approach. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 41, 417–441. Park, C.-N., & Son, J.-B. (2009). Implementing computer-assisted language learning in the EFL classroom: Teachers’ perceptions and perspectives. International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning, 5, 80–101. Pelgrum, W. J. (2001). Obstacles to the integration of ICT in education: Results from a worldwide educational assessment. Computers & Education, 37, 163–178. Prestridge, S. (2012). The beliefs behind the teacher that influences their ICT practices. Computers & Education, 58, 449–458. Salleh, S. (2016). Examining the influence of teachers’ beliefs towards technology integration in classroom. International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 33, 17–35. Samuel, R. J., & Bakar, Z. A. (2007). Do teachers have adequate ICT resources and the right ICT skills in integrating ICT tools in the teaching and learning of English language in Malaysian schools? The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 29, 1–15. Shahrokni, S. A., & Sadeqjoola, L. (2015). Iranian EFL teachers’ perception, familiarity and use of web 2.0 tools in TEFL. Teaching English with Technology, 15, 31–46. Silviyanti, T. M., & Yusuf, Y. Q. (2015). EFL teachers’ perceptions on using ICT in their teaching: To use or reject. Teaching English with Technology, 15, 29–43. Sumak, B., & Sorgo, A. (2016). The acceptance and use of interactive whiteboards among teachers: Differences in UTAUT determinants between pre- and post-adopters. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 602–620.

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Teo, T. (2015). Comparing pre-service and in-service teachers’ acceptance of technology: Assessment of measurement invariance and latent mean differences. Computers & Education, 83, 22–31. Thorne, S. L., Sauro, S., & Smith, B. (2015). Technologies, identities, and expressive activity. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35, 215–233. Van Praag, B., & Sanchez, H. S. (2015). Mobile technology in second language classrooms: Insights into its uses, pedagogical implications, and teacher beliefs. ReCALL, 27, 288–303. Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., & Davis, F. D. (2003). User acceptance of information technology: Toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27, 425–478. Walker, A., & White, G. (2013). Technology enhanced language learning: Connecting theory and practice. Oxford University Press. Watson, D. M. (2001). Pedagogy before technology: Re-thinking the relationship between ICT and teaching. Education and Information Technologies, 6, 251–266. Williams, D., Coles, L., Wilson, K., Richardson, A., & Tuson, J. (2000). Teachers and ICT: Current use and future needs. British Journal of Educational Technology, 31, 307–320. Williams, M. D., Rana, N. P., & Dwivedi, Y. K. (2015). The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT): A literature review. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 28, 443–488. Zhu, C., Valcke, M., & Schellens, T. (2010). A cross-cultural study of teacher perspectives on teacher roles and adoption of online collaborative learning in higher education. European Journal of Teacher Education, 33(2), 147–165. Zemsky, R., & Massy, W. F. (2004). Thwarted innovation. In What happened to e-learning and why, A final report for the weather station project of the learning alliance at the University of Pennsylvania in cooperation with the Thomson Corporation, Pennsylvania. Retrieved from: https://www.immagic.com/eLibrary/ARCHIVES/GENERAL/UPENN_US/P040600Z.pdf.

Luke Mawer is a current Ph.D. student in Education at the University of Leeds, UK, and a Lecturer at Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi Women’s Campus, , UAE. For the last ten years Luke has lived and worked in Daegu, South Korea and Abu Dhabi in the UAE. He has been teaching courses in English language, Education and Research Methodology since 2008. His research areas include: language teacher cognition (knowledge, attitudes and beliefs), teachers’ acceptance of technology, and the use of digital tools and contexts for language teaching.

Chapter 14

Teaching and Learning Post-secondary Content Through Non-native Language in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mazhar Azeem and Georgia Daleure

Abstract In the half decade since nationalization in 1971, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has matured into a tolerant and open Arab Islamic society that values economic growth and social stability. National priorities, as established in the UAE Vision 2021 document, promote education of national youth and lifelong learning for all citizens as keys to development in the transition from an oil-based economy to a knowledgebased economy. Recognizing that English is the international language of business, the federal government established English as the medium of instruction in all of federally funded tertiary education institutions. Most of the government subsidized and private tertiary institutions have followed suit. Most instructors originate from English speaking areas such as North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand or are academically proficient in English. Although professional, experienced, and highly qualified in their areas of specialization, few if any, of the content teachers in program areas have had training teaching students who were studying in a non-native language. This study explores the perspectives of students and teachers regarding factors for motivation and engagement in core program courses in a federal tertiary institution. Specifically, the study compared the perceptions of students and teachers regarding factors for motivation and engagement, as well as challenges, to determine whether the perceptions were similar or different and to determine factors for student disengagement or low motivation. In this quantitative study, students and teachers were asked to rank factors for student disengagement and low motivation found in the academic literature using a 4 point Likert scale. The final question was an open ended question to give participants an opportunity to add information or explain their ratings. In the analysis, student and teacher ratings were examined separately then compared to each other. Findings indicated that both student and teachers perceived that the most effective teaching practices were experiential, practical, and interactive lessons; however, both groups responded that those lessons were not necessarily the delivery norm. Factors rated as highly disengaging by teachers were “highly theoretical content” and “using mobile devices” while students overwhelming rated “teachers / lessons that are boring” as the most disengaging factor. Faculty new to M. Azeem (B) · G. Daleure Higher Colleges of Technology, Sharjah, UAE e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_14

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the institution (3 years or less) indicated that language proficiency was not a factor in disengagement while faculty who were in the institution for 10 years of more indicated that language proficiency was a major factor for their students’ disengagement. Evidence surfaced suggesting that teachers did not necessarily distinguish between student disengagement resulting from a “lack of interest” from disengagement resulting from a “lack of understanding or comprehension.” It is recommended that instructors of core program courses, complete a recognized certificate in TESL or at a minimum, receive training in recognizing and addressing student disengagement resulting from “lack of understanding or comprehension” and apply techniques to enrich lessons by addressing lack of comprehension or understanding. Keywords Higher education · Non-native language · Student engagement · United Arab Emirates

Introduction While most experts agree that communication skills play a key role in students’ ability to comprehend oral and written language, academic literature suggests that little is done to address the needs of post-secondary level learners studying program content courses in a non-native language (Atweh et al., 2008). Most studies focus on foreign or minority students studying in the official language of the country, usually English, but sometimes French or Spanish depending on the area of the world. However, with international post-secondary education being conducted online or through blended learning and with more developing countries incorporating elements of existing postsecondary structures into their own recently formed post-secondary structure, an increasing number of students are expected to study at the post-secondary level in their non-native language in their own country. Rivera (1984) explained the challenges of minority populations within larger communities in Language Proficiency and Academic Achievement. Some examples include countries such as Canada with dual lingual areas with French speaking minorities in the English-speaking areas or vice versa. In the United States, some areas have high concentrations of Latinos who speak Spanish at home while English is the official language of the country. With globalization and increased migration, more minority linguistic and cultural communities exist within larger communities around the world. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Arabic is the official language of the county and the native language of most of the citizens of the country, who comprise less than 20% of the population. In an effort to Emirati youth for the competitive global economic environment, most post-secondary institutions use English as the medium of instruction in most programs. This is the case for most private or federally or locally subsidized institutions (Rogier, 2012). The national public school curriculum uses Arabic, the country’s official language, as the medium of instruction with English taught as a stand-alone subject. Some

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schools have a bi-modal curriculum in which some subjects are taught using English such as science, math, and English. Other subjects such as social science, religion, moral education, and Arabic language are taught using Arabic. Qualifying UAE Nationals may attend free of charge in federally funded postsecondary institutions including the Higher Colleges of Technology with 17 male and female colleges spread out across the seven emirates, Zayed University with campuses in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) in Al Ain, a major city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. English is utilized as the medium of instruction for all program and general studies courses except for Arabic language courses and courses pertaining to religion and/or Emirati history and social studies. Other federally and locally subsidized institutions such as University of Sharjah, Khalifa University, Fatima Medical College, American University of Sharjah, Petroleum Institute, and a host of private post-secondary institutions offer additional educational options, all using English as the medium of instruction for core program courses and most other courses (Rogier, 2012). Even though Emirati postsecondary students studying in federally funded institutions use English as explained in course work, most Emirati students speak Arabic with their family members at home, as many older Emiratis have limited educational attainment, and who may be able to offer little academic support (Daleure et al., 2014). Students may struggle with their courses due to their English competency. To obtain admission to degree programs in federal institutions, students must pass an entrance exam. In the year of the study, the entrance requirement was 5.0 overall on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). In other international institutions with English as the medium of instruction, students must earn the equivalent of IELTs 6.5 or 7.0. The relatively low English competency may be a factor causing students to struggle with their English delivery courses. Table 14.1 lists the descriptors associated with each band level to show why some students struggle with English delivery content courses even though they have passed English entry requirements. The descriptor for 4.0 states that students at this level have “frequent problems in understanding and expression … [and are] not able to use complex language” (IELTS Buddy, 2020). The descriptor for Band 5 from Table 14.1 states “has partial command … [and] … is likely to make many mistakes.” Students with IELTs overall score of 5.0 would most likely understand basic communication and be able to reciprocate in his or her own field only. The overall IELTS score is a combination of four skills, listening, reading, writing, and speaking. However, students often score much higher on the speaking section of the exam and lower on reading and writing skills (Abbad & Gitsaki, 2011). Students who score less than 5.0 on reading and writing yet achieve the composite score with high speaking scores and are not equipped for the demands related to reading and independent study at the post-secondary level. Most institutions offer pre-program level instruction to enhance students’ English language proficiency up to the 5.0 IELTS band level; however, language support offered to students once admitted to the degree program is often unavailable or underutilized by the students. Students, perceiving that achieving the entry level proficiency is sufficient to sustain them through their post-secondary experience, often develop

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Table 14.1 General descriptors for IELTS Band 4.0 and Above (2017) Descriptors for IELTS Band 4.0 and above in 2017 Band

Classification

Descriptors

4

Limited user

Basic competence limited to familiar situations. Frequent problems in expressing and understanding, Not able to use complex language

5

Modest user

Partial command of language. Likely to make mistakes but able to cope with overall meaning in most situations. Should be able to deal with basic communication in his or her own field

6

Competent user

Generally effective command of the language with some inaccuracies, inappropriate usages and misunderstandings. Able to use and understand complex language, especially in familiar situations

7

Good user

Operational command of the language with occasional inaccuracies, inappropriate usages and misunderstandings Generally handles complex language well and understands detailed reasoning

8

Very good user

Fully operational command of the language with only occasional unsystematic inaccuracies and misunderstandings in unfamiliar contexts. Handles complex detailed argumentation as well

9

Expert user

Fully operational command of the language with appropriate, accurate and fluent with complete understanding

Summarized from http://www.ieltsbuddy.com/ielts-scores.html

coping mechanisms which may include depending on classmates for support outside of class. In some cases, well-meaning Arabic speaking teachers, conduct courses in Arabic, or a mixture of English and Arabic, rather than encouraging students to expand their vocabulary leading to a dependency on the teacher rather than his or her own self by developing the confidence and independence to use the new skills to tackle the next courses in the sequence (Rensimer, 2015; Wagie & Fox, 2006). Students who are not able to follow the language in class or are not able to prepare adequately by comprehending the reading material may suffer from lack of attention and disengagement (Meyer & Land, 2006). Students may ‘tune out’ when new vocabulary is introduced or when explanations are pitched about their cognitive abilities. Atweh et al. (2008) stated that students are not all to blame. Teachers should recognize that lack of student engagement may be indicating that the teaching methods are not sufficient relevant or stimulating. Other issues in the learning environment may interfere with learning causing students to disengage. Students must feel an emotional attachment to the institution or at least the learning environment to be engaged. The attachment is enhanced by building relationships with peers, teachers, and others involved in the learning environment. As mentioned by Ahmad (2011), students from developing countries who are studying in their own county but in their non-native language may lose attention because materials, examples, textbooks, and topics of discussion are not derived from familiar contexts. This is particularly relevant for Arab-Muslim students in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region as their educational experience has focused

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on history, events, and circumstances of the Arab world as opposed to the Western centered educational background experienced by their mostly expatriate teachers. This last factor brings together the previously mentioned factors of new vocabulary being introduced without sufficient explanation, feelings of non-attachment due to being derived from an unfamiliar context, often times neglecting examples and materials based in the local context that cover the targeted concept. This study serves as a pilot study investigating the perceptions of effectiveness among post-secondary students and their teachers when delivery is in a non-native Language from the students’ point of view in the context of the United Arab Emirates and examines whether faculty are aware of students’ perceptions. The findings of study support future investigation by trialing the survey questions, trying out the procedures, contributing to the limited body of knowledge on learning contexts in the GCC and wider Arab world.

Literature Review In response to an increasing demand for higher education among UAE nationals, the number of public and private post-secondary institutions in the UAE has expanded over the past two decades (Rensimer, 2015). United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) was opened in Al Ain in 1977. In 1988 the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) opened its first campus in Abu Dhabi. A decade and a half later, the system included 16 men’s and women’s campuses. In 1998 Zayed University (ZU) was established for women (AlAbed et al., 2008). At the time of this study, all of the federally funded post-secondary institutions were using English as the medium of instruction because English fluency is perceived as important to obtain financially secure positions in the multinational labor market of the UAE (Daleure, 2017). The focus of research in the area of student engagement has shifted in recent years from examining causes of total disengagement such as resulting from major life issues and socio-economic conditions to examining factors for disengagement stemming more from changes in the learners themselves. The corresponding migration toward establishing student centered learning environments serves to address this trend. Kain (2003) described the shift as one where teachers move from the front of the classroom as the focus of attention to disseminating information out to the passively receiving students to a more inclusive and interactive model in which students are co-opted into the learning process. At the post-secondary level, learning can be measured in course pass rates, persistence levels, or Grade Point Averages (GPAs) amongst students in courses or in cohorts of graduates. Kuh et al. (2008) studied the effects of student engagement on first-year college grades and persistence levels by collecting data from 18 baccalaureate-granting colleges and universities in the United States. Their study concluded that high levels of student engagement during the first year of college significantly and positively impacts first-year GPA and increases the probability of students returning for a second year of college.

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Meyer and Land (2006) found that students perceived the introduction of new language or improperly explained vocabulary as challenge contributing to disengagement and inattention. Marchant and Anderson (2012) added that student engagement and success was/is related to their interaction with their peers, instructors, and instructional materials. Students must feel an emotional attachment to the institution or at least the learning environment according to Atweh, et al. (2008). The attachment is enhanced by establishing relationships in the learning environment with peers, teachers, and others. The students’ language proficiency that consequently affects their ability to interact and any lack of proficiency may cause student to disengage according to Taylor and Parson (2011). Ahmad (2011) adds that students can lose attention and focus when teachers use non-contextualized materials and examples in class.

Methodology The pilot study consisted mixed methods containing two similarly constructed surveys. The first survey targeted Emiratis studying in English in a post-secondary institution in the UAE. The second survey targeted the student participants of the first survey. The research questions for the study served to frame the study. Research Questions: 1. 2.

How does the mode of instruction, if a non-native language of most students, affect overall student engagement? To what extent do students and teachers agree on factors that engage and motivate students in the class? a. b. c.

To what extent do students perceptions of effectiveness vary according to demographic factors including gender, program, and year level? What, if any, differences in perceptions of effectiveness exist among teachers from different divisions? What, if any, differences in perceptions of effectiveness exist among teachers corresponding to the length of time they have served in the institution?

Population and Sample In the year of the study, there were approximately 22,000 students enrolled in degree programs at the target institution. Most of the students, 70%, were female, corresponding to the overall gender parity at federal post-secondary institutions in the country at the time of the study (Daleure, 2017). However, the population for this study consisted of students from a branch, containing separate male and female campuses, within the institution containing approximately 3,600 students in the

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Northern Emirates with a catchment area covering the emirates of Sharjah, Ajman, Um Al Quwain, with some students from Ras Al Khaimah and Dubai. Although the general enrollment corresponded to the overall gender parity in the Faculty of Engineering, had more even gender parity, with 641 females and 638 males. Survey links were sent to 112 students, approximately 10% of the engineering students evenly divided among males and females from all four grade levels. The response rate was 67% with 72 students participating. The second survey link was sent to 31 faculty members who taught the students in the student survey sample and represented approximately 10% of the instructors in the Faculty of Engineering in the institution. The response rate was about 35% with 20 instructors agreeing to participate in the study.

Instruments Student Survey. The student survey contained three sections. The first section asked basic for demographic information including program major, year level attainment, and gender. The next section presented 10 Likert scale items utilizing a 4-point scale. The 10 Likert scale items were strong statements based on the most commonly mentioned reasons for student disengagement in the literature. Students were asked to rate their agreement to the statements. The last section was an open-ended item giving students an opportunity to expand on any of their responses. They were asked to add any factors for disengagement not mentioned on the survey and invited to offer strategies for improvement. Instructor Survey. The instructor survey mirrored the study survey with three similar parts: demographics, 10 Likert items, and an open-ended item. The demographic items requested information about which levels and in which programs the instructor taught. The Likert section reframed the concepts from the student surveys to be from the instructor point of view. The objective was to compare the perceptions of interest and engagement of teaching and learning strategies from the two points of view, students and teachers. The third section invited instructors to add any further information and any advice for improving student engagement.

Procedures One aim of the study was to determine how, if at all, studying in English as a second language impacts perceived effectiveness of student engagement. A second aim was to identify practices from viewpoints of students and faculty to improve the effectiveness of student engagement. Another objective of this action research was to assess the validity of the claim that there is an apparent gap between what teachers

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consider effective for engagement in learning and what students consider effective for engagement in learning. After the study was approved by the Ethics Panel of the institution, the surveys were loaded into an electronic survey administering application which generated separate links for the student survey and instructor survey. The links were sent to Emirati male and female students in the business and engineering programs. Reaching out to both students and their instructors was done to gain the broadest perspectives about the factors contributing to student disengagement and ways to improve engagement and learning. The data provided both perspectives needed to understand the “gap between what teachers consider engagement in learning and what students consider engagement in learning” (Taylor & Parson, 2011, p. 5). Data analysis using SPSS statistical software was not as productive as expected because of the unexpectedly the low response rates on the demographic items. Students and instructors chose to skip one or more of the items. Data analysis with excel was more productive with the smaller and less complete than expected data set. In the more conservative tribal society of the Emirates literature advised that requiring demographic items often led to attrition from surveys. Questions were kept optional so that if a participant wanted to keep some information private, the survey would not be halted before the most important part, the Likert scale items, were completed (Daleure et al., 2014). Comparing the student perceptions to the instructor perceptions on the Likert items was a focal point of the data analysis. The mean scores were calculated and rounded to the nearest 100th, i.e. two decimal places. The means were compared in categories starting with overall mean scores and expanding to examining as many demographic groupings as possible. Tables were constructed, supplemented with charts, to illustrate the results. The low number of instructors (less than 30 participants) meant that establishing statistical significance was not possible. Comparisons did provide insight into the commonality of perceptions between students and their instructors. Since the participation in the study was completely voluntary and anonymous without any risk of penalty or negative consequences, the feedback from students and faculty is believed to be reflective of what they considered as key factors impacting student engagement. The rating of the key factors resulted from the questionnaire also provided a tool to quantitatively compare the effectiveness of different practices.

Results The results’ section is divided into four parts. The first part is the student survey results followed by the second part consisting of the instructor survey results. The third part is the comparison of results. Responses to the open-ended questions are presented in the fourth part.

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Student Survey Results Data from the student surveys concerning the students’ level (year in college), gender, and program are shown in Tables 14.2, 14.3, and 14.4 respectively. Due to the high number of “no response” for gender and program of study, these demographic factors will not be further analyzed. Only year of study will be included in the analysis of the Likert scale item responses for students shown in Table 14.5 from most agreement to least agreement. Significance was identified as between ≥3.0 for agree and ≤2.0 for disagree. Using a 4-pint Likert scale forced participant to make a selection on either side of the midpoint rather than allowing participants to select a midpoint number, in this case 3, indicating no preference. Mean scores between 2.0 and 3.0 were considered not significant. The results show that from the student perspective student engagement was affected in four ways: • • • •

Engagement decreased when teachers were perceived to be boring Practical lessons such as labs, experiments, trips, etc. enhanced engagement Student engagement was enhanced when learning from other students enhances Group activities and discussion enhanced student engagement.

Additionally, students did not agree that using mobile phones, i-pads, or laptops for non-class related activities diminished engagement in the learning experience. Table 14.5 shows the breakdown of rating of agreement throughout the year levels and as compared to the overall ratings. Table 14.2 Years of study

Table 14.3 Gender

Year of study Year

Frequency

%

Year 1

36

49%

Year 2

15

20%

Year 3

14

19%

Year 4

9

12%

Total

74

Gender Gender

Frequency

Male

35

48%

7

10%

No response

32

42%

Total

74

Female

%

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Table 14.4 Overall student ratings Student ratings Factors for effective engagement

Rating

4. It is hard to focus in the class when my teacher is boring

3.26

7. I would feel more engaged if I had more practical lessons such as labs, experiments, field trips, etc.

3.20

10. I would feel more engaged in the learning if the teacher allows other students to help 3.07 explain the topic 8. I would feel more engaged in the class if I had lessons which include group discussion and activities

3.05

9. I would feel more engaged in the learning if I had more English language support at college

2.55

1. If I find a topic difficult to understand, I lose focus

2.54

6. I don’t pay as much attention in courses when I think the subject is not useful for my 2.39 career 3. I often lose my interest in courses that have a lot of new vocabulary or technical language

2.36

2. It is hard for me to focus in 8 am and 2 pm classes

2.19

5. I am not focused class because I use my mobile phone, iPad, or laptop for non-class related activities

1.80

Table 14.5 Agreement ratings by year level Student year level agreement ratings Rating items

Y1

4. It is hard to focus in the class when my teacher is boring

3.17 3.53 3.21 3.22 3.26

Y2

Y3

Y4

Overall

7. I would feel more engaged if I had more practical lessons 3.19 3.13 3.50 2.89 3.20 such as labs, experiments, field trips, etc 10. I would feel more engaged in the learning if the teacher 3.03 3.27 2.93 3.11 3.07 allows other students to help explain the topic 8. I would feel more engaged in the class if I had lessons which include group discussion and activities

3.17 3.00 2.79 3.11 3.05

9. I would feel more engaged in the learning if I had more English language support at college

2.39 3.00 2.57 2.44 2.55

1. If I find a topic difficult to understand, I lose focus

2.67 2.47 2.36 2.44 2.54

6. I don’t pay as much attention in courses when I think the 2.39 2.80 2.36 1.78 2.39 subject is not useful for my career 3. I often lose my interest in courses that have a lot of new vocabulary or technical language

2.53 1.93 2.57 2.11 2.36

2. It is hard for me to focus in 8 am and 2 pm classes

2.17 1.93 2.71 1.89 2.19

5. I am not focused class because I use my mobile phone, iPad, or laptop for non-class related activities

1.86 1.80 1.64 1.78 1.80

14 Teaching and Learning Post-secondary Content … Table 14.6 Response rate across departments

217

Which department do you belong to? Department

Responses

%-age

Engineering

5

25%

Health sciences

1

5%

General education

1

5%

Business

1

5%

No response

12

60%

Total

20

100%

The results shown in Table 14.6 indicate that there is little difference in agreement through the four year levels except three instances in which any year level deviated from the average by at least 0.4 of a rating interval as follows: • Year 3 students indicated stronger agreement than the average for question 2 (σ = 0.52) • Year 4 students indicated more disagreement that they do not pay attention in courses that they perceive as not useful to their career (σ = 0.61) • Year 2 students indicated that they would do better with more English support (σ = 0.45).

Faculty Survey Results Table 14.6 shows the breakdown of faculty per department who responded to the faculty survey of which most, 12 faculty or 60%, chose not to indicate their department. Table 14.7 shows the length of time teaching at the institution. More than half (55%) of the responding faculty had been teaching in the institution 5 years or less and 70% of the responding faculty had been teaching in the institution for 9 years or less. Most faculty at the institution are expatriates serving three-year renewable contracts. Faculty turnaround, therefore, is higher than in international institutions. Table 14.7 Length of time in institution

How long have you been teaching in this institution? Years in institution

Responses

%-age

Cum %-age

3 years or less

5

25%

25%

more than 3 up to 6 years

6

30%

55%

More than 6 up to 9 years

3

15%

70%

6

30%

100%

20

100%

10 years or more Total

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Table 14.8 Overall teacher ratings Teacher rating items Factors for engagement/disengagement

Overall

7. Students are more engaged in the class if I have more practical-based lessons such as labs, experiments, field trips, etc.

3.40

8. Students are more engaged in classes if I have lessons which include group discussion and activities

3.25

1. Students lose focus and start to think about something else when they find a topic difficult to understand

3.16

10. Students are more engaged in learning if I allow other students to help explain the 3.10 topic 3. Students often lose interest in courses that have a lot of new vocab or technical language

2.95

4. Students often lose interest in courses that have greater theoretical component

2.90

5. Students are not focused in the class because they use their mobile phone, iPad or laptop for non-class related activities

2.85

9. Students would feel more engaged in the learning if they had more English language support at college

2.80

6. Students don’t pay as much attention in courses when they think the subject is not useful for their career

2.75

2. It is hard for students to concentrate in 8 am and 2 pm classes

2.47

Table 14.8 shows the overall ratings of factors for increasing engagement with the top factor as: • practical lessons such as labs, experiments, and field trips • group discussion and activities • having other students to help explain the topic. The top factor for decreasing engagement is losing focus during difficult lessons.

Comparison of Student and Faculty Responses Table 14.9 shows the deviation between the perceptions of faculty and students on similar items. Faculty and teacher perceptions are very close except in the five areas shown in Table 14.9. • Instructors responded that using electronic devices for non-class activities was a hindrance. Students very much did not. • Faculty responded that students lose focus on topics that are difficult to understand while students did not.

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Table 14.9 Comparison of faculty and student responses Comparison in faculty and student responses Factors for engagement/disengagement

Faculty

Students

Deviation

5. Students are not focused in the class because they use their mobile phone, iPad or laptop for non-class related activities

2.85

1.80

1.05

1. Students lose focus and start to think about something else when they find a topic difficult to understand

3.16

2.54

0.62

3. Students often lose interest in courses that have a lot of new 2.95 vocab or technical language

2.36

0.59

6. Students don’t pay as much attention in courses when they think the subject is not useful for their career

2.75

2.39

0.36

2. It is hard for students to concentrate in 8 am and 2 pm classes

2.47

2.19

0.28

9. Students would feel more engaged in the learning if they had more English language support at college

2.80

2.55

0.25

8. Students are more engaged in classes if I have lessons which include group discussion and activities

3.25

3.05

0.20

7. Students are more engaged in the class if I have more practical-based lessons such as labs, experiments, field trips

3.40

3.2

0.20

10. Students are more engaged in learning if I allow other students to help explain the topic

3.10

3.07

0.03

4. Students often lose interest in courses that have greater theoretical component

2.90

3.26

-0.36

• Faculty responded that students often lose interest in courses that have new terms and vocabulary. Students did not. • Faculty responded that students are not as engaged in courses they perceive as being irrelevant to their careers. Students did not. • Students indicated that they lose interest in courses with greater theoretical components. Faculty did not.

Discussion The study was a small-scale pilot study designed to provide important information to answer the research framework. 1.

How is student engagement affected when the mode of instruction is the nonnative language of most students?

The results of the student and faculty surveys suggest that the factors lead to engagement are having practical-based lessons, group discussions and activities, and working with other students to get help understanding complex topics. The factors that lead to disengagement are having difficult concepts and from the students’ point

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of view having boring teachers. Faculty perceived that students using mobile devices for non-class work was a factor associated with disengagement. The factors relating to English proficiency, i.e. having more support and courses with a lot of new vocabulary, were in the neutral range, i.e. 2.36–2.55, respectively. Neither the students nor the faculty perceived that learning in a non-native language was a factor to engagement. Rather, engagement was more related to teaching practices and students’ perceptions about them. 2.

To what extent do the perceptions of students and teachers align regarding factors that engage and motivate students in the class?

In most areas, the perceptions of faculty and students were aligned. a.

To what extent do students’ perceptions of effectiveness vary according to demographic factors including gender, program, and year level?

The expected analysis by demographic variable was not possible because of the low number of students choosing to respond to the demographic items, for example, 42% did not respond for gender. Only one demographic comparison, year level in college, was possible. Although there was not much difference among year levels, years 1 and 3 were more similar and years 2 and 4 were more similar. b. c.

What, if any, differences in perceptions of effectiveness exist among teachers from different divisions? What, if any, differences in perceptions of effectiveness exist among teachers corresponding to the length of time they have served in the institution? The instructor sample size was too small to compare points b and c appropriately.

How Can Student Learning and Engagement in the Classroom Be Enhanced? To enhance student engagement, the classroom learning experience should be as practical and interactive as possible. Instructors perceived as boring may need training on ways to enhance the classroom environment and make it more stimulating. Courses with theoretical content should be made as tangible as possible or at least more stimulating to capture the interest of students. The last point, emphasized by the more experienced teachers in the institution, is that available language support must be utilized by the students who need it.

Conclusion and Recommendations This study gathered and presented important data identifying and explaining student engagement factors. The study revealed ways in which engagement can be enhanced. The study should be replicated using a larger sample size and in a way that encourages

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more demographic item completion. All departments in the institution should be included. More demographic factors should be added on the student survey such as age, marital status, working status, military service, gender, etc. To improve the procedure, the study should request faculty to administer the survey at the end of a taught lesson rather than sending links to students with no follow up.

References Abbad, A., & Gitsaki, C. (2011). Attitudes toward learning English: A case study of university students in Saudi Arabia. In C. Gitsaki (Ed.), Teaching and learning in the Arab World (pp. 3–28). Peter Lang Publishers. Ahmad, K. (2011). Casting Arabic as the “other”: Cultural issues in English curriculum. In C. Gitsaki (Ed.), Teaching and learning in the Arab World (pp. 119–137). Peter Lang Publishers. AlAbed, I., Vine, P., Hellyer, P., & Vine, P. (Eds.). (2008). United Arab Emirates yearbook: 2008. Trident Press. Atweh, B., Bland, D. Carrington, S., & Cavanagh, R. (2008). School disengagement: Its constructs, investigation and management. Australian Society for Research in Education. Daleure, G. M. (2017). Education, the work force, and Emiratization. Emiratization in the UAE labor market: Opportunities & challenges (pp. 95–109). Springer Publishing. Daleure, G., Abon, R., Hinkson, K., Ajaif, T., & McKeown, J. (2014). Family involvement in Emirati college student education and linkages to high and low achievement in the context of the United Arab Emirates. Forum for International Research in Education (FIRE) Journal, 1(3), 9–32. IELTSBuddy. (2020). http://www.ieltsbuddy.com/ielts-scores.html. Kain, D. (2003). Teacher-centered versus student-centered: Balancing constraint and theory in the composition classroom. Pedagogy, 3(1), 104–108. Kuh, D. G., Cruce, M. T., Shoup, R., Kinzie, J., & Gonyea, M. R. (2008). Unmasking the effects of student engagement on first-year college grades and persistence. The Journal of Higher Education, 79(5), 540–563. Meyer, J. H. F., & Land, R. (Eds.). (2006). Overcoming barriers to student understanding: Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge. Routledge. Marchant, M., & Anderson, D. H. (2012). Improving social and academic outcomes for all learners through the use of teacher praise. Beyond Behavior, 21(3), 22–28. Rensimer, L. (2015). International and commercial education in Ras Al Khaimah: Policies, problem areas, and promise. Policy paper no. 14. Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research. Rivera, C. (Ed.). (1984). Language proficiency and academic achievement: Multilingual matters 10. National Institute of Education. Rogier, D. (2012). The effects of English-medium instruction proficiency of students enrolled in higher education in the UAE. Doctoral thesis: Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Taylor, L., & Parson, J. (2011). Improving student engagement. Current Issues in Education, 14(1), 3–33. Wagie, D., & Fox, W. (2006). Transforming education in the UAE: Contributing to social progress and the new economy. International Journal of Learning, 12(7), 2710–3288.

Mazhar Azeem is an engineering faculty at Sharjah Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) in the UAE where he has been teaching Mechanical and General Engineering courses for the last ten years. He has received his Master of Mechanical Engineering degree from the USA. Before joining HCT, he has served as a faculty in a state institution and also worked as a consultant for the

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world leading manufacturing companies in the USA. Currently, Mazhar is pursuing his Doctorate in Education from the University of Liverpool. His research area of interest is engineering education with focuses on student engagement and motivation. Georgia Daleure is General Studies Dean at the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) and Social Studies (KG1-G12 Advanced) Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the UAE Ministry of Education. Combining her love of history, social science, and humanities with an Ed. D. in Educational Leadership and professional certifications including Future Strategic Foresight, Forensic Genealogy, and others, she leads projects to develop motivating curricula and engaging technology infused learning materials and delivery methods for students from KG through higher education.

Chapter 15

Positive and Negative Emotions of Emirati Student-Teachers During an EFL Practicum Mouna Abou Assali and Salah Troudi

Abstract The emotional experiences of English as a foreign language (EFL) student teachers during their practicum in the United Arab Emirates are examined in this qualitative study (UAE). Six males and ten females made up the sample of 16 preservice teachers. The majority of the data was gathered through focus group interviews. Participants expressed a wide range of positive and negative emotions, mostly connected to their classroom practices, language skills, professional knowledge, and assistance received during their practicum. The findings also point to a pressing need for increased coordination and collaboration between colleges and training schools. To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind in the Gulf region. It is hoped that it will help policymakers, educators, and curriculum developers at the micro and macro levels of teacher education develop a better understanding of student teachers’ emotions through the practicum and identify areas that need to be reconsidered. Keywords Teaching practicum · Emotional experience · Pre-service teachers · Teacher education

Introduction Many educators and educational researchers believe that teachers are the primary agents of change (e.g. Hargreaves et al., 2010). Almost all reform efforts have mainly focused on high-quality teaching and learning processes. As a matter of fact, calls to raise students’ achievement standards and academic levels have led to an increase in plans and projects for teachers’ professional development and growth. As a result, many studies in the teacher education literature have examined the lives of teachers M. A. Assali (B) Abu Dhabi, UAE S. Troudi Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter, England, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_15

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and teacher educators from multiple perspectives (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2012; Hays, 2018; Kwo, 2012). A significant number of studies have looked into teacher qualities, including their knowledge, abilities, and competencies (Agudo, 2018; Goodson, 2013; Yongxin, 2015). Beginning with the first phase of teachers’ education preparation programs, research has gained insight into issues concerning teachers’ external social lives. As a result, research work on teachers’ roles, learning/teaching styles, professional growth, and the knowledge and competence of teachers has been conducted. Other studies have focused on teachers’ perceptions, knowledge, and beliefs, which have been classified as frameworks or models. While most research focused on teacher preparation programs in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and relevance to student teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and interests, this research was held in the UAE to investigate Emirati EFL student teachers’ emotions during practical training that they had to complete as a key component of their education program requirements at their teacher training college. After completing this program, student teachers would be qualified to teach in elementary schools, where they will be expected to teach three main courses in English: English, mathematics, and science. The need to understand more about the emotions of student teachers arises from our own personal and professional responsibilities as educators. Emotions pervade practically every area of people’s lives, including teachers’ lives. Emotions are central to both teaching and learning. Teachers engage in a complicated network of communities, which includes the classroom, the staff room, the school, and the greater social community outside of it. To put it another way, being aware of student teachers’ conflicting feelings both during and after teaching practice would most likely (1) assist teacher educators in figuring out how to deal with student teachers’ problems and fears about their learning, competence, self-doubts, or commitment to the teaching profession professionally and, to some extent, psychologically, and (2) serve to strengthen teacher education preparation programs in general, and EFL pre-service student teacher courses in particular. The goal of the study is to shed more light on the critical need to fully comprehend EFL pre-service teachers’ emotional experiences at various stages of their practical training period so that effective and efficient actions can be taken to help them manage any disappointment or negative impact on their learning or dedication to the future role they are expected to play. The major question raised by this study is, “What are the emotional experiences of UAE EFL student teachers during practicum at a UAE teacher training college?”.

Contextual Background Since 1971, education in the UAE has flourished, with all local male and female students from kindergarten to university receiving free education. At several levels, the new educational framework has resulted in initiatives by the government.

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Teachers from Australia, Canada, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom, for example, have been hired and employed in elementary and secondary schools. Many teachers have either worked in various schools or in partnerships with other Arabic-speaking teachers. This shift implies the use of English in public schools for math and science instruction. To achieve each of these challenging aims, most colleges and tertiary education departments have included a practical component in their programs known as an ‘internship’ or ‘practicum.‘ Pre-service students are most often placed in public primary and preparatory schools in which they will apply the theoretical knowledge they learned in their courses to real-world situations. As part of its strategy, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) has begun to appoint native English-speaking teachers from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia. A great deal of emphasis has been placed on math, science, and the English language, as well as the teachers who teach or will teach these three subjects. ADEC has also attempted to train existing teachers in schools and provide them with the necessary skills and proficiencies throughout a series of professional development programs held on normal school days as well as during holidays. It has also mandated that all teachers in Abu Dhabi public schools complete a university-level teacher training certification course (Al Abed et al., 2008).

Emotion in the Literature Emotions are intricate feelings that link one’s mental images to their emotions, thoughts, and behavior. Because of such complications, a large body of literature has addressed emotions from a variety of perspectives, including philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, socio-psychology, educational psychology, applied psychology, anthropology, linguistics, and history. Various efforts have been made to classify the complexity of potential emotions in terms of emotion categorization. Plutchik (1991), for example, looked into what are known as primary emotions. His list included anger, fear, joy, sadness, disgust, expectation, surprise, and acceptance. Various research studies have focused on emotions such as stress, frustration, burnout, anxiety, anger, or caring. When researchers such as Hargreaves and Fullan (2012) discussed the emotional states of teachers, they asserted that great teaching is “emotionally demanding.“ Anger and anxiety have also been studied in beginners and experienced teachers. Because of the ever-changing aspects of education, researchers have attempted to investigate teachers’ emotions in situations when educational innovations are unavoidable and teachers’ adoption and adaptation to them are required (e.g. Schutz & Zembylas, 2009; Van Veen & Sleegers, 2006). Teachers’ reactions to the reforms, on the other hand, varied from enjoyment to contentment to frustration to loss to opposition, according to the research studies. In the same vein of educational reform and teachers’ emotions, some scholars have suggested that most analysis has focused on teachers’ cognition rather than emotions, presuming that cognition has a strong influence on human behavior.

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However, there seems to be a lack of depth, a lack of theoretical frameworks and connectivity between teachers’ emotions, professional lives, and the impact those emotions have on their working environments in research on teacher emotions. Nevertheless, research has looked into a variety of practicum-related topics and concerns, as well as some other studies that have recently arisen that focus on student teachers’ emotional experiences. Internship programmes have been incorporated into teaching and learning as one of the most significant and critical components through which student teachers can gain real-world teaching experience. Their responsibilities include the application of a variety of pedagogical and theoretical concepts taught during their degree courses. Furthermore, they apply acquired instructional and managerial skills and are expected to know how to analytically observe other teachers’ teaching techniques and, as a result, conceptualize new instructional contexts. The training of student teachers is a crucial phase in which the teacher candidate “has the potential to be explicitly mentored and monitored into a professional role” (Meyer, 2009, p. 80). Student teachers are expected to gain new experience, knowledge, and skills in the classroom that will form their teaching practice in the classroom and help promote their prospective journey. They understand how to handle their classroom environment and learners’ behavior by accommodating a range of learning styles, personal characteristics, and environmental limitations. Similarly, teacher educators assume that stress is a significant factor in determining pre-service teachers’ behavior and, as a result, their efficiency, productivity, and competence. These issues mainly focused on aspects that could be considered controversial for all student teachers from various disciplines. Acknowledging these worries and taking initiatives to strengthen teaching practices, on the other hand, necessitates reflection on the part of the interns. Trainees’ reflections on their classroom practice may not be genuine unless they are constantly mindful of their learning experiences. The above overview of practicum-related studies reveals that student teachers’ practical training experiences have been reviewed from multiple perspectives, with particular attention paid to the mentees’ fears, stress, or anxieties. Trying to understand these concerns and their sources, without a doubt, provides a better understanding of the nature of the learning experience and the stress—inducing factors that may impede prospective teachers’ learning. Nevertheless, it should be noted at this point that, while these concerns, worries, and pressures may all be related to human emotions in some way, they are not substitutable. An examination of student teaching research and the influence of emotions in the shaping of student teachers’ identities, knowledge, pedagogy, and experience reveals that this field of study is still in its infant stage. Additionally, in the context of the current study, namely the United Arab Emirates, there was a scarcity of data on the emotions and feelings of EFL/ESL teachers or student teachers in the teacher education literature. To the best of our knowledge, the themes addressed in EFL pre-service teaching include little or no reference to the emotions and feelings of the pre-service students. AL-Mekhlafi (2007), for example, conducted research into UAE future EFL teachers’ perceptions of their English language skills developed throughout their TEFL program. This study focused on Emirati pre-service teachers’

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perspectives on “acquiring: (1) necessary language competencies; (2) cultural and literary competencies; (3) linguistic competencies, and (4) whether or not the TEFL program offered them enough coursework in the above areas” (2007, p. 1). As a result, our study is expected to contribute to the literature on teacher education in general, and on student teachers in particular, by filling a significant gap in the existing literature and providing a better understanding of pre-service teachers’ emotions during their practical experience and training. This study’s findings will be of value to all educators concerned with the teaching and learning processes in teacher education.

Methodology Because the current study is based on an interpretive approach, it is logical to delve into the subjects’ emotional experiences after they had accomplished their practical requirements. Semi-structured group interviews appear to be the best method to employ, especially for gaining a better collective understanding of the participants’ overall common experience. It would also aid in the matching and assembling of mutual viewpoints and debates, resulting in a more complete picture of the participants’ current problems in their practicum experiences (Given, 2015). Focus group interviews, on a more pragmatic level, save time by providing forward in-depth data that may be utilized to complement other data collection procedures in research. The primary aims and research issues of the current study were communicated to all BEd 3 students (168 students, including only 6 male students). For reasons of anonymity and ethicality, consent forms were distributed, and all statements were double-checked by the researchers before the participants signed and accepted them. The identities and details of student teachers are kept confidential at all times during the course of research. The interview recordings were all saved, and the participants’ real names were replaced with pseudonyms. 16 student teachers participated in the study.

The Participants Three of the females were married, all with 2–3 children, and one of the male studentteachers was married with two children. Following a one-on-one group interview was found appropriate. Each focus group session was 60–90 min long. All interviewees were urged to speak openly and honestly about their emotional experiences as well as the emotions that their practicum period had evoked. Student-teachers were offered the choice to take a break whenever they felt it was necessary, which occurred in none of the three groups. Respondents were given the opportunity to review their responses, remove, rationalize, or expand their thoughts or opinions at all stages of the interviews.

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Data Analysis The massive amount of data was meticulously analyzed in order to make sense of all that had been obtained. The impression of thoroughness and connection is enhanced by reviewing the complete set of data, as well as the notes collected. We intended to “look for similarities and dissimilarities—patterns in the data,” as Berg suggests (2009, p. 320). Happiness, enthusiasm, disappointment, despair, fear, pride, frustration, anger, and many other emotions were highlighted in the emerging data. Analysis of data according to the codes was such a tedious process. In circumstances when all or most of the participants do not have common ground, certain emotions recur. Analyzing data considering emotions as primary codes could result in a lengthy account of the same emotional experiences in many contexts. Furthermore, because there was insufficient data to support them, several coded emotions such as love, excitement, and irritation had to be deleted. As a result, it was decided to reread the transcribed data and begin the coding procedure from scratch. Using a different coding method, we sought out similar events that all or most of the participants encountered during their practicum and noted the emotions they felt in those situations. We followed Maxwell’s lead, who claims that looking for parallels and correlations assists a researcher to gain a greater understanding of the “coherent whole.“ This time, the codes resulted in a better understanding of the data.

Limitations of the Study During the research process or the writing stage, many issues may arise. In terms of the current study, two areas were recognized as limitations that demand further research in the future. The time constraint in connection with the nature of emotions and the participants in the study were major concerns.

Findings

1.

Student teachers’ emotional experiences

The results of all student teachers’ responses demonstrate that in their last internship, all trainees felt a wide spectrum of emotions. The participants were open to discuss their emotional experiences, their struggles to interpret the incidents and situations they experienced, their failures to correctly analyze or react to some of them, and their achievements in dealing with them at other times. When one of her students’ mothers complimented her, Ayesha expressed her joy by saying, “I was extremely thrilled, but couldn’t decide what to do or how to reply”. I wanted to express my joy,

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but I didn’t want his mother to believe I was overly enthusiastic, giving her the sense that I was never praised”. The spectrum of emotions shown by the student teachers in this study mirrored their impressions and evaluations of their practicum experience up until the completion of their third year of training, just one year before their final practicum, which is a graduation requirement. Several times throughout the focus group conversations, participants expressed astonishment at particular queries about their feelings. They never considered it to be important to discuss their sentiments, as the majority of the students indicated. Their college education contained components of teaching and learning methodologies, but their emotions were never acknowledged, as they said. For them, the practicum was a learning opportunity, and they appear to have separated their emotions from those teachable moments. The majority of them appeared to regard field training as a task to demonstrate one’s competency as a potential teacher, rather than a time to understand and learn about their emotions and how to manage or explore them. Responses relevant to the first study question: “What are the emotional experiences of student teachers throughout their practicum?” were reviewed. The positive and negative feelings from the three focus groups were examined, analyzed, and divided into two main categories: positive and negative emotions. The eight most essential themes and sub-themes were then matched to those feelings. The participants’ positive emotional experiences during the training period revealed a wide spectrum of emotions that were handled mutually. Pride, happiness, excitement, enthusiasm, confidence, optimism, satisfaction, joy, gratitude, and thankfulness were among the positive emotions expressed by student-teachers. The feelings that resulted were related to situations in which participants praised their victories and accomplishments from multiple perspectives. Professional learning, support and assistance, and self-awareness were the three key themes identified. The negative emotional experiences of student teachers throughout their internship, on the other hand, demonstrate a higher range of negative emotions. According to the gathered data, those emotions recur on a near-daily basis. Fear, terror, panic, frustration, disappointment, sadness, discomfort, anxiety, shock, worry, hatred, uncertainty, rage, loss of confidence, and helplessness were among the emotions expressed by participants. Those unpleasant feelings were linked to a wide range of events and circumstances. Student behavior management, the teacher as a role model, and teaching responsibility were the three key areas of focus in those instances.

Positive Emotional Experience

(1)

Professional learning

The student-teachers realized that their training experience was a great chance for them to enhance their learning experience as future teachers. During their field training, the majority of the participants developed a sense of professional learning

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in several areas of teaching and skills development, according to the data. During the focus groups, participants exhibited a combination of positive and happy emotions. It appears that they were able to recognize their own development and the way their professional lives were being built. Classroom techniques, relationships with students, and contact with parents were the three sub-themes of the student teachers’ professional learning. Positive emotions include happiness, excitement, enthusiasm, joy, delight, optimism, and confidence.

Classroom Practices During their practicum, all of the participants gained a new perspective on teaching methods. It was one of the core problems for the majority of them, and it evoked unpleasant feelings at various times. Nonetheless, while teaching in their classes, the same participants expressed a mix of “pleasant” emotions. All three male student teachers, Ali, Hassan, and Badr, have found equal joy in their classes, although they find it tough at times. Many trainees appear to have had joyful experiences as a result of their capacity to control, to some extent, their learners’ behavior and connect with them successfully. The same trainees, however, indicated a contrasting attitude of “unhappiness” toward problems that hampered their progress and learning process throughout their practicum at several points in the data gathering stage. However, those contradicting emotions are unavoidable owing to the complexities of teaching as a profession.

Rapport with Students All of the participants agreed that developing interpersonal interactions with their students in the classroom is an important aspect of their teaching. According to the results, 11 of the 16 students reported a great relationship with their learners. The participants appeared to be able to recognize their learners’ preferences and, as a result, minimize any potential problems. For example, Mohammad expressed his delight at the positive relationship he was able to build with his students. “I was overjoyed when I realized that my kids connected with me and grasped the lesson, despite the fact that I utilized Arabic to make my job easier,” he added, and using the Arabic language saved me time and allowed me to form strong bonds with my kids. I could sense their admiration and affection for me. “I was overjoyed.” Badr, like most of the participants, seems to take pride in his ability to develop positive relationships with his students. Despite the tough nature of the practicum, as they saw it, the ability to create a relationship with the students seemed to have a favorable impact on their attitude toward teaching. (2)

Support and assistance

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Happiness, appreciation, and thankfulness were expressed by a small number of participants. Those student teachers were grateful for the support they received from their country, their institutions in terms of education and coursework, and the schools where they were placed during their training experience.

Country Support and Assistance Only two student teachers appreciated the various types of assistance they received from their country’s educational system, which included free education and benefits once they entered college. Free laptops, stipends, and subsidized accommodation for those who live in rural locations are among the advantages, according to the participants. “Honestly, my major motive for becoming a teacher was to assist my country and repay it for all of the wonderful services it gave to us during our scholastic journey,” Saif added. Throughout the practicum, I couldn’t help but get that feeling. “Everywhere I go, and whenever I see children behind their desks, I am thankful for everything my country has given to me”. Others expressed thanks for their country’s assistance in similar ways.

College Support and Assistance There was little or no mention of the college’s assistance to student teachers throughout their internship. One of the negative obstacles they experienced seems to be a lack of emotional care in particular. Just a few participants, on the other hand, expressed gratitude to their college and for the pedagogical expertise they received from the classes they completed after they began the educational program. “They [her college professors] knew I could lecture or write,” Alyia explained. They provided me with continuous psychological assistance. It was only due to their support that I was able to complete the practicum, and I am grateful for all of the assistance they provided…despite the fact that my English was an obstacle.” Warda, another participant, seemed pleased with the help she received from the college throughout her practicum, despite the fact that she did not express thanks to the college. “There was a lot of interest from the college,” she added. They used to come to our lessons and monitor our progress…and offer us advice on what to do and what not to do.” Those student-teachers were well aware that assistance from their college, where they acquired and studied various approaches and teaching strategies, was critical. Their replies demonstrated their willingness to learn from the training experience and make meaning of their theoretical learning in the classroom. These emotions of gratitude also highlight the need for colleges to do a better job of bridging the gap between pre-service teachers and their college supervisors.

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Self-awareness

During their practicum, all of the participants seemed to have had good feelings and shared a variety of stories and concepts regarding teaching and learning. Their replies indicated that they were feeling really good about themselves. The field practice seemed to introduce new types of emotions to their consciousness, which improved their sense of self. For them, the classroom and school were emotional labor environments where they had to make individual assessments and attributions of diverse events and circumstances. Although participants did not discuss their self-awareness in depth, the majority of them examined their “selves” before and after their previous field training. They have noticed a significant shift in the way they communicate, conduct, and react to particular circumstances, according to several of them. “Today, whenever I face a problem, even with my father, mother, sisters, and siblings, I try to understand the situation first,” Saif said of his experience learning about ‘himself’ during the practicum. He added “I used to rely on only one method of thinking…now I try to look at it [the problem] from several angles; I even pretend to be the kids’ age.” Ayesha confirmed what Saif and others had stated about their self-awareness, stating that she is a nice, good person who “learned not to trust all people” throughout the practicum, but she is grateful for one reason: “I learnt how to work with my friends and colleagues.“ I can convey the lesson clearly…but I still make grammatical errors. That is not an issue for me. I learned patience and how to learn.” In a way, improving self-control abilities is “crucial in creating a positive climate in the classroom as it allows teachers to moderate their negative and positive emotions,” according to Raddawi and Troudi (2014, p. 181). Other respondents expressed similar feelings about their “discoveries” about themselves. They were overjoyed by their realizations, the majority of which were related to the need to improve their ability to manage their emotions during unpleasant events and situations. Many of the interviewers reported delight at becoming “more lenient” than at previous times when it came to disciplining their students or “stricter” when they misbehaved. Self-awareness was clearly a sign of mature thinking on the part of the interviewees. When questioned about their emotional experiences, the majority of them expressed surprise, indicating a desire to learn more about themselves and their feelings. Their failure to cope well with the obstacles they may have experienced throughout their training practice would most likely be justified by their incapacity to partially interpret their emotions. As a result, increasing student teachers’ selfawareness within an integrated emotional intelligence program appears to be essential in UAE teacher education programs, despite the fact that it “requires patience, persistence, and tact, and, most importantly, teachers to be equipped with these skills” (Raddawi & Troudi, 2014, p. 182).

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Negative Emotional Experience The results of the focus group sessions revealed a wide variety of unfavorable emotions in three major areas: student behavior management, teachers as role models, and instructional responsibilities. Fear, dread, panic, frustration, disappointment, sadness, discomfort, anxiety, shock, concern, hatred, bewilderment, rage, loss of confidence, and helplessness were among the emotions felt. (1)

Student behaviour management

Based on the gathered data, all participants expressed negative views about various aspects of student behavior control. The theme was divided into two parts: attempting to teach special needs students and failing to provide comfort and support to all trainees. Fear, terror, panic, fear, frustration, sadness, and disappointment are among the emotions expressed.

Teaching Special Needs Students According to the findings, all 16 student teachers had unfavorable feelings about engaging special needs kids in their classrooms. One of the most challenging aspects of their practicum was teaching children with various special needs. Only four respondents, on the other hand, expressed disappointment and dissatisfaction with their interactions with these children, while others described teaching such a group of students as one of the most challenging opportunities. Alyia expressed her disappointment at not being able to teach kids with special needs. “I had no problems teaching children utilizing all of the methods we learned,” she added. But I couldn’t even cope with the Special Needs [emphasis on the two words] children, let alone teach them in English! I was down… and depressed…In one classroom, I had to deal with five special-needs children! I wasn’t sure if I paid enough attention to them or if I merely spread a general concentration to all of the students!”. This sorrowful experience, as well as other unpleasant feelings, were echoed by three other respondents, who expressed their joy at developing a good relationship with their learners on several occasions. However, their learning experience was negatively affected by their lack of skills and knowledge of teaching and caring for special needs students. The participants’ sadness over their failure or inability to cope with special needs children was clearly due to the fact that their college-based course did not contain a module on special education teaching methods. Students acknowledged their ability to use a range of teaching techniques and approaches they learned at their college in many instances, with English serving as a barrier occasionally. As a result, their unpleasant feelings can be seen as a natural outcome of not having access to the same opportunities for learning that would have helped them relax during their practicum.

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Most trainees confront two of the most difficult obstacles during their practicum: English language competency and teaching special needs children.

Failure to Provide Emotional Support Although only one participant highlighted it, the importance that this participant placed on his sad experiences throughout the focus group discussion made it necessary to note. During the practicum, Saif seemed quite sad as he shared an incident with one of his students. His inability to provide emotional and educational assistance to the students seems to have impaired his practicum experience. “It was difficult for me to identify every child’s psychological requirements or complications,” Saif remarked. One of my students was his parents’ only son; another’s parents were divorced; several in the class had special needs; and so on. Several times during the practicum, I needed someone to look after me. I was in a terrible situation… It’s a pity that I wasn’t able to provide for my students… [deep sigh] …all of them…the love and care they had hoped for… “I’m still sorry for disappointing my students.” Like most other respondents, Saif recognized the necessity of building a positive relationship with learners and providing them with academic and emotional assistance. However, he was the only one of the 16 participants who publicly voiced his grief. Others who needed emotional assistance were more reserved throughout the focus group sessions. Unlike most of the other participants, Saif was likely open to sharing every detail of his experience, even if this showed signs that he was a weak guy. (2)

Teacher as a role model

Many factors, including family, society, friends, and the media, affected student teachers’ perceptions of the teacher as a role model, according to their replies. The lack of a good teacher’s image throughout their school years appears to have impacted student teachers’ unfavorable perceptions of teachers in general, and elementary school teachers in particular. During the practicum, feelings about their own image as teachers and the images of other teachers collided. The negative feelings of panic, worry, uncertainty, discomfort, and disappointment were the most prominent during the focus group discussions. The comments of student teachers revealed the difficulties they experienced when they transitioned from being an observing student to a performing teacher. Most of the time, the efforts required to acclimatize to a newly appointed job are accompanied by unfavorable feelings about one’s own self-image. The lack of experience and English abilities among the participants concerned them, which added to the anxiety they faced during their practicum. Their replies revealed their fear of a picture that would remain in the minds of their students or people they worked with for a long time (i.e. their school principals, their peers, their school teachers or others). Recalling them from their memoirs, they also discussed the absence or lack of good and professional models of teachers.

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Saif stated that “the teacher’s image today is not at all satisfactory. Although it is depressing to believe so, I observed during the training that the teachers there had much more experience, fluency, and qualifications than I had, and yet they were not regarded as excellent or competent teachers. Some of the teachers there didn’t seem to care about teaching, and it was easy to understand why their students didn’t respect or trust them.” It was apparent that their attitudes towards themselves during the practicum had been negatively impacted by their earlier experiences of being presented with pictures of other teachers. Some of them believed that the model of teacher that the student teachers had met had left a negative effect on them, resulting in frustrated attitudes and behavior towards teaching. The prior picture of a good teacher that some of the participants attempted to portray in their practicum was faced with primarily school or classroom hurdles that influenced their attitudes, teaching, and interactions with their students and many others. (3)

Teaching responsibility

All of the student teachers were filled with apprehension about the prospect of teaching. Although the majority of them expressed fear, anxiety, uncertainty, distress, and frustration, this can be interpreted as discomfort with responsibility for the teaching profession rather than fear of classroom instruction. These mixed feelings were accompanied by a strong desire to become accountable prospective teachers. At various times, the participants indicated their concerns about taking the lead in the classroom. Their concerns, as seen by their replies, were mostly focused on their students’ ability to study in a language other than Arabic, rather than concerns about the teaching methodology of the courses they may teach in the future. Most participants, on the other hand, have mixed emotions about their own self-awareness and the continual need to inspire their students during the training experience with positive impressions of themselves as future teachers. This may be regarded as positive social maturity, which includes knowledge of the complexities of the teaching profession as well as the obstacles that a teacher’s professional identity may face in society. Hassan, for instance, added during the focus group session, “It is a huge responsibility for one to be in charge of a generation of youngsters… I don’t think I’m ready to teach three courses in English just now. It would be disastrous if you gave them inaccurate information or used incorrect terminology. “I’m afraid of hurting those kids in the same way that some of my teachers hurt me.” All of the participants agreed that teaching is a hard job. It is a matter of the mind and emotions. As seen by their replies, student teachers realize that teaching needs more than a desire to teach or proficiency in teaching methodologies or procedures. This fear of teaching, as well as a strong feeling of accountability, is most likely the result of the student teachers’ own life experiences throughout their prior years of study. As the previous findings indicated, the absence of a great role model teacher appeared to have a detrimental impact on their feelings of duty and dedication to teaching.

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A well-prepared teacher, according to all respondents, should have pedagogical and subject knowledge that enhances rather than discourages students’ understanding. The majority of the trainees acknowledged that having an adequate grasp of the subject delivered would have made their performance and instruction in the classroom less demanding. Teacher educators, curriculum developers, and policymakers may reframe teacher training programs in light of these findings, recognizing the important impact emotions have on prospective teachers’ learning, professional identity, and dedication to the teaching profession. In light of these findings, student teachers deserve various levels of guidance and assistance.

Discussion Emotional Experiences: Positive and Negative Emotions These current study findings indicate a diverse range of positive and negative emotions that appear to influence pre-service teachers’ learning and teaching perspectives. Although student teachers demonstrated warm attitudes in a variety of situations during their internship, it is clear that the levels of pressure they were under, which led to negative emotions in a number of situations, were mainly due to the lack or absence of assistance from their colleges and schools, as well as their class mentors. Assessment in teacher education programs has traditionally focused on student teachers’ performance, pedagogical and subject knowledge. This research, like others, finds that student teachers struggle to deal with the large number of duties and responsibilities they are expected to perform throughout their training period (e.g. Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2012). Given the severity of the practicum’s stringent requirements, perhaps the most important finding of this study is the stress and unpleasant emotions. Colleges and schools have never taken into account the negative and positive emotions of student teachers, according to the research. The efficacy of pre-service teachers as future teachers in terms of teaching skills, performance, and knowledge learned and developed determines whether they succeed or fail during their practicum. To put it another way, their emotional capabilities are not part of their teacher training. The difficulties they faced limited their learning and had a detrimental impact on how they reacted to certain situations, leading to indifference rather than enthusiasm in certain cases. Nonetheless, it appears that colleges and schools are oblivious to and unconcerned about such emotions. According to the literature on teacher well-being and emotions, “the affective dimensions… reinforce the association between cognition and emotion and because they act as reminders to policymakers, teacher educators, and school principals, “teacher effectiveness” is the product of both the head (cognition) and the heart (emotion)” (Day & Qing, 2009, p. 17).

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Anger, anxiety, frustration, disappointment, and uncertainty, for example, highlight the significance of a sociological perspective on the emotions of student teachers. It is possible that those prospective teachers did not receive emotional validation throughout their learning process in their fieldwork, which is regarded to be the most difficult aspect necessary for graduation. According to research, student teachers enter a new phase in their professional lives, a transformative stage in which they go from the theoretical domain of learning to the workplace environment of teaching and learning together. This significant change causes feelings such as uncertainty, anxiety, bewilderment, or a loss of self-confidence. Unless educational institutions and supervisors, school leaders, teachers, or class mentors understand the significant impact of this critical change in the lives of student teachers, student teachers alone could struggle to meet their practicum needs, and develop the feeling of empowerment expected in all aspects of their classroom practice.

Beliefs and Attitudes Towards Effective Teaching Apparently, the trainees’ identified situational factors, as described above, can contribute to pre-service teachers’ limited language competency. The scenario is similar to that discussed by Britzman (2012), who used the phrase “significant others” to refer to the experts who should assist student teachers throughout their preparation and practice. Britzman (ibid, p. 10) appears to criticize some of those professionals for whom “the problem is with the student teacher who seems to be a wrong-headed idealist or who cannot control a tendency to over-identify with the plight of her or his students”. According to research on teacher beliefs, previous knowledge and dispositions, future or beginner teachers hold specific views about learning or teaching a language even before they begin their teaching career (e.g. Barahona, 2016).

College-Based Courses Versus English Language Proficiency Another noteworthy conclusion from this study is the mismatch between pre-service teachers’ subject knowledge and pedagogy learned in college-based curricula and their low English skills. Within the context of this study, the teacher’s training college is a place of learning in which three content areas must be studied in English. As a result, an attempt to engage in the three cycles with the proper connection may necessitate the involvement of educators, researchers, and curriculum developers. For various reasons, the majority of the pre-service teachers in this study expressed dissatisfaction with their failure to transfer information to their learners. The shortage of materials in the three subject areas they are obliged to teach, the gap between whatever they need to study in their books and what they should be doing to teach during their training practice and their low language competence are among the

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causes. Participants in Troudi and Jendli’s (2011) study required more preparation in their early years of schooling to help them deal with the responsibilities and duties expected of them at the university level. Students who have been learning school courses in their mother tongue (L1) and have had limited exposure to English would struggle to communicate in a tertiary education setting where English (L2) is the medium of instruction and communication. As Troudi (2009) points out, the situation here is thought to have a detrimental influence on Emirati learners as their low English proficiency is a major disadvantage to them. According to the trainees, college-based courses efficiently teach theoretical lessons. Nevertheless, no matter how well-prepared the student teacher is, he or she may have trouble presenting such lessons owing to a lack of subject matter expertise or a mismatch between what will be delivered and reality.

Implications The importance of this study stems from a gap in the existing literature about the emotional experiences of EFL student teachers. The trainees are in continual need of some comfort and support, which they do not receive during their training. Critical thinking components may most likely be introduced to college-based courses where pre-service teachers are required to study research articles on other student teachers’ problems in various circumstances and recommend methods to respond to specific educational situations. Emotions play a crucial role in building productive relationships, and educational cycles are not exceptional. Moreover, pre-service teachers’ interpersonal skills and academic performance should be emphasized in teacher training programmes. These findings suggest that teacher education programs and curricula may be reformed and restructured to incorporate components of teaching that prioritize student teachers’ emotional intelligence as well as pedagogical competence. For example, Raddawi and Troudi (2014) argue for the necessity of adding emotional intelligence to the curriculum of teacher preparation programmes. This is likely to help both teachers avoid with conflicts and create positive classroom atmosphere for students. We believe that the findings are of significance to teacher education literature in general and to the teacher training programmes of the participating college and similar colleges in the region. Many researchers have discussed similar results in the practicum and the challenges or concerns that they entail. The findings of this present study, however, add to the existing literature of teacher education in two significant ways. The present study is the first of its kind in the Arabian Gulf and in the UAE. According to a review of the literature, the majority of previous research studies have focused on pre-service teachers’ experiences in practicum, with no or less focus on their positive and negative emotions.

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References Agudo, J. (Ed.). (2018). Emotion in second language teaching: Theory, research & teacher education. Springer International Publishing. Al Abed, I., Vine, P., Hellyer, P., & Vine, P. (2008). United Arab Emirates yearbook. Trident. AL-Mekhlafi, A. (2007). The development of prospective EFL teachers’ specialist language competencies in UAE universities. University of Sharjah Journal for Shari’a Sciences & Humanities, 4(1), 1–27. Barahona, M. (2016). English language teacher education in Chile: A cultural historical activity theory perspective. Routledge. Berg, B. L. (2009). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences. Allyn & Bacon. Britzman, D. (2012). Practice makes practice: A critical study of learning to teach. State University of New York Press. Darling-Hammond, L., & Bransford, J. (2012). Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do. John Wiley & Sons. Inc. Day, C., & Qing, G. (2009). Teacher emotion: Well-being and effectiveness. In P. Schutz &, M. Zembylas (Eds.), Advances in teacher emotion research: The impacts on teachers’ lives. Springer. Given, L. (2015). 100 questions (and answers) about qualitative research. Sage Publications. Goodson, I. (2013). Studying teacher’s lives. Columbia Teachers College Press. Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (2012). Professional capital: Transforming teaching in every school. Colombia University Teacher College. Hargreaves, A., Lieberman, A., & Fullan, M. (2010). Second international handbook of educational change. Springer. Hays, R. (2018). Teaching and learning in primary care. CRC Press. Kwo, O. (2012). Teachers as learners: Critical discourse on challenges and opportunities. Springer. Meyer, D. (2009). Entering the emotional practice of teaching. In P. Schutz, & M. Zembylas (Eds.), Advances in teacher emotion research: The impacts on teachers’ lives. Springer. Plutchik, R. (1991). The emotions. University Press of America. Raddawi, R., & Troudi, S. (2014). Emotional intelligence in ELT teacher education. In P. McLaren, M. Al-Hamly, C. Coombe, P. Davidson, C. Gunn, & S. Troudi (Eds.), From KG to college to career: Proceedings of the 19th TESOL Arabia international conference (pp. 174–185). TESOL Arabia Publications. Schutz, P., &, Zembylas, M. (2009). Advances in teacher emotion research: The impacts on teachers’ lives. Springer. Troudi, S. (2009). The effects of English as a medium of instruction on Arabic as a language of science and academia. In P. Wachob (Ed.), Power in the EFL classroom: Critical pedagogy in the Middle East (pp. 199–216). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Troudi, S., & Jendli, A. (2011). Emirati students’ experiences of English as a medium of instruction. In A. Al-Issa & L. S. Dahan (Eds.), Global English and Arabic: Issues of language, culture and identify (pp. 23–48). Peter Lang Publishers. Van Veen, K., & Sleegers, P. (2006). How does it feel? Teachers’ emotions in a context of change. Curriculum Studies, 38(1), 85–111. Yongxin, Z. (2015). Lectures on the new education. McGraw Hill Professional.

Mouna Abou Assali is faculty at Rabdan Academy. She obtained an Ed. D. at the University of Exeter, UK, and a M. Ed. in ELT at the University of Sheffield, UK. She has taught and developed a number of courses in English language, teacher education, communication and leadership skills. She has coordinated and designed tertiary English language courses and ESP programs throughout her professional career. She is always keen on inspiring her students and transforming their attitudes by showing a positive example of a long-life learner. Her research interest and areas of expertise include: teacher professional growth, teachers’ and students’ emotions and positive

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psychology, educational leadership and educational technology, She has published several book chapters, and a number of papers in language education and professional development journals. Salah Troudi is an academic at the Graduate School of Education of the University of Exeter, UK where he is the director of Global Engagement and the coordinator of the Doctoral Research Forum. His teaching and research interests include language teacher education, critical issues in language education, language policy, curriculum development and evaluation, classroom-based research and teaching Arabic as second and foreign language. He has published articles in several language education journals and edited a number of books. He is an international consultant and speaker in the areas of language education, programme evaluation and TESOL. He has taught in the USA, Tunisia and the UAE.

Chapter 16

A Comparative Analysis of UAE Student Performance in Face-To-Face Versus Online Instruction and the Effect of Gender Difference Panagiotis Papadopoulos, Corne Lotter, and Nancy Fahnestock Abstract A comparison was made between UAE student performance in face-toface (f2f) classes and online courses with one unique component; due to the pandemic, this research was an opportunity to examine half a semester in a blended format and the second half, totally online. This chapter compares the student performance of three different General Studies courses where the performance, as well as the gender differences, were examined. The results showed more variability within the females’ marks and more consistency in the males. Further, the results show that the males overall performed better than the females. Keywords Student performance · Gender differences · Online learning · Face-to-face learning

Introduction Comparisons of student performance between f2f and online courses have become critical due to the recent increase in online courses in Higher Education. Several studies have indicated no difference in student performance between instructional modes for courses (Cavanaugh & Jacquemin, 2015; Larson & Sung, 2009). At the same time, other studies have found that students in f2f classrooms perform better on assessments (Amro et al., 2015; Driscol et al., 2012). Due to the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, the UAE was one of the first countries to close campuses as a precautionary measure against the pandemic. In March 2020, the General Studies Department of one federal tertiary institution in the UAE moved from a flipped-classroom approach to fully online delivery of its courses via Blackboard Collaborate Ultra. This resulted in a unique opportunity to compare student performance in courses where half of the semester included f2f classroom instruction, and the other half was completely online instruction. Several studies have P. Papadopoulos (B) · C. Lotter · N. Fahnestock Higher Colleges of Technology, Al Ain, UAE e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_16

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examined f2f student performance with online student performance. However, still, no study has compared the student performance of classes who did half the course f2f and the other half online. This chapter looks at and compares the results of three different General Studies courses during this time, namely Academic Reading and Writing, Mathematics, and Sustainability Studies. The semester where the first half of the curriculum was presented as blended and the second as online modalities shall be referred to as mixed instruction. The student performance was compared with the combined teaching semester to investigate performance differences. This mixed instruction was compared with the same courses in the full online modality in the following summer semester. Gender differences in performance were also investigated.

Literature Review A plethora of studies address student outcomes in f2f vs. online environments. However, there is a paucity of research in the Arab world (Rajab, 2018). Of the studies available, it is apparent there is a sizable amount of disparity in the effectiveness of f2f courses compared with online classes. For example, it has been found (Glazier et al., 2020) that f2f learning scenarios at a Florida university had more successful outcomes than online-learning. Students who studied f2f had an average of 87.2% for coursework, compared to 83% for online students. A study in the United Arab Emirates looked at language courses offered online in Dubai; it showed that learning online was not on par when compared to f2f learning (Jabeen & Thomas, 2015). These findings were supported by research (Amparo et al., 2018), which examined data from approximately 150,000 students and found a persistent underperformance by online students vs. f2f students. Parallel results were found when student performance in a college algebra class was compared between online and f2f classes (Amro et al., 2015). Similarly, it has been reported (Driscol et al., 2012) that students performed better in f2f classes in an introductory-level sociology course. However, when these researchers looked at other variables, it was discovered that students in f2f courses had a higher GPA than those in online classes. Also, when students’ GPA is factored into their performance in online vs. f2f classes (Cavanaugh & Jacquemin, 2015), it was found that students with a higher GPA performed better in online courses, and students with a lower GPA performed worse when taking classes in an online format. These findings mirror a study (Xu & Jaggars, 2014), which found that there is a more significant performance gap between online and f2f performance when students have a lower GPA. These researchers also showed that students performed better in f2f classes at a technical college than in online classes. “Overall, our findings indicate that the typical student performed less well in online than in face-to-face courses, but this performance gap was wider for some students and narrower for others” (Xu & Jaggers, 2014, p. 653). These differences included gender and GPA, as previously mentioned.

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This also corresponds with the findings of Fahnestock (2011), who conducted a similar study on Foundations students at a large government tertiary institution in the UAE. She concluded that the students needed to be more disciplined to be successful in the more autonomous classes and suggested that learner autonomy is quite an abstract leap for students who have mostly been exposed only to teacher-centered and inflexible learning situations. Fahnestock (2011) discussed a few exceptions, and these were students with higher level academic skills within the Foundations program. The “No Significant Difference” literature (https://detaresearch.org/research-sup port/no-significant-difference/) is a database that includes 355 reports that show there is no significant difference in student outcomes when comparing f2f instruction with online instruction. For instance, in a study by Larson and Sung (2009) student performance in online versus blended versus f2f classes in a Management Information System course were compared and findings supported that there was no significant difference in student performance. More recently, Rajab (2018) compared f2f and online education at a public university in Saudi Arabia. The passing rate for an f2f information technology course was 89.5% compared to the passing rate for an online version of the same class at 90%. These results indicated no significant statistical difference in student performance between online and f2f learning and thus supported the “No Significant Difference” literature.

Method This study was quantitative empirical research to compare f2f and online student performance within the same semester. Course grades were taken from three General Studies courses taught by the same instructors, namely Academic Reading and Writing, Sustainability Studies, and Mathematics.

Participants of the Study The total population used for this study was 357 students. The actual sample of participants was only 323 out of 357 students, as a few of the students with “zero” marks were deleted from the sample. The convenience type of sampling was used as four different sections from three classes were taken. The total population refers to all sections of Academic Reading and Writing, Sustainability Studies, and Mathematics classes taught at the college level. The final sample of 323 participants meets the two primary conditions; first, the Central Limit Theorem applies within the statistical data analysis, and second, the statistical error was limited to 9.95% at a confidence level of 95%.

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Instrumentation Data for this study was collected using grade books from BlackBoard Learn, an online learning platform. All the marks were out of 100. The research tool used in the present investigation was constructed, especially for this purpose. Specifically, the examined categories were as follows: • Sustainability course: This group contains four sections, one from Summer 2020 of 39 female students and three sections from Spring 2020 with 34 female, 34 male, and 37 female students, respectively. Comparisons were made for male and female students from Spring, and for Spring (mixed f2f and online) and Summer (entirely online) students. • Academic Reading and Writing: One group has two sections, one with male and one with female students, both for Spring, and a comparison was made based on gender. There is another group of two sections, both from Spring, one with male and one with female students, where a comparison was made between the online and the f2f performance. • Mathematics: This group contains one female spring section and one female summer session, and comparison was made for the two.

Research Question This research study aims at examining whether male and female students perform differently in their respective courses and whether there is a difference in their performance when the means of teaching are f2f or online. So, the research questions that are formed in correspondence to the above research target are. Does the gender of the student affect their performance? Does online teaching produce different marks than f2f teaching for Emirati university-level students?

As a result, the following research hypotheses are formed: Research Hypothesis 1. H 0 : The performance of the students is not affected by their gender. H 1 : There is a difference in students’ performance based on their gender. Research Hypothesis 2. H 0 : The performance of the students is the same when teaching is online or f2f. H 1 : The performance of the students differs when teaching is online or f2f. The investigation for the acceptance or rejection of the research hypotheses presented under the previous section was performed using a series of statistical computations, which are given in the next section. All these methods are derived from the field of inferential statistics. The method of inferential statistics used is the t-test for comparison of means.

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This specific technique is used to compare the means of two populations when different samples are used. In the present study, the choice of the technique is performed because of the use of different samples for the evaluation of the means. The acceptance (non-rejection) of the null hypothesis (H0 ) is implemented when the p-value of the test is higher than the level of statistical significance and implies that there are no statistically significant differences between mean values of the different populations. It is worth mentioning that the practice of using a t-test requires a comparison of the variances of the samples, which was also performed using the F-test. Specifically, statistical test hypotheses for the variances are as follows: H 0 : The data are characterized by the same variance. H 1 : The data are not characterized by the same variance. The acceptance of the null hypothesis (H0 ) is implemented when the p-value of the test is higher than the level of statistical significance and implies that there are no statistically significant differences in the variance between the mean values of different populations. In the case of the rejection of the null hypothesis, the t-test with unequal variances was performed. Finally, it must be noted that all of the above statistical methods were implemented through the use of Excel, while the level of statistical significance used is 5%.

Results Sustainability Course This course had data from four different sections, a summer section entirely online consisting of 39 female students and three spring sections using mixed instruction, with 34 female, 34 male, and 37 female students, respectively. The means for Final Grade, Final Exam, and Coursework were the same for the two female sections, so they were combined for the rest of the research, as one spring section of 71 female students. FINAL GRADE: the variance of the females was the same as with males (pvalue = 0.100823), and the mean for the male students was the same as the females’ (p-value = 0.275266). FINAL EXAM: the variance of the females was statistically significantly higher than the one from the males (p-value = 0.000181), and the mean for the male students was statistically significantly higher than the females’ (p-value = 0.005074). COURSEWORK: the variance of the females was the same as with the males (p-value = 0.163067), and the mean for the male students was similar to that of the females (p-value = 0.601352). A comparison between female students in Spring (mixed, online and f2f) and female students in summer (fully online) showed that:

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FINAL GRADE: the variance of the females was the same for Spring and summer (p-value = 0.298899) and the mean for the summer students were statistically significantly higher than the spring students (p-value = 0.007135). FINAL EXAM: the variance of the females was the same for Spring and summer (p-value = 0.266909) and the mean for the summer students did not differ from Spring (p-value 0.634052). COURSEWORK: the variance of the females was the same for Spring and summer (p-value = 0.32099) and the mean for the summer students were statistically significantly higher than the spring students (p-value = 0.000364).

Academic Reading and Writing Examining the Final Exam grades for the two sections, one for males and one for females, both for summer online classes, the results showed that the two sections have the same variability, but the male students performed better than the female ones (p-value = 0.000894).

Analysis of One Male Spring Class and One Female Spring Class Females have a more prominent variability in their marks in the Final Grade, Final Exam, and Coursework with p-values 0.000141, 0.00000054, and 0.005384, respectively; males have more consistent results. Also, males seem to perform better in the above cases, i.e., Final Grade, Final Exam, and Coursework with p-values 0.006168, 0.035755, and 0.002144, respectively. For the f2f part of the assessments, a comparison between males and females showed that although marks do not differ in variability (p = 0.194978), males performed better than females (p = 0.000746). For the online part of the course, females’ scores show a more significant variability (p = 0.001608), and they score again lower than the males (p = 0.022602). Finally, comparison between the online and f2f assessments for females shows that online has different variability (p = 0.027094), but equal means (p = 0.985381), while for males, results differ in neither variability (p = 0.437464) nor the mean (p = 0.614607).

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Mathematics Course A comparison was made of two of the same mathematics courses, one from spring with males (half online) and one in summer with female students (fully online).

Results Showed There was no difference in variability for Final Grade (p = 0.108464), Final Exam (p = 0.3950110), or Coursework (p = 0.153508). As for the means, in all cases, results showed that online teaching gave higher marks with p-values being 0.00000132, 0.036509, and 0.000000851, respectively.

Discussion First, we learned from looking at the data from the Sustainability classes that when we made a more general comparison, looking at the spring classes compared with the summer classes, the final grade, and the course work marks had similar variances and means for both males and females. The final exam, however, showed more variance for the females, but the males had a higher mean. Then when we compared the spring (mixed) classes with the fully online classes we found for the final grade and the coursework marks, the variances were the same, but the means were higher in both for the fully online class or the summer class. Next, we examined the Academic Reading and Writing class. We noticed that the final exam for spring and summer both showed similar variances, but the males had higher means. Looking only at spring (mixed) for both males and females, it showed the final grade, the final exam, and the coursework marks showed more variances for the females, but again, the males were more consistent and had better results overall. Finally, when we compared both the f2f and online, we learned that the females in online-only classes had a more prominent variability and scored lower, but had equal means. The males, on the other hand, had the same means and variability. The current findings partially correspond with previous research that there appear to be no significant differences in student performance in f2f classes versus online classes, except for the Mathematics class. Our analysis also partially supports earlier findings in online learning in Blackboard Collaborate in the UAE (Politis & Politis, 2016), where it was found that students studying online with Collaborate have enhanced knowledge acquisition. This was mirrored in our findings in the Mathematics classes and the coursework marks and final grades in the Sustainability studies. This study indicated that a demographic variable, namely gender, influenced student performance. Earlier research (Glazier et al., 2020) concluded that female

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students do well in both f2f and online modalities in higher education, whereas men do worse in online modalities. Also, another study found that a performance gap between f2f and online classes is more significant for males (Xu & Jaggars, 2014). Our results found quite the opposite, with males consistently scoring higher and females having more variances in their marks. One possible reason for gender performance differences in online vs. f2f courses is student effort. Another might be, as discussed previously, the students’ overall GPA. It has been found that female students put more effort into f2f classes where males put more effort into online classes (Yang et al., 2011). However, there is some inconsistency with these findings, and in other research (Amparo et al., 2018), it was found that females outperformed male students in f2f classes but not in online classes. This study contradicts both and suggests that the males outscored the females in online learning, and the females had more inconsistency in their marks. Gender differences can be further explained by a previous study done in the UAE on e-learning barriers (Vrazalic et al., 2009): While the gender of the students was associated with a lack of interest for e-learning, as well as a lack of time to use e-learning, the relationship needs to be studied further. The data suggests that female students found e-learning to be less exciting, but male students had less time to use this type of learning (p. 5).

Conclusion Student performance in online courses has been the subject of much discussion in the UAE, and the ongoing increase of online courses offered suggests that online teaching is here to stay. Many unanswered questions remain about student success in the virtual classroom, especially in the Arab world. Given the results discussed in this chapter, variability needs to be studied further, especially with females. It would seem to suggest that there are students who enter these General Studies classes with a lower skill level, and these students will need additional help to be successful, especially in online classes. Our institution offers support through the online Academic Success Center, and these students should be required to attend weekly until their overall GPA is improved. Because the teacher is not able to observe the students at work in an online class, those with lower skill levels seem to slip through the cracks if left to their own devices. Much like the previous findings (Fahnestock, 2011) where students of lower skill levels struggle to be more autonomous learners, this research suggests they should be offered additional remediation. It seems that online classes raise variability and put the lower level students at a disadvantage, and additional support could help them to be more successful.

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Limitations and Future Research Even though student performance did not indicate significant differences, the factor of student satisfaction in online learning in the UAE could be studied. Students who study within an English as a foreign language (EFL) environment are more satisfied with f2f courses (Tratnik et al., 2019). Furthermore, webinars have the potential to be more beneficial to student performance than f2f and online learning modalities (Ebner & Gegenfurtner, 2019). With the proliferation of online education, the culture of learning in the United Arab Emirates could see a shift. Previous research done in Saudi Arabia showed that online learning influenced students’ culture of learning and vice versa (Hamdan, 2014). Students reported that online learning had enhanced the learning culture in Saudi Arabia. Future research could examine the ways online learning is changing the culture of learning in the United Arab Emirates. While we cannot necessarily generalize these findings to all contexts, this research does add to a body of research of higher education in the United Arab Emirates. We can surmise from these results that online learning provides many opportunities to continue learning, especially during a pandemic. However, more research is needed, more data needs to be collected from other classes, from other colleges and universities, and qualitative information is crucial to provide equal learning opportunities for students of all genders and skill levels.

References Amparo, A. R., Smith, G., & Friedman, A. (2018, June). Gender and persistent grade performance differences between online and face-to-face undergraduate classes. EdMedia and Innovate Learning, 1935–1939. Amro, H. J., Mundy, M.-A., & Kupczynski, L. (2015). The effects of age and gender on student achievement in face-to-face and online college algebra classes. Research in Higher Education Journal, 27, 1–22. Cavanaugh, J. K., & Jacquemin, S. J. (2015). A large sample comparison of grade based student learning outcomes in online vs. face-to-face courses. Online Learning, 19(2). Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1062940. Driscol, A., Jicha, K., Hunt, A. N., Tichavsky, L., & Thompson, G. (2012). Can online courses deliver in-class results? A comparison of student performance and satisfaction in an online versus a faceto-face introductory sociology course. Teaching Sociology, 40(4), 312–331. https://doi.org/10. 1177/0092055X12446624 Ebner, C., & Gegenfurtner, A. (2019). Learning and satisfaction in webinar, online, and face-to-face instruction: A meta-analysis. Frontiers in Education, 4, 1–11. Fahnestock, N. (2011). EFL Female Emirati Students’ perception of the use of an interactive mathematics software program in a CLIL class at the tertiary level, [Published doctoral thesis, University of Exeter, Exeter UK]. University of Exeter ORE Open Research Exeter. Glazier, R. A., Hamann, K., Pollock, P. H., & Wilson, B. M. (2020). Age, gender and student success: Mixing face-to-face and online courses in political science. Journal of Political Science Education, 16(2), 142–157. https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2018.1515636 Hamdan, A. K. (2014). The reciprocal and correlative relationship between learning culture and online education: A case from Saudi Arabia. The International Review of Research in Open and

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Distributed Learning, 15(1). Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/ 1408. Jabeen, S. S., & Thomas, A. J. (2015). Effectiveness of online language learning. World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science, 1, 1–5. Larson, D. K., & Sung, C.-H. (2009). Comparing student performance: Online versus blended versus face-to-face. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 13(1), 31–42. Politis, D., & Politis, J. D. (2016). The relationship between an online synchronous learning environment and knowledge acquisition skills and traits: The blackboard collaborate experience. Retrieved from http://hephaestus.nup.ac.cy/handle/11728/8743. Rajab, K. D. (2018). The effectiveness and potential of E-learning in war zones: An empirical comparison of face-to-face and online education in Saudi Arabia. IEEE Access, 6, 6783–6794. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2800164 Tratnik, A., Urh, M., & Jereb, E. (2019). Student satisfaction with an online and a face-to-face business English course in a higher education context. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 56(1), 36–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2017.1374875 Vrazalic, L., Macgregor, R. C., Behl, D., & Fitzgerald, J. (2009). E-learning barriers in the United Arab Emirates: Preliminary results from an empirical investigation. IBIMA Business Review, 4(1), 1–7. Xu, D., & Jaggars, S. S. (2014). Performance gaps between online and face-to-face courses: Differences across types of students and academic subject areas. The Journal of Higher Education, 85(5), 633–659. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2014.11777343 Yang, Y., Cho, Y. J., Mathew, S., & Worth, S. (2011). College student effort expenditure in online versus face-to-face courses: The role of gender, team learning orientation, and sense of classroom community. Journal of Advanced Academics, 22(4), 619–638.

Panagiotis Papadopoulos obtained his BA in Mathematics from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He moved to the USA for eight years where he received his MA from Indiana University and his PhD from Michigan State University, both in Mathematics. He is an author of a book, and he has published scientific papers in the areas of Group Theory, Statistics and Education. He has attended many international conferences and seminars and he was the main speaker in a number of them. He obtained various rewards for his Excellence in Teaching. He has worked in the UAE for the last few years. Corne Lotter obtained a Master’s degree in TESOL as a Fulbright scholar at Michigan State University and is enrolled at the University of Illinois Education Policy and Leadership doctorate program. Corne has taught in various countries for the past twenty years and is currently teaching in the UAE. Nancy Fahnestock has worked in tertiary education in the UAE since 2003. She started in the foundations department and currently is Assistant Professor in the General Studies Department at Higher Colleges of Technology, Al Ain Women’s Campus. She received her EdD from Exeter University in the UK and her research interests are studying L2 students in content classes. In her spare time, Nancy volunteers for Animal Welfare Al Ain and is a committee member of Emirates Natural History Group.

Chapter 17

An Exploratory Study of Women Learners’ Identity and Investment in Learning English in the United Arab Emirates Neil Hunt Abstract The United Arab Emirates’ economic growth ensures that education to tertiary level is free to all Emirati nationals. The influx of expatriate workers with Dubai’s emergence as a tourist destination and centre for global trade has contributed to the positioning of English as a lingua franca and marginalisation of Arabic. This study examines the influences and attitudes towards English in female Emirati students studying on a Bachelor of Education. Data was collected through student journals, which was then analysed into thematically. Comments were drawn from each theme to construct questions which were then presented to focus groups. Results point to complex factors influencing participants’ identities and reasons for investment in English. Factors that appear to be contradictory can be reconciled by viewing them as being founded on participants’ Islamic faith, leading to investment in English on participants’ own terms, and students’ appropriation of English for their own purposes. Keyword English language · Teacher education · Teacher identities · Language policies · Language learner motivations

Introduction This study concerns young women studying English language courses integral to a Bachelor of Education in English Language Teaching at an institution in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The students are first year undergraduates, new to the programme and required to take twelve hours of English each week for two years of the course. As newcomer teachers and inexpert users of English, this study aims to explore the construction of their identities as both learners and potential teachers of English and witness the beginnings of the construction of a community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1999) during the first semester of study. N. Hunt (B) Hong Kong, China e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_17

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The participants are 22 Emirati women, aged from 20 to 30, who had one or two years of post-secondary education at ‘foundations’ level, in preparation for tertiary study, and have been learning English for between 10 and 15 years. I invited first year students to participate as they are closer to the beginning of their trajectory of identity formation as effective users of English. Their identity as teachers of English is in a precarious state as of the 24 students who begin the course, approximately half will not progress to the second year and the community of student teachers is still in its early stages. However, of those students who enter the second year, the majority go on to successfully complete the programme so the first year appears to be crucial for ensuring students’ progress and ability to construct identities as successful learners of English. The inability to succeed could block development of their identities as English teachers, as invariably, it is English language assessments they fail, rather than other components of the programme. In this chapter, how students construct their identities as learners and potential teachers of English are examined. I explore how this intersects with their identities as Arabs, as Muslims, and young women in a complex cultural context in which discourses of globalisation and technological modernism coexist with discourses of nationalism, Arabic and Islamic values. (Clarke, 2008).

Theoretical Background Recent commentaries on Second Language Acquisition (SLA) have led to a partial theoretical realignment within the field. Identified by Block (2003, 2007) and Atkinson (2011) as the social turn in SLA, such a repositioning, although not without controversy (Firth & Wagner, 1997; Long, 1997) has been characterised by growing acknowledgment of socio-cultural, historical and political processes that may influence second language acquisition. This ‘increase in the perceived scope of the field of SLA’ (Kramsch, 2000, p.314) constitutes a broadening of socially informed considerations, allowing SLA studies to attempt to go beyond the cognitive paradigm and the conceptualisation of second language acquisition as an individual psychological undertaking that generally takes place within learners’ minds. This sociocultural theory of mind ‘offers a way of viewing learning which is based on a different set of metaphors and which is slowly establishing itself as an alternative paradigm of SLA’ (Ellis, 2008, p.175), challenging the traditional dominance of the cognitive understanding of SLA (Dornyei & Ushioda, 2010) placing emphasis on learner identity, the broad social context surrounding the learner, and the relationship between them. The second language learner in SLA has orthodoxically been conceptualised as either an individual independent of any social grouping or as a single part of a group identity, leaving little space for individual agency (Breen, 2001; Norton, 2000, 2013). More recent considerations of the learner identity, emphasise ‘macro and microsociological features … sited both historically and contextually, and in which individual actors are identified both as selves and as social persons’ (Candlin, 2000, p. xv) provide a response to calls for reconceptualisation of the learner so acknowledging

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complexity and the existence of individual agency (Breen, 2001; Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2014; Norton, 1997, 2000). The sociocultural understanding views learner identity as discursively constructed within specific social contexts, changeable over time and positioned within competing discourses of power. An individual’s learning and identity is constructed within a range of social relationships, however without an understanding of how these relationships are influenced by power, an essential aspect of the social world is ignored. Work on the social construction of learner identity shows how various discourses influence individuals’ sense of identity and influence success in language learning (Norton, 2000; Norton & McKinney, 2011), emphasising the inseparability of concepts of identity, language learning, and power. This situated understanding seeks to balance the relationship between the individual and the social so that although individual identity is socially constructed, it is not totalized by the social but allows an element of freedom of action within particular social structures, so the relationship between structure and agency is considered as mutually constructive. The break from theories that view the self less as a ‘thing’ and more of a construct (Clarke, 2008), links with poststructuralist ideas that identity construction takes place within social, cultural, and political contexts through discursive practices which determine the resources available for identity construction. This allows for the identities in turn to shape further discursive practices (Weedon, 1997), where ‘subjectivity and language are theorized as mutually constitutive’ (Norton, 2000, p.8). The idea of identity as unfinished, plural and in a perpetual state of becoming has only relatively recently begun to have an impact in SLA. The notion that learner motivation plays a central role in the process of learning has been recognised for many years and has ‘traditionally adopted an individualistic perspective (Dornyei, & Ushioda, 2010, p.15). As the study of SLA has broadened beyond the individual learner, so the conceptualisation of motivation has expanded to develop a more complex understanding of the term, encouraging growth in theories (ibid.). Together with a growing recognition of social influences on motivation, for example Norton’s (2000) view of the socially constructed nature of the affective within ‘inequitable relations of power’ (p.5), this has led to a reconceptualisation of motivation as investment, conceiving ‘the language learner as having a complex social history and multiple desires …(where) … investment in the target language is also an investment in a learner’s own identity, an identity which is constantly changing across time and space (pp. 10–11). The broader understanding of identity as a dynamic factor in learning has led to an impetus for research in SLA which focuses on the historically and contextually situated learner of language as both an individual and a social person (Candlin, 2000, p. xix) and, as such, this paper aims to explore what Bonnie Norton (2013) has described as the problematic relationship between ‘the language learner and the social world’ (p.44). The influence of identity on learning within social contexts is a central theme of Wenger’s (1999) work. Individual learners’ relations with social organisations that surround them and how these relations mediate learning has been developed into the analytical framework of communities of practice which places learning as a feature of learners’ growing participation in communities, characterised by an

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emphasis on mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire. Individual identity is constructed through active, practical involvement within a community, and is inextricably linked with learning which are considered as being ‘aspects of the same phenomenon’ (Lave & Wenger, 1991, p.115). Communities of practice are subject to the same considerations of power as other communities and can play a determining factor in a person’s ability to utilise the learning resources of that community in their process of identity construction. Within the UAE context, studies that address learners’ identity within a community of practice are rare. Two exceptions are Richardson (2004) and Clarke (2008) who discuss construction of identity of student teachers of English. Although Richardson and Clarke address the issue of students on an education program, both studies are concerned with students in the final year, whereas the present study investigates students who have just entered the first year of the program. Richardson argues from the basis of learner identities being a static construct, claiming that constructivist models of education are incommensurate with Arabic/Islamic beliefs and values so limiting resources and construction of student teacher identities. Clarke is critical of this stance, citing cultural determinism and reification of Arab/Islamic beliefs, showing how the students construct hybrid identities, in the process of which they appropriate progressive educational discourses concerning learner independence, empowerment and constructivist pedagogies, while simultaneously utilising Islamic and national development discourses to construct identities that can be considered a fusion of available discourses. This process of appropriation is significant on many levels: the political—seeming to disrupt the dichotomous Islam/Arab v. Liberal Progress discourse currently prevalent; the pedagogical—it appears to provide support for Wenger’s (1999) contention that identity is multiple and that learning occurs most at the boundaries of identity; and, finally, the philosophical—seeming to support the view that meaning and identity are constructed through discourse in social settings, and discourse is in turn constructed through the engagement of identities.

Research Methodology This study sets out to gain an understanding of the state of and potential changes in student teachers’ identity as learners of English. It attempts to explore the initial stages of the construction of a community of practice as participants embark upon a course of study to be English language teachers. Such an undertaking represents a considerable investment for the participants and is likely to mark the beginning of changes in how they understand and view themselves, and are viewed by others, i.e. changes in their identity, which additionally entails changes in knowledge and social membership (Lave & Wenger, 1991). This interpretive study seeks to research the participants’ personal understanding of their studies as represented through texts. It has an ethnographic basis in that it ‘takes seriously the perspectives and the interactions of the members of the social group being studied’ (Pring, 2015, p.104), and

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uses Punch’s (2014) six features of ethnography as a guide to action and as a basis for decision making, starting. ‘from the assumption that the shared cultural meanings of the group are crucial to understanding its behaviour … is sensitive to the meanings that behaviour, action, events and contexts have, in the eyes of the people involved … (who are) studied in the natural setting … (and is) likely to be an unfolding and evolving sort of study, rather than prestructured … from the point of view of data techniques, ethnography is eclectic, not restricted (and) ethnographic data collection will typically be prolonged and repetitive’ (pp.160-161).

In order to ensure quality, it is necessary for the researcher to demonstrate ‘careful documentation of procedure’ (Edge & Richards, 1998, p.348). Rich detail of decision-making and evidence of a broad approach to data collection allow for the reader to relate findings to their own particular context. I discuss the processes and decisions of the research including details of the participants, ethical treatment, data collection and analysis, by utilising Radnor’s (2002) two broad criteria for ensuring rigour in interpretive research—trustworthiness in the process of data collection and validity of interpretation. The emphasis on trust is suitable for interpretive research, as the research occurs in the social realm and it is a function of the actions and discourse of the social worlds in which interpretive research occurs. The nature, rationale and demands of the research were explained to the participants in detail. I asked all participants to discuss their participation with their parents or guardian, consider their own wishes. They were also offered the opportunity to ask questions, and return the signed form if they consented. All of the students in the group consented to participate. The data was constructed over two phases, both concerned construction of textual data. The first phase involved participants writing journal entries as responses to questions concerning their experience and ideas regarding their English learning experiences. The second phase focused on emergent concerns arising after initial analysis of data constructed in the first phase and involved focus group discussions prompted by interview questions and a selection of topics to be covered. The iterative revisiting of data in the second round and use of a different tool may allow for diverse, deeper perspectives to emerge, allow for participants to build on previous contributions, and for myself as researcher to query issues arising from the first phase. The first phase of data collection was integrated into the demands of the English language course focusing on academic writing skills course I was teaching. Closely concerned with the teaching and learning of typical genres used in international English exams, students must create a portfolio of written work showing a variety of texts, including a weekly written journal. As there were no mandated journal topics, I decided to use the students’ journal writing as a way of exploring their experiences of learning English and their thoughts concerning its position in their lives. For each lesson I framed the topics for the journal and allowed time in class for discussion prior to allotting the journal writing as homework.

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Students discussed and were asked to write on the following topics: Journal 1: Reasons for studying English. Journal 2: Situations in which I use English. Journal 3: Present and future roles of English in the UAE. Journal 4: Incidents of successful and unsuccessful use of English. Journal 5: Role of Islam and its relationship with learning English. The second phase of data construction involved analysing participants’ journals for recurrent themes, based upon which I drew up questions and discussion points for discussion in focus groups. I chose to use focus groups as social constraints mitigate against one-to-one interviews between males and females. Additionally, power relations in the researcher student relationships might diminish the quality of data, while group discussion might provide participants with confidence to speak more truthfully, rather than second-guess responses. The need for naturalness in successful research interviews and recognition that they share features of everyday talk (Cohen et al., 2017) implies that established social groups might facilitate data collection and be useful if ‘a group of people have been working together for some time or common purpose’ (Watts & Ebbutt, 1987) Although the authors go on to warn that group interviews are likely to stem many personal issues from being discussed, I felt that as a male, outside of family and cultural ties, such revelations were unlikely to be volunteered. I arranged four 20-min discussions that included all participants in four groups of five or six students. Of these groups, three agreed to be digitally recorded, the fourth preferred that I made written notes. Finally, I administered a biographical questionnaire to establish family background and home language use. I analysed the data inductively and thematically, using Holliday’s (2016) notion that ‘the formation of themes thus represents the necessary dialogue between data and researcher’ (p. 104) as a guiding principle. After an initial reading of the journal I made a preliminary noting of arising themes. After a second reading, I decided upon thematic categories and chose a selection of samples to exemplify each theme. Inevitably, there is an element of researcher manipulation of data in selecting text for categorisation as the amount of data demands decisions of what should be included and criteria to justify the selection. Each selection is one of many possible alternative selections which could be made, so the process of selection of data, determining of themes and organisation of data into an argument is a personal yet necessary process. It is therefore necessary to be open regarding methods I employed as an ‘architect of meaning’ (Holliday, 2016, p.120). So, I used the thematic journal data as a basis for designing and creating the interview guide and listened to the discussions and transcribed sections that related to previously identified themes.

Findings The following themes emerged from the data. To indicate the source of data I use pseudonyms and a capital ‘J’ for journal-based data, followed by 1 to 5 to show the particular journal entry and ‘I’ to indicate data from focus groups.

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Work as Immutable Students indicate that English is a necessity for work—whether working as a teacher or not—and appears to be a significant factor in participants’ investment in learning the language. As Amal (J3) indicates this appears to be something incumbent in the situation, rather than a choice, ‘when you apply for a job, perfecting (sic) English is one of the main qualifications that are being required’. Others seem to view this as a general phenomenon that ‘opens opportunities for employees to work around the world’ (Nadia J2). It seems that English is perceived as an attribute of a global structure, viewed as a fact to be lived with and that, in the UAE one accepts this reality and that within this relationship, there is little room for individual agency. This conclusion is further supported when one examines interview data, where Fakhera states “all the workers in the companies, the banks, the schools speak English, so we need to also” (I).

The Key of the World A more idealistic, if perhaps naïve, current noticeable in the data is of English as a conduit of international understanding, of it ushering in an age of cross-cultural communication characterised by give-and-take of fruitful ideas. A typical comment is Shamsa’s (J3) statement ‘good thing about this language is that a lot of people are using it all over the world so that make it easy for them to meet different people and make a lot of friends from all over the world’. Such comments seem to act as a repository of hopeful optimism, as though ‘English is the key of the world’ (Salama, J1). Similar opinions are evident within the focus group data— “English is the first international language” is Haifa’s matter-of-fact comment. Such grandiose claims for the power of English may be a reflection of teachers’, parents’, and lecturers’ inculcation and enjoinders to study hard over the years, a statement that they feel they ought to make to their English teacher and may contain echoes of statements made during their lives that are intended to please figures of authority. Nevertheless, such data is the stuff of interpretive enquiry, if we accept that reality is constructed through a nexus of subjective realities and that as Corson (2002) states “peoples’ reasons and accounts are ‘real’ in the sense that their existence and activity as objects of scientific enquiry are absolutely or relatively independent of the enquiry of which they are objects.” (p. 292).

Global Identity Participants appear keen to identify as belonging to a broad community of English users able to use the language in real and virtual globalised communities, as the following show:

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‘I traveled to Malaysia … I tried to speak English … felt like I was a success because I like to speak with foreigners.’ (Afrah J4) ‘I use English with my Ethiopian maid.’ (Aisha J4)) ‘I play online games…once I got to know a female from New York … we became friends … she then praised me by saying that I’m talking English quite good for a foreigner. This gave me confidence … and I get to know may others … from Germany, Brazil, Turkey and Netherlands.’ (Amal J4) ‘Of course, English is useful when I go to London in the summer’ (Amna, I)

This view can be characterized as “the fulfillment of a utopian dream … (where English) … makes international communication more efficient (and) … reduces the probability of political conflict” (Tollefson, 2000, p. 9). However, positive experiences such as these and Asma’s example of a conversation on a plane with an English speaker who told her ‘that she was very impressed with my English … (which) … made me feel really good and confident’ (J4) can have a negative aspect, when communication may be less successful. Basma (J4) recounts how a visit to a hospital proved traumatic, as she had ‘a real problem when the doctor came I think he is American or Canadian, he asked me some questions and I answer and at the same time I don’t know what I was saying and my English was very poor and I hate myself that time and I’m shouting I want someone to speak Arabic’. Such strong feelings of pride and shame in their English suggest that some participants invest heavily in the aspect of their identity related to English use. Perhaps the most extreme example of this occurring is Nadia’s statement that “nowadays people who don’t speck (sic) English are pictured illiterate.” (J1). Such strong identification of English with being illiterate, appearing to ignore literacy in Arabic despite Nadia not agreeing with the statement, indicates the high status in which English is held, and the correspondingly low status with which non-users of English can be ‘pictured’.

Pragmatism For some participants English is viewed as a tool for getting things done in a range of contexts from shopping ‘because all the shop staff speak English’ (Sharifa, J2) to holidays and settings of international travel, ‘in airports, restaurants and hotels’ (Shamsa, J2). In the home, Amal (J2) translates “guides to machines or medicines’, whereas Asma (J2) uses English ‘as a code language to not let the children understand what I and my sisters are saying’. Some remark upon a generational divide in usage as they find themselves positioned as translators for the elder generation, who ‘get upset at their lack of ability to get things done’(I) and as mentors to younger family members ‘who are learning it at school’ (I) even though some ‘are better than us’(I). Despite participants’ limited ability in the academic context, there is evidence to indicate that in social situations, where pragmatic skills and knowledge are primary, they are able to utilise English to suit a broad range of needs.

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A significant subset of this theme is the prevalence of media and technology as an influence, ‘there are a billion and a billion of websites that are in English’ (Sharifa J3). Nadia (J2) has a broader view that includes ‘news, internet, magazines, movies, newspapers etc.’. However, while keen to appreciate the growth in media, interviews revealed distinct limits to its influence and a sense of cultural/religious boundaries, they are all very positive about the growing influence of English media in their lives and society as it gives them a chance to learn and practice – they were unanimous in this. They were not at all concerned that English seems to be impinging more and more into their world from colleges/schools to public places to services and homes, not perceiving this as a threat to the status of Arabic, they all agreed that their cultural and religious traditions had to be protected. (I)

This seems to reveal confidence in their ability to utilise English for their own needs, to appropriate it for uses and contexts where it is required or helpful, but also to resist blandishments of global media when it goes against cultural traditions. Whilst they state that traditions must be protected, this did not appear to be problematic ‘we tell children what our traditions are, and why what is on TV is wrong. For example, having girlfriends or boyfriends, which is against our culture’ (I).

National Development It is perhaps not surprising that a young country has a strong sense of identity (the UAE was constituted in 1971) and the construction of collective identity is still very much apparent throughout the country (Kazim, 2000), so it would be surprising if such notions were not apparent in the data. Teaching English is important for Fakhera because she knows ‘that my country needs whose (sic) teach English’ (J1). The use of English is explicitly tied to the programme for national development by Asma commenting, ‘English is the main language of the developed countries. My country is a developing country and should use English’ (J3). This is emphasised by Sarah saying, ‘without a common language we can’t develop. In my opinion, English is the only solution.’ (J3). Such unequivocal correlation of national development with use of English appears consistent with participants’ pragmatic use of English and their ease with English as a global tool available for their use. Hamda’s view that ‘English does not link with special peoples, it is for all people who want learn it’ (J2) illustrates an understanding of English as non-proprietary, available for use as required.

English Growth, Arabic Diminishment Participants are aware of the encroachment of English upon their world and despite their enthusiasm for potential benefits, there are signs that the lack of educational emphasis on Arabic can rankle. Some complained that they felt that their own ability

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in Arabic was falling, one mentioning that she ‘can’t make Arabic questions anymore’ (I). Some agreed that younger children’s Arabic appeared to be becoming less accurate grammatically. Amina mentioned that at school she had ‘written Arabic stories and poetry but was not able to now’ (I) and that there should be more of a balance between English and Arabic. Since leaving school two years ago, participants had one Arabic lesson a week during foundation year, but since joining Education had none. Use of Arabic in the institution is officially discouraged throughout the college, and participants reported that teachers emphasised lessons were ‘English-only zones’, but many didn’t make students comply ‘apart from Miss J. who says using Arabic is rude and starts speaking French to us’ (I). Participants said they preferred to use Arabic in lessons as ‘sometimes it helps us to understand’ (I). Overall, a sense of neglect concerning maintenance of Arabic was apparent. A sense of growing English displacement of Arabic was also stated through participants’ acknowledgement that English was being used more in Arabic discourse and terms such as ‘sorry’, ‘thank you’, ‘you’re welcome’, together with technological terms—which they claim are ‘easier and clearer than the Arabic words’ (I) —are increasingly common, revealing a sense of ambivalence concerning the relationship between English and Arabic.

Islam, Learning and Gender Arabic is strongly identified with Islam and commands loyalty as an essential marker of family, of Arabic and Islamic identity. Hamda states plainly ‘we use Arabic language to connect with each other and with our relatives and it is our Holy Quran language’ (J2). Despite some participants stating that English is used in the home and with family, Noura explicitly separates Arabic and English use for separate contexts and interlocutors, as it is ‘our main language so me and my family use it all the time in the house with our friends and with neighbours… sometimes we use English as a second language with foreign people’ (J1). Shamsa identifies Arabic as being ‘the language of our ancestors, so we have to keep it by using it everywhere’ (J2). For some students, Islam provides a clear rationale for studying languages. Amal comments that ‘Islam also confirmed that seeking education is a must duty for male and female’ (J5). The Holy Quran and Hadith were quoted by participants in both journals and interviews as justification for the pragmatic and technology themes mentioned above, learning English “to gain knowledge that other cultures may possess” (I). A second strain is evident in comments such as Asma’s that ‘it is allowed to learn other languages to tell all the cultures about Islam’ (J5). Nabeela views English as a means of proselytising the truth of Islam, ‘I choose English for many purposes. First of all, English language is the first language in the world … Second, Muslims are the most humiliated community in the world and they need to communicate with others to give the truth picture of Islam specially (sic) after September 2001 events. Third, to deliver the meaningful essentials and target of Islam to spread freedom and justice’. (J5).

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Some participants use Islam to justify their education as Muslim women, the ‘main person of Islam, the mother, sister, aunt and daughter’ (Afrah J5). Some see women’s exclusion from education in the past as an aberration that has been corrected, Aamena comments that ‘Islam support learning of women, but in the (past) age ignored it—it was wrong for women to go out from her home, and before the advent (sic) of oil and before development in the UAE, there weren’t any role for women in the society but the upbringing of their children and take care of the affairs of the house (J5). Afrah ties the growing role of women with development and ‘opening their mind again’ (J5). The participants’ strong Arabic/Islamic identity and pride in its influence seems to serve as bedrock, give a sense of certainty, upon which the twin goals of learning English and national development will be built.

Hegemony or Colonialism The participants show historical understanding of the UAE’s colonial past. Noura’s assessment is typical, ‘(English) is the main language for communication all over the world, especially in the developing countries which is (sic) called the third world, that because most of them was captured by European countries in the past and they were forced to treat with English as their main or second language’ (J2). Shamsa’s stance attributes demand for English to “America becomes a great country and its control to other countries” (J3), additionally citing the UAE’s position as a centre for international trade dominated by English-speaking countries, as a factor, as ‘many Arabic countries export and import the goods from America and Britain and they need to know their language to communicate with them’ (J3). While one might assume that awareness of such issues could have a negative affect upon participants’ identification with and willingness to invest in English, there is no evidence of this. On the contrary, the data seems to highlight that participants generally consider the English language as a resource of global reach that ‘belongs’ to them as young Arab women as much as it ‘belongs’ to any other particular sociocultural group and that they can choose to accept when it serves their purposes or decline to accept when it does not.

Discussion The Emirati women in this project have been learning English for twelve to sixteen years. Many have not progressed as far in learning the language as they might in this time; however, they perceive English to have a central role in contributing to their identity. The sense of ambivalence that permeates the data points to the complex, multifaceted nature of participants’ identities. The contradictory desires to be included within the globalised, information and media-drenched economy while preserving

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a distinct cultural identity based on Islam and Arabic culture; of simultaneous welcoming English into their communities as providing learning opportunities, whilst bemoaning its apparent encroachment into discourse of younger siblings; recognition that this growth of English through global media can be considered a hegemonic practice, while seeing such growth as a strong reason for learning English resonates with Lyotard’s (1984) assessment of the postmodern condition where the self is constructed at nodes of discourses-in-practice (Holstein & Gubrium, 2000). Within this conceptualisation of identity, emphasising it as ‘precarious, contradictory, and in process, constantly being reconstituted in discourse’ (Weedon, 1997, p.32) such anomalous contradictions may be expected. This position differs from the humanist view of a stable identity and opens up opportunities for individual empowerment to ‘make it essentially impossible for social actors to be “powerless” in the face of discursive or moral imperative, since such forces must always be played out in and through their local and particular applications—through discursive practice. They virtually require the assertion of individual agency’. (Holstein & Gubrium, 2000, p.229). Individual agency constructed through discourses-in-practice, ranging from the personal and the familial, may influence and be influenced by societal and global discourses. The relationship between discourses or nodes in Lyotard’s (1984) terminology is a site of conflict where the individual has an active role in construction of their subjectivity. This is apparent in the data through participants’ statements that English is a tool which they appropriate for particular uses and is not necessarily an imposition. While the English only demands in the college may be considered oppressive, and the growth of English loan words simultaneously welcomed and resented, for the UAE and the broader global arena, English is perceived, as Salama states, as ‘a key to the world’ and a self-evident benefit. English is construed as a gateway to prospective work opportunities, as a way to acquire and use cultural knowledge and to get to know different cultures’—and specifically— ‘to use technology, especially computers and the Internet” and “for movies, news, and books’. Additionally, English as a facilitator of international travel, signified by frequent reference to ‘airports, hotels and restaurants’, and the growing reliance of the UAE on global trade and tourism imply understanding the position of English as a business lingua franca (Crystal, 2012). This equivalence of English with global economic structure is to be expected according to Benson (1997, as cited in Pennycook, 2000), for whom ‘the acceptance of English as a second language very often implies the acceptance of the global economic and political order for which English serves as the international language’ (p.27). However, this appears partial, as Arab/Islamic identity serves as a base for community, family and religion, with English as superstructure—a position of ‘bilingualism where one of the languages within a speaker is the global language … and the other is a well resourced regional language’ (Crystal, 2012, p.22). Whether this may be optimistic or realistic is another debate. Nonetheless, simplistic culturalist assumptions concerning Arabic/Islamic wariness about a Western-dominated global trade structure seem misplaced, for participants’ Islamic faith emphasises practical reasons for learning languages ‘to gain knowledge other cultures possess’, and its role in the UAE’s economic growth “to become like the

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first world’. It is possible to sense resistance to discourses of English as neo-colonial imposter and discourses of cultural defensiveness that might portray participants as without agency. The data seems to emphasise links between the postmodern position on identity and the reconceptualisation of motivation discussed by Norton (2000), Dornyei and Ushioda (2010), and Norton and McKinney (2011). Norton’s (2000) concept of variable investment in learning, influenced by sociocultural context, views learners as ‘context dependent persons whose social roles within their social networks crucially affect the opportunities of individuals for language learning, and their willingness to take up those that become available’ (Candlin, 2000, p. xviii), an account that highlights the difference from the more static term motivation, where learners tend to be either intrinsic or extrinsic, motivated or unmotivated. Considering the variety of issues identified, and how they alter over time due to global, economic, political, family, and individual circumstances, the notion of a fixed understanding of motivation can appear simplistic. The more inclusive and flexible term investment seems appropriate and suggestive of a dynamic attitude to language learning that places the person in a complex web of social and historical relationships. This emphasis on influence of context, paralleling Holstein and Gubrium’s (2000) recognition of the significance, variety and diversity of the local, can be recognised in the data’s grounding in participants’ lives as they exist in the mix of historical/cultural discourses that constitute the experience of a young female in the UAE in the early years of the twenty-first century. Since the individualist, psychological paradigm of motivation and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) has been dominant throughout the second half of the twentieth century (Block, 2003), one aim of this contextualised and historicised study is to help redress the balance in some way, and show that myriad factors apparent in the data bear out Dornyei and Ushioda’s (2010) contention concerning the necessity of studying motivation from a ‘combination of the individualistic and societal perspectives’ (p.16). The “inseparable duality of the social and the individual” (Wenger, 1999, p.14) and the dynamic nature of identity are central to the theory of learning as identity construction and peripheral participation in communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1999), and there are clear indications that the participants are involved in a community of practice as they share a “mutual engagement, a joint enterprise and a shared repertoire of ways of doing things” (Wenger, 1999, p.49). On a local level, participants articulate involvement in a joint enterprise of national construction, expressed in terms of participants wishing to learn English to further the UAE’s development through teaching English or other forms of work as Asma comments ‘I don’t just learn for myself. I learn to benefit myself, my children and my country’. Teaching as a suitable profession for women is emphasised by many of the participants as being sanctioned on a religious level and a societal level, as Nadia states ‘Islam always support (sic) the women and put her in the place where she can work like teaching … and other places where it is fine for her not working in men’s areas because of her sensitivity’. The students’ identity as female has a strong influence on participation in this community of practice. This endeavour has a global aspect in that learning English is considered a tool for aiding the UAE within the

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global community, in order to ‘give a truth (sic) picture of Islam’, but additionally as a member of the developed international community, represented by Amal by the ‘technology and economy in the world’.

Conclusion One goal of this study was to attempt to go beyond the common view held of female students in the UAE as passive, unmotivated, and unworldly and undertake ‘a person-centred enterprise’ (Richards, 2003, p.9). The multiple and often contradictory discourses influencing participants’ learning in this study reveals active social agents, negotiating meaning at changing nodes of discourses-in-practice, engaged in investment of their learning and well aware of their position as actors in a local and global sense.

References Atkinson, D. (2011). Alternative approaches to language acquisition. Routledge. Block, D. (2003). The social turn in second language acquisition. Edinburgh University Press. Block, D. (2007). Second language identities. Continuum. Breen, M. P. (Ed.). (2001). Learner contributions to language learning: New directions in research. Routledge. Candlin, C. (2000). General Editor’s Preface. In Norton, B. (Ed.), Identity and language learning: Gender, ethnicity and educational change (pp xii–xxi), Harlow: Pearson. Clarke, M. (2008). Language teacher identities: Co-constructing discourse and community. Multilingual Matters. Cohen, L, Manion, L. & Morrison, K. (2017), Research methods in education (8th ed.). New York: Routledge Corson, D. (2002). Language Diversity and Education. Mahwah: Erlbaum Associates. Crystal, D. (2012). English as a global language (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. Dornyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (2010). Teaching and researching motivation (2nd ed.). Routledge. Edge, J., & Richards, K. (1998). May I see your warrant, please? Justifying outcomes in qualitative research. Applied Linguistics, 19(3), 334–356. Ellis, R. (2008). The study of second language acquisition (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. Firth, A., & Wagner, J. (1997). On Discourse, communication, and (some) fundamental concepts in SLA research’. Modern Language Journal, 81(3), 307–312. Holliday, A. (2016). Doing and writing qualitative research (3rd ed.). Sage. Holstein, J. A., & Gubrium, J. F. (2000). The self we live by: Narrative identity in a postmodern world. Oxford University Press. Kazim, A. (2000). The United Arab Emirates AD 600 to the present: A socio-discursive transformation in the Arabian Gulf . Gulf Book Centre: Dubai Kramsch, C. (2000). Second language acquisition, applied linguistics, and the teaching of foreign languages. The Modern Language Journal, 84(3), 311–326. Lantolf, J. P. & Pavlenko, A. (2001). (S)econd (L)anguage (A)ctivity theory; understanding second language learners as people. In: Breen, M. P. (Ed.), Learner contributions to language learning (pp. 141–158). London: Routledge.

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Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press. Long, M. H. (1997). Construct validity in SLA research: A response to Firth and Wagner. Modern Language Journal, 81(3), 318–323. Lyotard, J. F. (1984). In: Bennington, G., & B. Massumi (Eds.), The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press Norton, B. (1997). Language, identity, and the ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly, 31(3), 409–429. Norton, B. (2000). Identity and language learning: Gender, ethnicity and educational change. Harlow: Pearson. Norton, B. (2013). Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation (2nd ed.). Multilingual Matters. Norton, B. & McKinney, C. (2011). An identity approach to second language acquisition. In Atkinson, D. (Ed.), Alternative approaches to language acquisition. New York: Routledge. Pennycook, A. (2000). The social politics and the cultural politics of language classrooms. In: Kelly Hall, J., & Eggington, W. G. (Eds.), The sociopolitics of English language teaching (pp.89–103), Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Pring, R. (2015). Philosophy of education research (3rd ed.). Continuum. Punch, K. F. (2014). Introduction to social research: Quantitative and qualitative approaches (3rd ed.). Sage. Radnor, H. A. (2002). Researching your professional practice: Doing interpretive research. Open University Press. Richards, K. (2003). Qualitative Inquiry in TESOL. Palgrave Macmillan. Richardson, P. M. (2004). Possible influences of Arab-Islamic culture on the reflective practices proposed for an education degree at the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Educational Development, 24(4), 429–436. Tollefson, J. W. (2000). Policy and ideology in the spread of English. In: Kelly Hall, J., & Eggington, W. G. (Eds.), The sociopolitics of English language teaching (pp.7–21). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Watts, M., & Ebbutt, D. (1987). More of the sum of the parts: Research methods in group interviewing. British Educational Research Journal, 13, 25–34. Weedon, C. (1997). Feminist practice and poststructuralist theory (2nd ed.). Blackwell. Wenger, E. (1999). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge University Press.

Neil Hunt has an Ed. D. in TESOL from the University of Exeter and a M.Ed from the University of Sheffield. He currently works as an Assistant Professor and Assistant Director in the Centre for English and Additional Languages at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. He lived and worked in the UAE for 17 years and has also worked in English language teacher education in Hong Kong. His research interests include action research, the development of learning through practice, the social development of learner and teacher identity, and the social turn in second language acquisition.

Chapter 18

Reflections on a Teacher Leadership Programme in the UAE Phil Quirke

Abstract This chapter reviews the qualitative research analysis of teacher participant reflections on a professional development teacher leadership programme, DREAM Management, that the author has run annually for the past decade. The chapter details the choice of research methodology and instruments whilst using examples to demonstrate the value of this ongoing research to the refinement of both the DREAM Management course and the online teacher education methodology employed in delivering the programme to faculty across 17 different campuses throughout the country. The author claims that such long-term research into our teaching and teacher education should be standard practice in quality education. Keywords Appraisal · Discourse · Interpretation · Knowledge · Leadership · Reflection

Introduction This chapter reviews the qualitative research analysis of teacher participant reflections, discussions, and communication on a professional development teacher leadership programme, DREAM Management, that the author has run annually for the past decade. The first section gives an overview of the course when it was launched in 2007 so that the reader gets an impression of both the structure and content of the course from its starting point. It describes the twelve weekly modules and their content as well as the initial approach taken with readings emailed to participants, a weekly presentation and synchronous discussion followed by an asynchronous discussion during the week as participants completed an agreed upon task. The following three sections describe the three research projects undertaken over the past decade whilst teaching the course. The first of these projects used a form of categorization to determine whether the initial module structure could be mapped P. Quirke (B) Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_18

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effectively to the model of teacher knowledge development devised during the author’s doctoral studies. This model posited that our teacher knowledge is developed through a cycle of four stages from Knowledge Seeker through Knowledge Discusser and Knowledge User to Knowledge Provider. The research used these four categories and mapped them onto participant communications to determine whether or not the model could provide a sound theoretical structure to each module. The second project used a lexical analysis of participant communication to further inform the tutor’s interaction with those taking the course aiming to develop a set of guidelines for respectful participation in course discussions. In earlier research (Quirke, 2008; Quirke, 2009), eleven keys to effective web developer communication had been presented, and these were taken as the linguistic markers for the segmentation of the data collected from participant email discussions to produce a set of clear guidelines for course communication. Finally, the third section describes how the long-term reflective writing international research project that the author has been involved in since 2000 has impacted the development of the reflective tasks and approach to deepen participants’ reflective writing and introduce more collaborative tasks. Burton’s reflective typology (2005, 2009) was used to analyse participant reflections undertaken to inform revisions of the reflective tasks and the ways in which the tutor should give feedback. The chapter concludes with an overview of the DREAM Management course as it will be delivered in 2020–2021 so that the reader can appreciate the difference between the course today compared with the initial course described at the beginning of the chapter, highlighting the key differences between the two. The final section then argues for the value of research on our daily course delivery and ongoing curriculum development, and the importance for all teachers to view themselves as pedagogical researchers.

Course Overview Just over ten years ago, the first book chapter detailing the DREAM Management approach (Quirke & Allison, 2008) was published and this description draws heavily from that course description. DREAM is an acronym that outlines a set of educational leadership principles that were developed from the experience of the two authors. The ten principles are • • • • •

Develop and Delegate Recruit and Respect Enhance and Enjoy Appraise and Attend Motivate and Mimic

These ten principles can be briefly described as follows: We DEVELOP faculty through the promotion of research and reflective practice and ensuring that there is a clear and supportive approach to professional development. The goal of this approach is to develop a program, which encourages teachers

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to define the issues and problems that they encounter in the classroom and to address them collaboratively through a process of Action Research. Teachers who share similar classroom and professional interests engage in critical reflection on their teaching practices which leads to the formation of an action learning project. One of the most evident outcomes has been the enthusiasm of the teachers to share their findings with the wider ELT community through both publications and presentations at international conferences (Quirke, 2003). We RECRUIT new faculty and staff who fit the team’s ethos and approach. Therefore, the key steps in the recruitment process are the clarity of the job description, the accuracy of the application screening and, most importantly, the humanity of the interview. It is the interview that ensures the teacher who is hired is not just qualified for the position but also an ideal fit for the team, allowing the candidate to understand what to expect on arrival. We ENHANCE the skills of our staff based on their annual performance evaluation and appraisals based on a portfolio that encourages and allows teachers to drive their own professional development while at the same time aligning their annual goals to the mission and vision of the institution. This approach to goal setting is the first stage and foundation for the following principle. We APPRAISE staff rather than evaluate them, so the focus is on professional development rather than criticism. An effective appraisal system is one that is standard and coherent and adheres to best practice and principles, applying constructive and formative approaches. Such a system respects and values teachers with ongoing feedback to support and enhance performance. The DREAM Management approach suggests the following seven stages are required for a fully supportive appraisal process: Goal Setting; First Meeting with line manager; Observation: Student Evaluations; Summative Line Manager Review; Teaching Portfolio Extract; End of Year Appraisal Meeting; and Record with line manager. We MOTIVATE our teams by supporting them professionally in every way we can and involving them in every aspect of the daily life of the institution, whilst listening to them and understanding their needs and the motivational factors that drive them. Drawing upon Maslow’s (1970) hierarchy, the DREAM Management approach model addresses each of the five levels through praise, appreciation, recognition, respect, interaction, belonging, and security. Above all, we must always demonstrate to teachers that we are concerned for their welfare and encourage their initiatives, creativity, and classroom innovation. We DELEGATE responsibility to our teams so that they can do their job, avoiding a top-down approach and encouraging teachers to take responsibility for the areas they are interested in. There are many excuses and/or reasons for not delegating, but we believe that we can get a lot more done through delegation through the assumption that most people want added responsibilities. In our experience, teachers are always ready to help if they are approached openly and are given clear guidance and support. Delegation can, therefore, generate trust and an ethos of combined responsibility.

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We RESPECT our teams as professionals by allowing them to do the job we have hired them to do. We appreciate the professional qualifications of our faculty and rely fully on their input in their areas of expertise. By doing so, we demonstrate an understanding that each member of the team enhances the overall talent of the department and the contribution we make together to quality teaching throughout the institution. We ENJOY working with those around us and are not afraid to show it. This is the central letter of DREAM and the core element of DREAM Management. It emphasizes the belief that a happy staff creates an environment that is the most conducive to effective learning for our faculty and students. Most of us would agree that happiness comes from the inside and is generated by ourselves as individuals. Therefore, individuals control their happiness, so we must give our team control if they are to be truly happy and appraise them with daily motivational recognition whist emphasizing our enjoyment every day with cheerful greetings, expressions of personal interest, and an authentic smile. We ATTEND to the details which affect the day-to-day responsibilities of our teachers. Managers should manage. This means that a manager’s role is to act as a buffer to filter out the various issues which faculty need not be concerned about if they are to perform their teaching duties effectively. This means we must know our teachers and understand what makes a difference to them. To do this is far easier said than done, and it requires good time management skills. The DREAM Management approach encourages the use of a good calendar system and a weekly check that you have spent time with everyone under your direct line management. This simple strategy can make a huge impact on faculty, creating an environment of caring and sharing. We MIMIC staff by never asking them to do something we wouldn’t do ourselves and we demonstrate this on a daily basis. A key principle of DREAM is that educational managers should teach alongside their faculty, participate in substitution duties as they expect their teachers to and be available on campus at the same hours that they expect teachers to be on-site. This ensures that managers have first-hand experience of the students and classrooms and can react knowledgably to teacher issues in areas such as classroom technology and student discipline. It also allows the manager to approach the relevant support teams with the correct information and get issues resolved without teachers having to take up more of their own time dealing with such issues. Teachers appreciate that their managers are in the classroom, but also that they are willing to go the extra mile to make life easier for all involved. It should be noted that direct feedback on the DREAM Management principles from early course participants, managerial colleagues, faculty, and staff saw the refinement of the ten principles. The feedback in particular highlighted the similarity of ATTEND and MIMIC and the overlap of DEVELOP and ENHANCE. The feedback further pointed out gaps in the approach and the experience of my educational management and leadership in practice, which created the new principle of MENTOR and reframed the DEVELOP principle around strategic planning. So that by the start of the research projects detailed below the ten principles read as follows from Quirke (2011):

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We DEVELOP the Mission, Vision, Strategy, and Ethos of our institution using a democratic leadership process (Woods, 2005) for strategic planning involving all stakeholders. We RECRUIT individuals to the Team, Vision, Strategy, and Ethos that we are developing, ensuring that those recruited have the skills and experience to contribute and have the sense of humour and character to blend with the team. We ENHANCE staff skills based on their annual performance evaluation and appraisals which rely on a portfolio that allows teachers to drive their own professional development. We APPRAISE staff, rather than evaluating them. This focuses on the enhancement of staff through constructive and formative appraisal processes. We MOTIVATE staff by supporting them professionally in every way we can by following all the other principles closely. We DELEGATE responsibility to staff so that they can do the job we hired them to do and avoid a top-down approach so that we can involve all stakeholders in every aspect of the institution’s work. We RESPECT staff as professionals by allowing them to do their jobs unhindered. This means that managers appreciate the professional standing of employees and rely fully on their input in their areas of expertise. We ENJOY working with those around us and show it emphasizing the belief that a happy staff creates the environment that is most conducive to effective learning for both staff and students. We ATTEND to the details which affect the daily jobs of the teacher and act as a role model, never asking staff to do something we would not be prepared to do ourselves. We MENTOR staff by building successful professional relationships and mentor those in faculty positions to prepare them to become the leaders of the future.

Research Project One: Categorization The first research project undertaken to review the effectiveness of the early DREAM Management courses was based on the model of teacher knowledge development that I developed during my doctoral studies (Quirke, 2007a; Quirke, 2008). The model is a cycle extending Tsui’s (2003) work on expertise in teaching that links the theorizing of practical knowledge and practicalizing of theoretical knowledge. The model posits that these links are created by a cycle of learning and development that moves through the four stages of Knowledge Seeker, Knowledge Discusser, Knowledge User, and Knowledge Provider. The cycle then continues as the teacher learner’s growing awareness includes a realization of what other new knowledge requires further exploration, and so the cycle restarts with a fresh search for knowledge. In reality, we are all at different stages in different areas of our professional knowledge. For example, I am providing knowledge on research perspectives in this chapter whilst I am also discussing reflective writing with an international group of teachers

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who have been working together on forms of reflection for the last two decades, whilst using my DREAM Management model in my teacher leadership course and also exploring new online course structures as a Knowledge Seeker. So, I wanted to apply these four stages in a form of categorization and try to determine whether the structure of each module could be designed to replicate the model of teacher knowledge development. By analyzing participant communications and categorizing them according to the four stages, I hypothesized that a clear theoretical structure to each module could be confirmed. I believe that language can provide us with the clearest insights into individual knowledge and its place in the social sphere (Richards & Schmidt, 1983; Miller, 1997), and given this assumption about the centrality of language, linguistic analysis (Brown & Yule, 1983; McCarthy, 1991) should provide a method to understand the knowledge development being displayed by the course participants. The data set selected were all the email discussions and participant reflections from three courses 2011-2013 with English Language and General Studies faculty and supervisors, and it produced a mass of data stretching to some hundred pages. This data was then broken down into a manageable and analysable size by a process of categorization (van der Meij, 2002; Williams & Meredith, 1996; Strauss & Corbin, 1990) through the division of the data into five categories: Knowledge Seeker, Knowledge Discusser, Knowledge User, Knowledge Provider, and Unspecified. The first stage of the approach allowed me in a first reading of the data to categorize each section of the text based upon its primary function. The second stage of the process analysed the language of each category and determined which linguistic elements of the text signaled its inclusion within that category. This second stage drew on both the use of lexical chains (Halliday & Hasan, 1976; McCarthy, 1991) and topic development (Brown & Yule, 1983) to confirm the main communicative functions (Sinclair & Coulthard, 1975; McCarthy, 1991) of each category. The examples below are taken from different stages of the course from two General Studies Chair participants, and they show the initial categorization in bold capitals in the right-hand column as well as the linguistic markers bolded in the text in the lefthand column along with the descriptors of those linguistic markers in the right-hand column.

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From Chair One’s Expectations for the Course: What I would like to get out of this course is a KNOWLEDGE SEEKER deeper insight to these principles but above all (need, hope, want, like to, look forward to, the benefits of discussing practical ways of search, look for, etc.) putting them into practice. In my role as chair I feel that it is incumbent upon me to harness at the level of practical management the energy and social power that is generated by our leadership. It’s a bit like sailing in the wake of a cruise liner—I have to get faculty and staff to surf the bow-wave! I’m hoping that team discussion will provide ideas of how to accomplish this! I hope that we can take our discussions ’near to the knuckle’ and open up new ways of thinking as a result, always in mutual respect.

From Chair Two’s Contributions to the Enhance discussion: What could we do differently next time? Well, Knowledge Discusser first of all, I think we should do it a bit earlier in (modality, discourse markers such as ‘in the semester, with more time dedicated to fact,’ ‘I think,’ ‘I agree,’ etc.) presentations—the discussions got so lively and involved, they had to be curtailed. We need to build in a review time—though I expect fewer revisions next time as people have a better idea of what to do. We should also make it a part of the whole Strategic Plan process so that people see a greater link with their own needs to the college’s needs and direction.

From Chair Two’s Contributions to the Enhance discussion: Yes, there were some skewed views of what PD is from a Knowledge User few, but this was our first attempt of something of this kind. (Past description and narrative) On the other hand there was a great deal of interaction (people did want to stay to listen to each other’s), an enormous amount of interest in each other’s goals, a surprising level of support for one another, recognition of commonality and complementariness. (???) Connections were formed and commitments made to work together.

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From Chair One’s Contributions to the Develop discussion: This makes, “… it possible to group a succession of dispersed events, to link them to one and the same organizing principle… to discover, already at work in each beginning, a principle of coherence and the outline of a future unity…” (Foucault: 2002, 24) Thus ‘development’ is not grounded in the lived experience of the teacher, who faces from moment to moment the eruption of new circumstances, behaviours, and uncertainties. Indeed, as stated above, the only constant is change; but such change does not necessarily imply ‘development’ in the ‘normative’ sense of successive events (reflection, training, classroom experience, professional ‘development,’ etc) moving the teacher from a ‘less developed’ state to a ‘more developed’ state. Change is change now and for the purposes of now—it is not directed toward a more ‘developed’ end goal or state.

KNOWLEDGE PROVIDER (Present tense statements, passive, adjectives of authority such as notable, verbs such as posit and state, References)

The data analysis and interpretation clearly showed that the course could be more clearly structured around the four stages of teacher knowledge development and the 2014 course introduced a READ-DISCUSS-ACT-REFLECT approach to each unit. It also raised questions for myself as the tutor about how I could more effectively model good communication practices in my responses and questioning especially during the asynchronous discussions and comments on participant contributions. These questions led directly to the next research project.

Research Project Two: Lexical Analysis The second project used a lexical analysis of participant communication to further inform the tutor’s interaction with those taking the course aiming to develop a set of guidelines for respectful participation in course discussions and exchanges. In earlier research (Quirke, 2009), eleven keys to effective web developer communication had been presented, and these were taken as the linguistic markers for the segmentation of the data collected from participant email discussions to produce a set of clear guidelines for course communication. The data set was constructed from the discussion documents and reflections from the courses run in 2014 and 2015 drawing only upon the General Studies and Language faculty participants. This resulted in a total of forty documents stretching to over two hundred pages.

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The lexical analysis focused on the tutor responses to label the primary communicative function based upon the eleven keys using a turn-taking analysis approach (Sinclair & Brazil, 1982; Levinson, 1983; Atkinson & Heritage, 1984). The eleven keys (Quirke, 2009) that acted as the linguistic markers for this analysis are as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Be decisive. Be appreciative. Be clear. Smile Empathize. Pose questions. Praise. Delegate. Share. Support. Give thanks.

The analysis of the tutor feedback responses demonstrated that whilst some responses fell clearly into one communicative function turn as Example One below, others realized a number of communicative functions in the response turn (see Example Two) Example One: Chair One Develop Reflection: Interestingly there is a good degree of support amongst course participants for a top-down approach to the development of vision, ethos, etc. and after reading the comments I found myself agreeing that a top-down vision is important. Tutor Response: Top down once bottom up input has been considered—simply uninformed top down is really difficult I think … Communicative Function: Share Example Two: Chair One Enhance Reflection: I’d like to start this one with the Google definition of Enhance “intensify, increase, or further improve the quality, value, or extent of”. So I will reflect on how I can enhance my own career with this mind, and with this idea of somehow getting more from the job and not just in quantity but in quality.

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Nice definition --Appreciate – Appreciate – the DREAM Management ENHANCE focuses on the enhancement of our skills, knowledge etc which as you quite rightly say also means CAREER Support – Smile The full analysis of the tutor feedback showed the following use of the eleven keys: Key Four

Smile

34.5%

Key Ten

Support (agree)

17.9%

Key Seven

Praise

10.7%

Key Nine

Share (suggest/offer)

10.7%

Key Two

Appreciate

6.9%

Key Six

Question

6.9%

Key Eleven

Thank

6.9%

Key Five

Empathise (same)

5.5%

Key One

Decisive

0%

Key Three

Clear

0%

Key Eight

Delegate

0%

The analysis and interpretation of the data allowed three major conclusions to be drawn. Firstly, it can be deduced that the three keys that were not evident in the data are not relevant to effective tutor feedback in professional development courses. In fact, it could be argued that being decisive and clear are functions of tutor instructions and task descriptions rather than feedback. Secondly, the remaining eight keys can be divided into two groups. The first group is keys which aim to build confidence and encourage participation: Appreciate; empathize; praise, support, thank, and smile. The second group is the keys which aim to develop the participant’s knowledge and promote deeper reflection: Share and question. This division of the data into two overarching communicative functions provided the third conclusion as the keys in the first group, which aimed to build confidence and encourage participation, covered 82.4% of the tutor’s responses, whereas the keys in the second group, which aimed to develop knowledge and promote deeper reflection, accounted for just 17.6% of the feedback responses. This suggested that my tutor responses were effective in encouraging participation but were failing to promote deeper reflection on the principles under discussion. This final conclusion led directly to the third project on how the reflective tasks for each module can be better designed to promote deeper reflection and how the tutor feedback can better encourage a deepening of participant reflection.

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Research Project Three: Reflective Typology The third project describes how the long-term reflective writing international research project that I have been involved in since 2000 impacted the development of the reflective tasks and approach to deepen participants’ reflective writing and introduce more collaborative tasks. Burton’s reflective typology (2005, 2009) was used to analyse participant reflections undertaken to inform revisions of the reflective tasks and the ways in which the tutor should give feedback. Burton (2005, 2009) developed a Reflective Writing Typology to help teachers develop deeper perspectives, knowledge, and skills as they reflect upon their practice. Type

Answering questions

Comments

1

What happens/happened?

Recording, expressing, “getting the story down”

2

How does/did it happen?

Commenting on, attempting to explain, e.g., by adding more detail or approaching the Type 1 story from another perspective or question

3

Why does/did it happen? What does this mean outside the immediate context of action?

Theorizing on the story and reflection in Types 1 & 2, linking them to personal theories, e.g. of language, learning, and teaching

4

Are the earlier reflections credible/reasonable? Why? Why not? What do they mean now?

A subsequent written reflection in a developing sequence of reflective writing, in which writers continue to question and maybe involve others

5

Are the earlier reflections still credible/reasonable? Why? Why not? What do they mean now in the light of subsequent experience?

After longer intervals, writers use the developing spiral of reflection (which may include other writers, e.g. as part of an interactive journal) to re-examine initial theorizing in light of intervening events that may have changed their perspectives.

The Reflective Writing Typology presents reflective writing as a series of types that move teachers from simple description of what happened in the classroom, or at any notable event, to deeper and profound theorizing over time that examines beliefs about language, learning, pedagogy, and psychology. It is a deceptively simple framework that produces powerful reflection and more complex reflective writing over time. In this research project, it was used as an analytic framework to review the levels and kinds of reflection from the contributions to 21 asynchronous and synchronous discussions and 86 reflective tasks from GS and English supervisor participants on the DREAM Management courses in 2016 and 2017. These 107 documents were analysed for the type of reflective writing they displayed noting against each paragraph the level as illustrated by the three examples below:

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Example Reflective Typology Type One—Recording, expressing, telling the story. Chair One Recruit Reflection: I can still remember being asked very specific questions about “Think of something you’ve been teaching recently, or taught, and describe in detail how you taught it.” This gave me an opportunity to really show off what I knew, and I was able to give detailed explanations, such as describing how I taught students to write directions by putting themselves in the map. Example Reflective Typology Type Two—Explaining, expanding, questioning Chair Two Appraisal Reflection: For some PD sessions I have left with not only enhanced skills but a better awareness of myself, and how I can make a better contribution to my college. For others and some particular appraisals I have had, I knew that they were boxes to tick and a predetermined set of rules that the appraiser could not deviate from. This left me feeling demotivated and I certainly did not have the buy in that I should have had. Example Reflective Typology Type Three—Theorizing Chair Three Appraise Reflection: We tend to evaluate others based upon our own culturally defined set of rules: ‘proper’ eye contact, what constitutes ‘staring,’ … … … the list goes on and on. We all have our own expectations regarding these and an infinite number of other unspoken conventions. I think that before we can truly understand (much less evaluate) anyone else, we need to have a clearer understanding of the assumptions that we ourselves are making. Only then can we truly dispense with the ‘ticky boxes.’ The discussions and early reflections were predominantly Type One and Type Two whereas later reflections saw more theorizing. Whilst early in the course, this was largely due to the length of the narratives and the setting of the personal contexts, there was a definite increase in the depth and length of the theorization in the later units. Nevertheless, the overall percentages (see below) for each type raised serious questions on how the reflective tasks were meeting the goals of the course. What happens/happened? (1) 43% How does/did it happen? (2) 38% Why does/did it happen? (3) 19% What does this mean outside the immediate context of action? Are the earlier reflections credible/reasonable? (4) Why? Why not? What do they mean now? (continued)

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(continued) What happens/happened? (1) 43% Are the earlier reflections still credible/reasonable? (5) Why? Why not? What do they mean now in the light of subsequent experience?

The analysis clearly demonstrated that the reflections submitted were descriptive and at times explored why the events happened, often linking the experiences to personal theories, but the depth and breadth of the theorization could have been further developed. The lack of opportunity to return to earlier reflections also meant that there were no examples of Type Four or Five. Therefore, the aim for future courses is to introduce reflective tasks at the end of each unit which allow different forms of reflection that involve both personal and collaborative writing and which give participants the opportunity to develop their reflections sequentially building upon earlier thoughts and feedback from others.

Research Value for Course Development The chapter concludes with an overview of the DREAM Management course as it will be delivered in 2020–2021 so that the reader can appreciate the difference between the course today compared with the initial course described at the beginning of the chapter. It is thereby hoped that the value of ongoing research for course development has been demonstrated, and readers will be encouraged to engage in their own research and course development.

Course Overview Ten Years On The DREAM educational management philosophy places teachers at the core of the educational institution and students at the heart of every decision we make and everything we do. The DREAM Management approach has been developed through tertiary education managerial practice strongly supported by a wealth of literature. The works of Fullan (2016), Hargreaves et al. (2001), and Southworth (2004), who have all emphasized the importance of professional renewal and individual responsibility in teaching and learning-centred leadership, resonate strongly throughout the principles. The power of collaborative learning (Vygotsky, 1978) and reflective writing (Schön, 1987; Burton & Carroll, 2001; Burton et al., 2009; Farrell, 2012) also provide a rich basis for the whole approach. The DREAM Management course is structured around social constructivist theories and is based heavily upon the work of Quirke (2009), who extended Tsui’s (2003) cycle of teacher learning and development to focus on the four stages of Knowledge

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Seeker (the theorizing of practical knowledge), Knowledge Discusser, Knowledge User (the practicalizing of theoretical knowledge) and Knowledge Provider. Each unit on the course therefore begins with preparatory reading or the viewing of theoretical content that underpins the principle (Knowledge Seeker). Then synchronous and asynchronous discussions allow participants to link the theory and DREAM Management approach to their practice (Knowledge Discusser). Next, participants complete a task in their professional work context, which requires the application of the DREAM principle (Knowledge User) before finally reflecting in a variety of ways on the outcomes of the task and the learning that took place during the unit (Knowledge User). The DEVELOP Knowledge Seeker reading and viewing preparation describes the DREAM Management democratic leadership process (Woods, 2005) for strategic planning involving all stakeholders and presents examples of institutional strategic planning from a variety of settings. The Knowledge Discusser forums then focus on the development of divisional, departmental or team strategic plans that draw upon the examples presented, contextualizing them to the participants’ situation. The Knowledge User task requires participants to present the model to their faculty and work with them on refining their teaching, learning, research, administrative, and professional development goals so that they align more closely with the institution’s vision, strategic goals, and key performance indicators. The Knowledge Provider reflections are presented in a dialogic journal format where two or three participants explore the impact the task has had on both their work situation and their learning. The RECRUIT Knowledge Seeker reading and viewing preparation focuses on theories of leading in a culture of change (Christison & Murray, 2009; Fullan, 2006, 2016; Hargreaves et al., 2001) and adaptive leadership (Heifetz et al., 2009) and the essential role that recruitment and the building of institutional teams plays in creating an effective culture of learning. The Knowledge Discusser forums are framed around the six stages of the recruitment process and how each stage is covered in the participants’ institutions and their role in the process. The Knowledge User task gives participants a choice from a range of options including screening applications, preparing for interviews, reviewing interview questions, identifying applicants compatible with their departmental team, mentoring approaches for orienting and training new faculty (Henderson & Noble, 2015) and increasing faculty retention. The Knowledge Provider reflections ask participants how they could initiate change in current processes at their institution in an ideal world. The ENHANCE Knowledge Seeker reading and viewing preparation presents the teacher knowledge development model (Quirke, 2009), focusing on the practicalizing of theoretical knowledge and the theorizing of practical knowledge. The Knowledge Discusser forums give participants the opportunity to critically reflect on their content and pedagogical knowledge and their attitudes about themselves as teacher leaders, sharing how the way they lead their teams is impacted by their experience and beliefs. The Knowledge User task asks participants to develop their own professional development plan that should detail professional reading, writing, leadership, networking, challenges and strengths and be centred in their work setting. The

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Knowledge Provider reflections are presented in a collaborative professional development forum and require each participant to share their achievements and insights with others. The APPRAISE Knowledge Seeker preparatory readings encourage the participants to explore the wealth of literature on appraisal processes (e.g., Firestone, 2014; Murphy et al., 2013; Quirke, 2007b) and think about how these are applied or not applied in their work setting. The Knowledge Discusser forums explore a range of observation, student evaluation, and teaching portfolio approaches and ask how these can be applied to the participants’ context. The Knowledge User task requires participants to discuss the new approaches with their faculty and apply a new method with any teachers willing to work with them. The Knowledge Provider reflections are required to detail teachers’ reactions and participant learning throughout the unit. The MOTIVATE Knowledge Seeker preparatory readings introduce a range of motivational literature with a focus on Maslow’s (1970) five levels of motivation related to individual needs, Alderfer’s (1972) Existence, Relatedness, and Growth (E.R.G.) theory, and Herzberg’s motivators and demotivators (Herzberg et al., 2010). The Knowledge Discusser forums encourage participants to explore the motivational values that underlie each of the DREAM Management principles. The Knowledge User task then requires participants to find out what motivates their team drawing on both the literature and the discussion. The Knowledge Provider reflections require participants to review their earlier reflective submissions from the previous four principles and link these to the motivations of their team. The DELEGATE Knowledge Seeker preparatory readings focus on distributed and situational leadership theories (Hersey & Blanchard, 1988) and their importance for effective delegation. The Knowledge Discusser forums are framed as a debate on whether delegation is an art or a science, advocating the use of a clear delegation model early in any change or management process, so that teachers are empowered with real responsibility focused on their strengths. The Knowledge User task requires participants to review all the assignments they have on their desk for the week and decide on one which they could most effectively delegate to their team. They should then delegate the job based on the model presented during the discussion by focusing on what, who, when, and how they will delegate the task. The Knowledge Provider reflections require participants to describe their experience of this task delegation and their learning during this unit. The RESPECT Knowledge Seeker preparatory readings are drawn from theories of Values-Based Leadership (Copeland, 2014; Peregrym & Wolff, 2013), Authentic Leadership (George, 2003), and Ethical Leadership (Brown & Trevino, 2006). The Knowledge Discusser forums ask participants to explore what respect is, how it is demonstrated, why disrespect is felt and why respect is so important focusing on the importance of personal, cultural, and situational understandings of respect and the part these play in conflict within the workplace. The Knowledge User task requires participants to consciously note how they show respect to their teacher teams, other faculty, leadership colleagues, staff, contract staff, and senior management. This reflection in action provides the basis of the Knowledge Provider reflections as

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participants are required to link it to the theories, the discussions and their previous experience and thereby detail their learning from this unit. The ENJOY Knowledge Seeker preparatory readings and viewings include a focus on Emotional Intelligence (Goleman, 2005) and positivity (Al Maktoum, 2017; Ghaye, 2011). The Knowledge Discusser forums model one effective strategy for promoting enjoyment with the exchange of personal stories about education experiences (Morgan & Rinvolucri, 1988) with participants encouraged to share those that are unusual and amusing whilst exploring how trust, humour, and positivity impact participants’ institutional contexts. The Knowledge User task requires participants to consciously note how they demonstrate ENJOY around their institution and department, and what differences their focus on positivity made to their week. The Knowledge Provider reflections required participants to write a narrative of the week and support their description with references from the theory and discussion forums. The ATTEND Knowledge Seeker preparatory readings and viewings draw on the literature of servant leadership (Greenleaf, 2002; Sipe & Frick, 2009) and work on values-based leadership (Peregrym & Wolff, 2013). The Knowledge Discusser forums review one strategy for applying these leadership theories to our daily management routine that uses seven techniques: Management by walking around (MBWA); using calendar tools effectively; coping with email overload; sending concise emails; spreading positivity; asking clarification questions; and helping someone at least once every day. The Knowledge User task then has the participants implement the strategy discussed for a full week. The Knowledge Provider reflections require participants to share their experience with everyone else on the course in a collaborative journal format referencing the literature throughout the exchanges. The MENTOR Knowledge Seeker preparatory readings focus on communities of practice (Wenger et al., 2002) and mentorship in educational settings (Jonson, 2008; Quirke & Allison, 2010). The Knowledge Discusser forums ask participants what good mentors and mentees need to do to build an effective learning relationship and how an environment can be created within their department or team that allows mentorships to flourish. The Knowledge User task recognizes that this unit usually falls at the end of the academic year or fall semester and, therefore, asks participants to discuss potential mentorships with their teams for the coming semester and specifically choose someone they would like to mentor and someone they would like to be mentored by. The Knowledge Provider reflections draw on the reflections from earlier units when specifying the personal choice of mentor and mentee and the focus of the mentorships. Participants must, therefore, review their reflective writing from a couple of months earlier, and they are encouraged to reflect collaboratively by providing constructive feedback on each other’s reflections. The aim is for participants to reflect on their earlier writing in light of subsequent experiences throughout the course and re-examine their initial theorizing in light of these intervening events, questioning how their perspectives may change when viewed through a mentoring lens focused on future development.

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Conclusion The aim of this chapter has been to demonstrate the value of ongoing research into our daily classroom teaching in whatever medium to inform course and curriculum development. The chapter has specifically highlighted three research projects on one course showing the outline before and after the research in order to clearly show the impact such research can have on course quality improvement. The chapter thereby aims to stress the importance for all teachers to view themselves as pedagogical researchers whose investigations into their daily practice can impact not only their course and pedagogy but also potentially educational theory. As Schwandt (2001: xxxi) argues, “universal principles become understandable only in light of specific cases.” The power of classroom research is not in the ability of the researcher to generalize from it but in the ability of others to draw similarities from it to their own contexts and build upon the research. The final claim that I would like to make in conclusion is that such long-term research into our teaching and teacher education should be standard practice in quality education.

References Alderfer, C. P. (1972). Existence, relatedness, and growth: Human needs in organizational settings. Free Press. Al Maktoum, M. b. R. (2017). Reflections on happiness and positivity. Dubai, UAE: Explorer Publishing. Atkinson, J. M., & Heritage, J. (Eds.). (1984). Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis. CUP. Brown, G., & Yule, G. (1983). Discourse analysis. CUP. Brown, M. E., & Trevino, L. K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. The Leadership Quarterly, 17, 595–616. Burton, J. (2005). The importance of teachers writing on TESOL. TESL-EJ, 9(2), 1–18. http://teslej.org/ej34/a2.pdf. Burton, J. (2009). Reflective writing – Getting to the heart of teaching and learning. In J. Burton, P. Quirke, C. Reichmann, & J. K. Peyton (Eds.), Reflective writing: A way to lifelong teacher learning (pp. 1–11). TESL-EJ. Retrieved from http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/books. Burton, J., & Carroll, M. (2001). Journal writing as an aid to self-awareness, autonomy, and collaborative learning. In J. Burton & M. Carroll (Eds.), Journal writing (pp. 1–7). Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Burton, J., Quirke, P., Reichmann, C., & Peyton, J. K. (2009). (Eds.). Reflective writing: A way to lifelong teacher learning. TESL-EJ, E-Book Edition. Retrieved from http://tesl-ej.org/books/ref lective_writing.pdf. Christison, M. A., & Murray, D. E. (Eds.). (2009). Leadership in English language education: Theoretical foundations and practical skills for changing times. Routledge. Copeland, M. K. (2014). The emerging significance of values based leadership: A literature review. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 8(2), 105–135. Farrell, T. S. C. (2012). Reflective writing for language teachers. Sheffield. Equinox. Firestone, W. A. (2014). Teacher evaluation policy and conflicting theories of motivation. Educational Researcher, 43(2), 100–107.

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Fullan, M. (2006). Change theory: A force for school improvement. Joliment, Victoria, Australia: Centre for Strategic Education, Seminar Series Paper No. 157. Fullan, M. (2016). The NEW meaning of educational change (5th ed.). Teachers College Press. George, B. (2003). Authentic leadership: Rediscovering the secrets to creating lasting value. JosseyBass. Ghaye, T. (2011). Teaching and learning through reflective practice: A practical guide for positive action. Routledge. Goleman, D. (2005). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. Bantam Books. Greenleaf, R. K. (2002). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. 25th Anniversary Edition. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press. Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. Longman. Hargreaves, A., Earl, L., Moore, S., & Manning, S. (Eds.). (2001). Learning to change: Teaching beyond subjects and standards. Jossey-Bass. Heifetz, R., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization. Harvard Business Press. Henderson, R., & Noble, K. (2015). Professional learning, induction and critical reflection: Building workforce capacity in Education. Palgrave Macmillan. Hersey, P., & Blanchard, K. H. (1988). Management of organizational behavior: Utilizing human resources. Prentice-Hall. Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. B. (2010). The motivation to work. Transaction Publishers. Jonson, K. F. (2008). Being an effective mentor: How to help beginning teachers succeed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Levinson, S. C. (1983). Pragmatics. CUP. Maslow, A. H. (1970). Motivation and personality. Harper & Row. McCarthy, M. (1991). Discourse analysis for language teachers. CUP. Miller, R. (1997). What are schools for? Holistic education in American culture. Holistic Education Press. Morgan, J., & Rinvolucri, M. (1988). Once upon a time: Using stories in the language classroom. Cambridge University Press. Murphy, J., Hallinger, P., & Heck, R. H. (2013). Leading via teacher evaluation: The case of the missing clothes? Educational Researcher, 42(6), 349–354. Peregrym, D., & Wolff, R. (2013). Values-based leadership: The foundation of transformational servant leadership. The Journal of Values-Based Leadership, 6(2), Article 7. 1–13. Quirke, P. (2003). What is out of the box. The Essential Teacher, 1(1), 44–47. Quirke, P. (2007a). Teacher education: Responding to new knowledge theory. In L. Stephenson & P. Davidson (Eds.), Teacher education & continuing professional development (pp. 9–26). TESOLArabia. Quirke, P. (2007b). A coherent approach to faculty appraisal. In C. Coombe (Ed.), Evaluating teaching effectiveness in EFL/ESL contexts (pp. 89–105). University of Michigan Press. Quirke, P. (2008). Supporting teacher development on the web. In S. Garton & K. Richards (Eds.), Professional encounters in TESOL: Discourses of teachers in training. (pp. 135–150). Palgrave. Quirke, P. (2009). An exploration of teacher knowledge. VDM Publishers. Quirke, P. (2011). Developing the foundation for DREAM management. In C. Coombe, L. Stephenson, & S. Abu-Rmaileh( Eds), Leadership and management in english language teaching (pp. 67–69). TESOLArabia: Dubai. Quirke, P., & Allison, S. (2008). DREAM Management: Involving & Motivating Teachers in Coombe, C. (Ed.) Leadership in english language teaching & learning (pp. 186–202) University of Michigan Press. Quirke, P., & Allison, S. (2010). Building leaders through mentoring. In J. A. Carmona (Ed.), Language teaching and learning in ESL education (pp. 179–192). Kona Publishing. Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. W. (Eds.). (1983). Language and communication. Longman. Schön, D. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner. Jossey-Bass.

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Schwandt, T. (2001). Dictionary of qualitative inquiry (2nd ed.). Sage. Sinclair, J., & Brazil, D. C. (1982). Teacher talk. OUP. Sinclair, J., & Coulthard, R. (1975). Towards an analysis of discourse: The English used by teachers and pupils. OUP. Sipe, J. W., & Frick, D. M. (2009). Seven pillars of servant leadership: Practicing the wisdom of leading by serving. Paulist Press. Southworth, G. (2004). Learning-centered leadership. In B. Davies (Ed.), The essentials of school leadership (pp. 91–111). Paul Chapman. Strauss, A. L., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research. Sage. Tsui, A. B. M. (2003). Understanding expertise in teaching. CUP. van der Meij, H. (2002). Email use in elementary school: an analysis of exchange patterns and content. British Journal of Educational Technology., 30(2), 189–200. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. MIT Press. Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. M. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice: A guide to managing knowledge. Harvard Business School Press. Williams, H., & Meredith, E. (1996). On-line communication patterns of novice internet users. Computers in the Schools, 12(3), 21–31. Woods, P. (2005). Democratic leadership in education. Sage.

Phil Quirke has been in leadership positions for over twenty years and has published on areas as diverse as face, action research, appraisal and journaling. He has recently contributed three articles to the Wiley TESOL Encyclopaedia of English Language Teaching on Observations, Journals and Classroom Management, and his collaborative book on Reflective Writing is available online at http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/books/.

Chapter 19

Arabic-Speaking Learners’ Perceptions of English Academic Reading Difficulties: A Study on High School Graduates in the UAE Shabana Kamal Abstract This study aimed to investigate how Arab learners of English in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) perceived and overcame English academic reading difficulties while studying at a Dubai-based English medium school. The participants of the current study were six high school fresh graduates. The study employed a qualitative methodology, and semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data about the reading experiences of these students. The analysis of the interview transcripts identified high difficulty level vocabulary, unfamiliar or irrelevant topics, weak foundational skills and traditional learning settings as the most significant contributory factors to Arab students’ poor reading skills. The findings revealed that curriculum adaptations, independent reading habits, effective vocabulary, and reading strategies helped Arab English language learners (AELLs) to improve their reading proficiency. Keywords Academic reading difficulties · Arab English language learners · Reading challenges in the UAE · Qualitative research

Introduction In this chapter, the researcher has endeavoured to delve deep into the reading issues of school-level AELLs in the UAE to contribute to the qualitative studies in this field. The problems of AELLs are unique and need to be addressed against the backdrop of their specific learning settings. With the ever-increasing emphasis on involving the learner in the learning process, there is a need to provide a comprehensive and detailed qualitative discussion of the experiences of AELLs in order to highlight their distinct academic reading challenges and suggest effective solutions to raise their English language reading competence. The findings of this study have implications for appropriate curriculum planning as well as the need to reconsider the roles of English teachers for academic reading. S. Kamal (B) Dubai, UAE e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_19

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Reading Literacy In academic settings, the most crucial prerequisite of success is reading intensively which is an interactive and reflective process that involves a masterful manipulation of reading strategies and critical reading skills for better comprehension, interpretation, and evaluation of content to be able to give descriptions, explanations, and clear examples of concepts and ideas. NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2007) defines academic reading ability “as representing competency over challenging subject matter including subject matter knowledge, application and analytical skills appropriate to the subject matter”(p. 5). Similarly, Richards and Schmidt (2002) states that academic reading involves offering a critical response to the text by connecting the information with our prior knowledge and experiences and belief system to evaluate its reliability and significance. Thus, reading proficiency is undoubtedly the most important academic skill (Anderson, 2015; Grabe & Stoller, 2011) and students who do not learn to read independently, struggle in other academic areas, which results in a broader achievement gap over a period of time (Gobert, 2019; Melekoglu & Wilkerson, 2003; Perfetti, 2007). Although it may be claimed that English language learners (ELLs) in any academic setting face reading difficulties (Bunch et al., 2014; Nuttall, 1996), there is a need for studies that examine these specific academic reading difficulties, and how they can be overcome in the unique context of private schools in the UAE.

The Context of the Study Within the context of the UAE, English is taught as a foreign language, and reading fluency and comprehension skills in the English language are extremely important to UAE students’ admission into English medium higher education institutions, their academic achievement and to secure top quality jobs (Abu Dhabi Education Council, 2009; Allen, 2003). The need to promote English language proficiency is also aligned with the UAE’s vision for economic growth and diversification (Ahmed, 2015). Despite the Ministry of Education’s efforts to reform the K-12 education system (Vision 2021 National Agenda, 2010), most high school graduates are still not adequately prepared to meet the academic demands of English medium instruction at the tertiary level and reading remains the weakest English language skill in the UAE (Pennington, 2016). Emirati school students’ reading attainment scores in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) are still not only lower than the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average but have continued to drop steadily (Saman, 2018). More than 40 percent of students have not achieved the basic level 2 reading proficiency required to contribute to a “knowledge-based economy” (Abu Dhabi Education Council, 2017; Bibolov et al., & Tamirisa, 2017, p. 17) or to qualify them for university admission (Warner & Burton, 2017).

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Literature Review The previous research involving Arab English language learners (AELLs) has highlighted seven main sources of reading difficulties that are presented here.

Orthographic and Phonological System The first prerequisite for fluent and proficient L2 readers is a sound knowledge of English phonological and orthographic systems which allows them to develop automatic and effective word-level processing skills (Ediger, 2001; Koda, 2005). However, the linguistic distance difference between English and Arabic orthographic systems (Arabic reading and writing system runs from right to left and English from left to right) sometimes makes AELLs misread and misspell words (Perfetti & Dunlap, 2008). Also, they try to look for the letter to sound correspondence which is missing in most common words in English (Saigh & Schmitt, 2012). AELLs are further confused with English vowel variations, silent and doubled letters because these irregularities are not present in Arabic (Kharma & Hajjaj, 1997). Moreover, Arabic is written cursively which makes it difficult for AELLs to recognize English words written as isolated letters (Swan & Smith, 2001). Consequently, decoding and word recognition becomes a very laborious and time-consuming process and affects their reading rate, which becomes even slower while using skimming and scanning reading strategies, and comprehension (Thompson-Panoes & Thomas-Ruzic, 1983). Bahloul’s (2007) study concluded that many AELLs, owing to mother tongue interference, made several spelling errors, particularly with words that have an irregular use of vowels. The findings of another study (Jayousi & Thaher, 2011) reported that many UAE English teachers fail to provide effective spelling instruction. However, Taylor’s (2008) quasi-experimental study with female Emirati students enrolled in the English language foundation programme suggested that explicit instruction of phonics for an extended period may benefit adult learners in improving their orthographic and phonological skills.

Vocabulary The second element of proficient reading refers to vocabulary knowledge. Grabe and Stoller (2011) have stated that proficient readers can understand the basic meaning of around 98–100 of all the words they encounter. Similarly, Haynes and Baker (1993) have concluded that the greatest impediment in the way of acquiring reading proficiency in the second language is not inadequate reading comprehension practice, but insufficient vocabulary knowledge. Additionally, Swan and Smith (2001) have

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explicated that the English language has borrowed only a limited number of words from Arabic, which minimizes a positive transfer of words and can affect AELLs acquisition of English vocabulary and reading proficiency. In the Emirati context, O’Sullivan’s (2009) study with the Higher College of Technology (HCT) undergraduates concluded that Arab students’ limited vocabulary is the root cause of their low reading ability, a result echoed by several other studies such as Al Khawaldeh (2012), Balfakeh (2009) and Qashoa’s (2006) studies that investigated the reading issues of secondary school students in Jordan, Yemen, and the UAE, respectively.

Lack of Interest in Pleasure Reading Many studies on ELLs have reported that reading for pleasure is beneficial for improving reading skills (Day, 2010; Grabe & Stoller, 2011; Mason & Krashen, 1997; Macalister, 2014). However, due to strongly embedded oral culture values (Shannon, 2003) and the absence of a culture of reading (Gitsaki, Robby & Bourini, 2014), AELLs indulge in pleasure reading if it helps them excel academically (Lempke, 2016). Similarly, O’Sullivan’s (2004) study with HCT undergraduates has reported that Emirati students display an instrumental motivation to read for narrow purposes such as academic and professional success and do not have a genuine interest in recreational reading in English.

First Language Proficiency Previous research has established a relationship between L1 academic literacy and successful learning experiences in L2 (Tirone et al., 2013). However, the Emirates Standardized Test (EMSAT) 2016 Arabic reading test results show that a significant proportion of Emirati students in grades 3–12 have not acquired grade-appropriate literacy and critical thinking skills in their first language (Arabic) to be able to transfer these academic skills into their acquisition of English language literacy (Abu Dhabi Education Council [ADEC], 2017; AlZeny, 2016; Taha, 2017; Thomure, 2019). The existence of diglossia, use of two language varieties, is an important factor behind low academic reading standards in Arabic because students’ first language is colloquial or Gulf. Arabic which is extensively used in almost all aspects of their life and they are introduced to Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) in academic settings (Richardson, 2004; Saiegh-Haddad, 2005). This explains why so many Arab students’ reading skills in Arabic are at second language interchange level (Thompson-Panos & Thomas-Ruzic, 1983). The fact that colloquial Arabic has no written form explains learners’ negative attitudes to written language (Jones, 2006). To further complicate access to learning, teaching MSA is hugely neglected in favor

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of using various regional dialects (Taha-Thomure, 2008). Therefore, many Emirati students have no interest in reading either in English or in Arabic (Daleure, 2011).

Outdated Teaching Methods Swan and Smith (2001) state that in comparison with the western world, teachercentric classrooms and rote learning methods are more popular in the Arab world. These claims are confirmed by the findings of Mustafa’s (2002) study with UAE schoolteachers. He has highlighted the prevalence of teacher-centric classrooms in which 90% of the teachers teach reading as a read aloud and pronunciation exercise and the instruction of reading strategies is limited to obtaining explicitly stated literal information. This situation is further corroborated in the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau Annual Report (Knowledge and Human Development Authority, 2009) which has criticized traditional teaching and learning methodology in secondary school education.

Lack of Independent Learning Skills Due to the popularity of rote learning methods, students in the UAE fail to develop and value intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, problem-solving, and independent reading skills. Teachers’ lack of acceptance for mistakes as a sign of language growth and nonstop error correction during reading activities discourages students to develop independent thinking skills required to understand key themes and concepts (Hudson, 2013). The fossilized habits of memorization and repetition acquired during a student’s schooling are challenged in the postsecondary educational settings where independent learning skills are crucial to academic achievement (Madsen & Cook, 2010). However, older students find it extremely hard to acquire autonomy in learning (Walton & Archer, 2004). On the other hand, two recent studies in Egypt (Khalil & Ali, 2018) and Riyadh (Alonazi, 2017) have reported secondary school students’ low English language proficiency and lack of motivation as the main challenges in the way of implementing independent learning. The results of both studies have highlighted a positive relationship between autonomy and proficiency.

Reading Strategies The use of reading strategies for reading proficiency is another significant area that has attracted the attention of many researchers (Grabe, 2009; Paris et al., 1996). The findings of Sariçoban (2012) and Rihan’s (2015) studies with Emirati learners discovered a positive relationship between the training of metacognitive strategies

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and reading autonomy and achievement in English. However, the language proficiency level is the most important variable that affects the students’ acquisition of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies (Alderson, 2000).

Research Questions This study addressed the following research questions: 1. 2.

What are the academic reading difficulties faced by Arabic-speaking students in an English medium private school? What are the strategies used by these students to overcome their academic reading difficulties?

Methodology This section is divided into three sub-sections.

Participants The participants of this study were six high school graduates who had studied at a private English medium school for the past 8–12 years. Four students were females and two were males. Arabic was the first language of all these students though they all spoke different dialects of Arabic. The participants’ IELTS (International English Language Testing System) bands (6–7) were higher than the minimum band 5.5 required in almost all graduate programs in the UAE.

Data Collection This study employed an interpretative qualitative methodology for data collection through the use of semi-structured interviews which were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. Before data collection, participants were asked to sign a consent form, and to fill out a research information sheet explaining details and the procedure of the research with the ethical considerations as per those utilized at the University of Exeter. During the interviews, the students had opportunities to talk about their academic reading problems and coping strategies which helped the researcher to gain an in-depth knowledge of students’ experiences (Burns, 2010).

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Data Analysis This study employed thematic content analysis (Aronson, 1995) to analyze the interview responses. First, each transcript was read to make sense of the respondents’ individual stories. Then the important aspects of their narratives were highlighted, and notes were made. After that, broader categories of relevant sentences with related patterns of meaning were labelled. Finally, the researcher made connections between the labelled categories and organized the data into five critical themes. Later, the themes were reviewed to ensure they matched the data before creating a clear narrative of the participants’ responses (Cohen et al., 2017). Data was shared with participants after its collection and analysis to ensure the authenticity and neutrality of the results (Hammersley, 2012).

Findings The first part of this section discusses the academic reading difficulties that the participants faced during their school education, and the second part is focused on the different strategies that the students used to overcome their reading difficulties.

Academic Reading Difficulties The analysis of the data obtained through interviews of the participants indicated five themes as sources of academic reading difficulties.

Vocabulary The participants’ interview responses highlighted a large number of content specific difficult vocabulary as their main problem. All the students felt that lack of vocabulary knowledge was the major language barrier in understanding reading texts, and they had to devote a significant portion of their class time in looking up the meaning of unfamiliar words. The participants revealed that difficult words caused a great deal of reading anxiety as reflected by the extracts that follow: I think a series of new words in a sentence or paragraph leads to a very anxious situation. Sometimes, the problem is not only you do not know the word but also that you do not know the word before and after (Participant A). When you see a text full of unknown vocabulary, you start worrying about failing the test. I think most students feel that vocabulary is a huge issue (Participant B). I usually felt demotivated because of the number of unknown words in the reading textbook. I could not answer most questions without understanding the meaning of difficult words. It was easy to give up trying to answer questions. In the end, I waited for the teacher

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to discuss the correct answers and write them on the board, and I used to copy them in my notebook (Participant C). Learning topic related words is very challenging. For every reading passage that students read in the class, teachers usually give a list of 15–20 words to memorize. But most of the students forget them afterward because many words are not used in our routine life (Participant D). Translating words to Arabic can be confusing because sometimes we do not have an equivalent for a word. After all the effort, we learn that the meaning is wrong (Participant E). The vocabulary was an important area of difficulty. The coursebook was very hard. Because of that many students failed to learn the skills. They could not make an inference or summarize the text. Most of the time, each skill-based lesson turned into a vocabulary lesson. That was frustrating, not only for the students but also for the teacher (Participant F).

Evidently, unknown vocabulary was the main source of reading difficulties for the participants of this study as indicated by their interview responses. Insufficient lexical knowledge also proved to be a major barrier in their acquisition of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies.

Unfamiliar Topics The second academic reading difficulty that the participants in this study encountered was reading about unfamiliar topics. All students felt that reading about unknown topics decreased their interest and understanding because they could not make connections between what they were reading and their prior knowledge in Arabic. This is revealed in the following extracts: They should provide interesting reading topics. For example, if we read an informational text about the Middle East, we can understand it because we already know something about it. But the topics in the textbooks can be very unfamiliar like reading about “Canterbury Tales” was so boring. I think such topics make us feel stressed because we don’t have any background knowledge to understand the cultural values that are important to the people living in a different era (Participant B). I think my problem was boring topics. Teachers always used to choose unfamiliar topics, many of them were more suitable for a history class. On top of that, there were very few pictures to help us understand the events that happened centuries ago. It was hard to develop an interest in the English language (Participant E).

Overall, all students displayed low intrinsic motivation to learn about unfamiliar topics involving different cultures.

Reading Speed Reading speed was another reading difficulty encountered by many students. Their concerns are expressed in the following extracts: Reading and understand at the same time takes time. I find it hard (Participant A).

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In the beginning, I spent too much time and effort to understand some parts of the passage. I find it always difficult to read and grasp the ideas in limited time which leads to using a lot of time in reading and understanding just a few pages. So, I think we should practice reading fast to save time (Participant B). My reading speed was very slow because I wanted to understand every word in the passage. I used to get confused if I did not figure out the meaning of all the words. I usually could not finish the reading exams on time (Participant D). Most students spend too much time on reading. Maybe because they do not read much in English. Even in Arabic, students complain if the text is long” (Participant C).

Participant C also made an interesting revelation about students’ general attitudes towards the length of a reading passage. “Before the exam starts, the students worry about the number of pages in the reading exam. Some of them just choose randomly from multiple-choice options without reading the passage. Interestingly, Participant F reported that his reading speed was not a big difficulty in reading yet admitted that reading quickly decreased his understanding. “I enjoy reading fast, but usually, I need to reread most parts to understand them completely.” The participants’ responses suggested that due to their lack of automaticity in word processing, they had to exert more mental effort which slowed down their reading speed and comprehension.

Foundational Skills Another reading difficulty was related to foundational skills. All students believed that phonological knowledge was an important indicator of reading ability. One student felt that not having a good foundation in word identification skills affected her pronunciation and reading fluency. Well, what I dreaded was reading aloud in English. I had problems with correctly pronouncing words, especially the words with silent letters like “write” and night” because I always tried to match the letter with the sound. My worst nightmare was when I was asked to read aloud in the class. My poor pronunciation also affected my reading speed which was usually slow to a boring limit (Participant A). Similarly, a different letter of the alphabet had posed a problem for Participant C. Until grade four, I could not distinguish between p and b, but my older brother didn’t have this problem because he learned French before learning English and used the same alphabet.

Two students acknowledged that more focused instruction could improve the gaps in their foundational skills. By reading aloud teachers can model a good reading behavior that can help the weak students read the English words accurately (Participant E). Teachers should include spelling tests at each grade level to identify students’ pronunciation issues. If students get marks for correct spelling, they will be more motivated to work on their weak areas (Participant F).

The above responses indicate that AELLs face many difficulties because of the phonological difference between Arabic and English.

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Outdated Teaching Methods Students’ interview responses also threw light on challenges involved in traditional learning environments. Four participants believed that the absence of peer and group activities decreased their learning motivation. I think students can learn from each other better because they are not afraid to make mistakes. But if they make any mistake in front of the teachers, they immediately correct it, which causes embarrassment to students (Participant A).

Participant A also shared her experience of continuous error correction in the following words: My teacher would interrupt my reading whenever I mispronounced a word. It was embarrassing to get my pronunciation corrected by the teacher while the whole class was staring at me.

Participant B also voiced the same concern. “If we work with our partner or group members, we feel safe. We can discuss our problem areas without being judged.” Two participants provided further explanation of traditional teaching practices. Some teachers still think that they are the only source of knowledge. They don’t trust that students can discuss ideas and concepts presented in the text (Participant C). It depends on the teacher and the students’ behavior. Most classes have 30–40 students in the class, so teachers don’t allow any interaction between the students to manage the class. Most of the time, they follow the same monotonous routines. First students are asked to read aloud one by one and then answer questions individually (Participant E).

However, participants D and F shared different views on collaboration among students. It is true to some extent, but some students also don’t want to learn and depend on others to spoon-feed them. They also misuse this opportunity to discuss irrelevant things. This attitude discourages teachers and they switch back to traditional teaching (Participant D). I think that most students depend on their teachers for information. They believe that independent learning is for college. Many of them are not willing to work independently (Participant F).

These findings can be explained in light of students’ low language proficiency and lack of motivation reported in the previous studies (Alonazi, 2017; Khalil & Ali, 2018).

Overcoming Academic Reading Difficulties The analysis of qualitative interviews reported that the students used different strategies to overcome their reading difficulties. To resolve their vocabulary-related problems, the students employed strategies such as using context clues to guess the meaning of difficult words, skimming and scanning to comprehend the text, using

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a vocabulary learning application, joining an afterschool reading club to read selfselected English books. To improve their phonological skills, students joined schoolbased interventions or practised English pronunciation and spelling rules independently. Most importantly, the use of a simplified coursebook designed for ELLs motivated students to develop independent reading skills. The following extracts provide a detailed description of their experiences: I kept struggling because whenever I used to come to an unfamiliar word, I’d rarely figure it out and had to depend on the frequent use of the dictionary which was stressful. But things changed in grade 10 because my English teacher used easy passages to teach us how to use context clues. This strategy helped me a lot. Now I use it all the time and can correctly guess the meaning of most new words (Participant C). Participant C shifted his reliance on a dictionary to learning vocabulary strategies after his teacher provided him a simplified text. The use of easy texts also encouraged him to use some advanced reading strategies. “I also practiced making predictions and asking questions. Both of these strategies were helpful.”

Participants A and B also benefitted from the change of coursebook. They admitted that the use of easier texts in the class helped them to learn reading strategies to understand unfamiliar topics. Participant B excitedly articulated how she used the context clue strategy: “I love using the English language learners’ book because I understand most of the words, and it’s easy, very easy to find what the unknown word means. I just need to reread, and some words in the sentence will tell the meaning of the difficult word.” Participant D started using skimming and scanning strategies to resolve her vocabulary and reading speed issues: “I started highlighting the keywords in the questions to be able to use skimming and scanning strategies which helped me to look for the answers without wasting time to understand every word in the passage. This strategy helped me answer all the questions within the time limit. Gradually, I learned that each word in the text is not important. So now I skip over some words if they are not a part of questions. Moreover, I look at the topic sentences in each paragraph to understand the central idea of the passage.” For coping with difficult vocabulary in the reading passages, Participant F used Quizlet, an interactive vocabulary learning application. When one of my friends told me about Quizlet, I started practising IELTS vocabulary on it. It was very useful because I could find words on any topic. I think I learned more words in three months than I had learned in my entire life.

To overcome the problem of culturally irrelevant topics in the textbook, participant E developed an interest in pleasure reading and started reading regularly which greatly improved his reading proficiency. I joined after school reading club and started reading books of my choice. First, I read in school time only, but within a few months, I developed a lot of interest in reading because I could choose the books I liked. Now I have become a habitual reader and love buying books. I believe reading books also improved my vocabulary and comprehension.

Overall, all participant managed to cope with their reading difficulties with the help of personal and teacher-led initiatives. The analysis of the students’ coping strategies

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showed that the use of simplified texts and access to levelled books improved their reading speed, comprehension and the use of reading strategies.

Analysis of Findings and Discussion The key findings of this study showed that the main reading issues were related to bottom-up reading processes and insufficient vocabulary knowledge. Firstly, due to difficulties with word-level processing, the students could not focus their attention on using top-down reading strategies effectively to comprehend the text. This finding is in line with the previous studies (Alderson, 2000; Koda, 2005; Swan & Smith, 2001; Thompson-Panoes & Thomas Ruzic, 1983) that have highlighted that acquiring automaticity in the bottom-up skills of letter recognition and word identification is a prerequisite for using a top-down approach effectively. Secondly, their insufficient vocabulary knowledge proved to be a major impediment in their attempt to use context clues to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words while reading complex texts, which often led to frustrating and negative experiences because of many unknown words at the sentence/ paragraph level. This finding is echoed by the studies of Grabe (2009) and Scott (2005) who argue that the success of using context clues strategy depends on understanding surrounding words, often an obstacle for L2 readers. Similar to this finding, unknown vocabulary was considered to be one of the main areas of reading difficulties for AELLs in the studies of Al Khawaldeh (2012), Balfakeh (2009), O’Sullivan (2009) and Qashoa (2006). The other challenges involved unfamiliar topics and traditional teaching methods. Students’ insufficient global awareness, inadequate background knowledge about reading topics and lack of interest in learning about other cultures can be linked to their low academic literacy in their first language as discussed in the previous research findings (AlZeny, 2016; Taha, 2017; Tirone et al., 2013; Thomure, 2019) and lack of interest in pleasure reading as found in studies done with AELLs (Gitsaki et al., 2014; Lempke, 2016; O Sullivan. 2004; Shannon, 2003). The lack of collaborative learning activities such as small group and whole-class discussions proved to be a big stumbling block in the way of developing interest in reading activities and stimulating reading autonomy. The participants shared their negative experiences about the classroom environment where the teachers failed to engage them in a systematic interrogation of text or maintain an appropriate balance of feedback and encouragement. This finding closely aligns with the studies cited in the literature review (Hudson, 2013; Knowledge and Human Development Authority, 2009; Mustafa, 2002). Although most students attributed their lack of reading motivation to traditional teaching approaches employed in the classroom, teachers’ initiative to provide differentiated learning resources has indicted a shift to more student-centric classroom environments. Moreover, adapting the curriculum to students’ needs played a significant role in enhancing students’ motivation to read independently and develop their reading skills in a non-threatening environment. This finding, though surprising and not mentioned in the previous research in the UAE, carries important pedagogical

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implications for AELLs. Therefore, more large-scale studies are needed to establish the impact of teacher-led initiatives in improving students’ academic reading skills. The findings have indicated that the simplified textbook encouraged the participants to experiment with context clues and top-down reading strategies. As a result, they were able to engage themselves in a meaningful construction of knowledge and experienced significantly more growth in their reading skills in comparison with regular textbooks packed with challenging lexis and culturally irrelevant topics. The participants attributed a large part of their academic reading success to text simplification which not only provided background information but also facilitated rapid text processing and comprehensibility and decreased cognitive pressure on the readers. These findings are supported by previous studies (Crossley et al., 2014; Goodman & Freeman, 1993; Grabe, 2009) that highlight the positive impact of text simplification for text comprehension, especially for beginning and intermediate level L2 readers with limited background knowledge. On the other hand, critics of simplified texts believe that the exclusion of complex linguistic structures in favor of easier and familiar forms denies readers the opportunity to interact with the text and acquire language naturally (Long & Ross, 1993). However, the findings of this study have suggested that authentic texts are more suitable for advanced readers because they usually have more background knowledge of the topic. Joining an after school reading club was another extension of using simplified texts which benefited one participant in improving his vocabulary and reading comprehension. This finding is consistent with extensive reading studies in L2 learning contexts (Day, 2010; Grabe & Stoller, 2011; Mason & Krashen, 1997; Macalister, 2014). The indications are that reading a good variety of easy and interesting books on topics of choice may make the reading process more pleasant and develop a more positive attitude towards reading. The use of Quizlet, a vocabulary learning application, on a handheld device (iPhone) provided an interactive learning platform that not only engaged one participant but was also found to be an important reason for her vocabulary development, learning independence, and increased motivation. The interview response showed the potential of digital resources for developing students’ autonomy. During the past decade, due to the popularity of smartphones and other handheld devices among students, educators have become tremendously interested in the educational benefits of apps (Godwin-Jones, 2011; Raya & Fernández, 2002). However, more extensive studies need to be carried out to establish the positive role of technology, especially mobile apps in enhancing second language learning.

Conclusions and Implications The result of the present study highlighted two main issues. The first one is about the nature of academic reading problems that Emirati students encounter. It appears that insufficient vocabulary knowledge poses the greatest barrier to school students’ reading comprehension. both in terms of identifying their meanings and decoding.

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This implies that vocabulary issues of school students will continue to pose a problem if reading interventions or curriculum adaptations are not provided on time. Students’ underdeveloped vocabulary knowledge fails to prepare them to use reading strategies successfully, especially when reading high difficulty level texts. The second finding is that as students progress to higher grades, they show an increased motivation to develop independent reading skills and employ a broader range of learning strategies to meet with the demands of tertiary education. Many educational and pedagogic implications can be drawn from the study. Since vocabulary seems to be the main concern for high school students, educationalists and curriculum policymakers need to revise their policies to provide students with appropriate reading materials, set clear guidelines about language development and unify content delivery and language development practices across all subject areas. Teachers in the different departments need to collaborate with English language teachers often to ensure that they all work together to facilitate and promote students’ language development across all subjects. With the application of a set policy, all teachers will have a shared responsibility to prepare students for English medium tertiary academic life. Moreover, English teachers should be trained to design and deliver the content materials in ways that can facilitate language growth and the activation of students’ prior knowledge about new topics and cultural differences. Furthermore, the current study’s findings on students’ perspectives on their reading issues suggest that using collaborative learning approaches enhances students’ motivation. Although the data reported here are from a small-scale study in the unique context of the UAE involving AELLs, the findings of this study may increase awareness about ELLs academic reading challenges and coping strategies, most of which can be generalized to other L2 learning contexts. More specifically, the outcomes of the study may inform the curriculum policy and decision-making process to help Arabicspeaking students, who form the majority in most UAE classrooms, to improve their academic reading skills and become self-motivated independent readers.

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Shabana Kamal is pursuing an Ed. D. in TESOL from the University of Exeter. She holds an MA in Education (TESOL) an MA in English Literature and a CELTA certificate. She has over twenty years of teaching experience in multiple secondary and tertiary academic settings around five countries, most recently from Dubai Arabian American Private School where she was a Reading Coordinator. Her teaching and research interests include academic and pleasure reading, reflective writing, American literature, and blended learning.

Chapter 20

Developing Feedback Literacy in Emirati Undergraduates Tony Myers and Jaime Buchanan

Abstract Emirati students are often schooled in traditional, teacher-led classrooms. However, when they reach the tertiary sector they are exposed to Western styles of teaching which aim to develop autonomous learners. One of the key effects of this culture clash is that feedback is sometimes neither delivered appropriately nor taken up as feed-forward. The aim of this action research project was to help foster feedback literacy in English as an Additional Language (EAL) students in an English Medium Institution (EMI) so that they would be better equipped to understand feedback as an academic literacy critical to their success going forward. This was achieved by treating the feedback process as a genre embedded within the curriculum, and, using some of the tools developed by Sydney School genre pedagogy, breaking the process down into stages where students were able to identify exactly what each part was trying to tell them with actionable and generalizable advice. A majority of students who engaged with the feedback achieved better results. This positively reinforced the students’ engagement with feedback, and led to greater take up in future assignments, thereby ameliorating their understanding of the feedback process and its value for them. Keywords Feedback literacy · Genre pedagogy · UAE higher education · Undergraduate learning

Introduction Higher education institutions around the world regularly seek data on student satisfaction levels. This data can then be used to make institutionalized changes to improve their core business, or address areas showing a deficit to varying degrees of success. One aspect of students’ satisfaction with their university experience which continually ranks low is that of feedback. Summing up research in the area, Evans finds that “From the student perspective, most complaints focus on the technicalities of T. Myers (B) · J. Buchanan Abu Dhabi, UAE e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_20

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feedback, including content, organization of assessment activities, timing, and lack of clarity about requirements” (Evans, 2013, p.73) While several factors contribute to this line of thought, recent research has suggested a key driver for students’ dissatisfaction is their nascent sense of feedback literacy. Studies by Sutton (2012), Carless and Boud (2018) and Winstone and Carless (2019) have attempted to outline and then ameliorate feedback literacy in a series of exciting interventions. Feedback research in the Gulf has yet to explore this area, although there have been a number of studies and semi-published PhD and MA theses conducted examining feedback (particularly written corrective feedback) and feedback perceptions in the Gulf (Hammoudi, 2007; Mohammedi, 2016; Shine, 2008). While Shine explores the feedback process in detail from the perspective of both tutors and students, she does not look explicitly at the issue of developing learners as competent readers of feedback, although she does examine the disconnect between what tutors believe they are communicating and what students believe they are receiving, another common theme in the research on feedback (Carless, 2006; Mulliner & Tucker, 2017; Green, 2019). As yet, there has been no published literature on developing feedback literacy in higher education in the region. One PhD candidate took a somewhat related pathway and examined the development of academic literacies over the course of a period through a case study of six Emirati undergraduate students over the course of their studies (Bilikozen, 2015). The aim of this study was to help foster feedback literacy in students studying in an English Medium institution so that they would be better equipped to understand feedback as an academic literacy critical to their success going forward. Students taking English for Academic Purposes pre-sessional courses, and students enrolled on credit-bearing academic composition courses were given explicit instruction of the nature and meaning of feedback.

What is Feedback Literacy? Defining Feedback Feedback as a field of study has blossomed most vividly in the past 25 years. This blossoming has occasioned a variety of definitions of the object of the field of study, most of them seeded early on. A prevailing definition finds the feedback process to be a modification of students’ existing knowledge, one in which, as Winnie and Butler express it, the learner can “confirm, overwrite, add to, tune, or restructure extant knowledge and beliefs” (Butler & Winnie, 1995, p.). Such subtle modifications lie at one end of the continuum of feedback instruction which Hattie and Timperley (2007) identify in their highly influential review of feedback models. As tweaks give way to more substantial alterations to students’ schema, what constitutes feedback moves along the continuum to encompass wholescale teaching. For second language learners, for example, the perennially maladjusted third person ‘s’ can be remedied via a form of minor corrective feedback, such as by using a correction code, while

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an essay penned in the register of a Whatsapp discussion group might require a more significant intervention. Even though the scale of feedback may vary, most authors aver that feedback’s focus is on (re)conveying improperly understood information or skills. Its key features are that it is delivered post-factum, and from an expert in the field to a relative novitiate. These are not defining features of all feedback, for example, peer feedback on a process essay would not fit that description, but if feedback can be defined through a series of Wittgensteinian family resemblances, these are two of the most striking characteristics of feedback in higher education. This model of feedback, the transmission model, allows that learners merely have to re-tune their work as instructed, and they will then be able to meet their teacher’s expectations. Of course, events do not always flow so smoothly. The failure of feedback is a much more common motif in the literature than its success. The annual misgivings expressed by UK students about the inadequacies of feedback in the National Student Survey, where “students are still reporting lower rates of satisfaction with the assessment and feedback on their courses compared to other areas” (Foord, 2019) bear unhappy testimony to this point. It is a lament echoed on the other side of the educational coin, as much in teacher lounges as in the titles of articles, such as “Thanks, but no thanks for the feedback” (Forsythe & Johnson, 2017), “What students don’t make of feedback in higher education” (Green, 2019) and “Is the feedback in higher education assessment worth the paper it is written on?” (Bailey & Garner, 2010). What these titles refer to is the failure to close the feedback gap. This gap describes the distance between the ideal being aimed for in students’ work and the actual level of their work (Sadler, 1989). As Ramaprasad (1983) astutely observes, “The information on the gap between the actual level and the reference level is feedback only when it is used to alter the gap” (p. 5). When learners fail to reconcile the former with the latter due to a lack of knowledge, opportunity or effort, many contemporary researchers have increasingly come to think that it indexes a failure of the feedback model of transmission itself, rather than any ineptitude on the part of the student or teacher. This has led them to turn to the notion of feedback literacy, a literacy which would allow for ‘the role of the student’ to become ‘fully activated’(Winstone & Carless, 2019, p. 11). Defining Feedback Literacy It may be argued that feedback literacy is a subset of assessment literacy more generally, in that appreciating the role of feedback is intrinsic to engaging effectively with assessment practices (Price et al., 2012, p.105). However, Winstone and Carless propose that “whilst feedback literacy may be a subcomponent of the broader concept of assessment literacy, arguably feedback is so crucial to students’ development that it warrants a term of its own” (Winstone & Carless, 2019, p. 23). As the term is of a recent vintage, there are as yet few competing definitions and what there are remain on unsteady legs. An early contender is Sutton’s view that feedback literacy involves negotiating a series of epistemological, ontological, and practical challenges which he summarizes as “the ability to read, interpret and use written feedback” (Sutton, 2012, p. 31). Winstone and Carless contend that Sutton’s definition is less comprehensive than the Carless and Boud one in which feedback literacy is defined as

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“the understandings, capacities and dispositions needed to make sense of information and use it to enhance work or learning strategies” (Carless & Boud, 2018, p. 1316). While we would concur with this, we think a useful addition to any definition would be the idea of feedback itself. Feedback is a very specific form of information, occurring within specific institutional parameters, particularly in our case, academic ones. It might, therefore, be instructive to think of feedback literacy as the ability to understand the functions of different forms of feedback, to actively engage with feedback, and to employ feedback to ameliorate future work and study behaviour. As with Sutton’s, and Carless and Boud’s definitions, this requires a degree of unpacking, as it encompasses a constellation of competencies, behaviours, and knowledge which may vary in their fixity and strength, according to context. Some of the knowledge feedback literate students should know includes. • an understanding of the function of feedback • an appreciation of the different kinds of feedback Students need to know that feedback is designed to help facilitate learners achieve institutional standards by exposing areas in the student’s work which fail to meet those standards. They also need to be clear that different kinds of feedback are intended for different roles. For example, a grade may signal how well learners’ work approximates the desired institutional standard, while written feedback is designed to tell them how they might reach that standard. In turn, feedback may focus on knowledge deficiencies or suggestions for different approaches or advice on study skills. In terms of competencies, some of the key ones we might want our feedback literate students to have include. • an ability to generalize feedback learnings across assignments and modules • an ability to self-monitor Feedback is more than just information: it is information that is a driver for action. In this sense, it is vital that learners can take what they have learnt in one piece of assessment and employ it in another. It also requires that students be able to observe and regulate what they do at a meta-cognitive level, discerning opportunities for feedback implementation, and acting upon them. This notion brings us to some of the key behaviours a feedback literate student should demonstrate, which include: • an interest in engaging in feedback • an emotional maturity when receiving feedback Teachers cannot compel students to read their feedback, question it, and act on it; this kind of engagement rather requires a degree of volitional agency on the learner’s part. It also requires that students not view feedback as a criticism of themselves or their abilities, but rather as comments on skills or work which can be used to improve either or both. Feedback encounters are often freighted with negative emotions, but they do not have to be, provided the purpose of feedback is clear to students in the first place. This is part of what it means to be feedback literate. What might also be apparent is how being feedback literate is in some sense dependent on institutional factors. Indeed, while we have seen how feedback literacy

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owes some of its provenance to assessment literacy, the notions of literacy embedded within it undoubtedly owe more to academic literacies. As Sutton and Gill contend, “acquiring feedback literacy is part of the broader process of acquiring academic literacy, of learning to think, read and write in new ways” (Sutton & Gill, 2010, p. 11). Literacy is a particularly potent word in this regard. If it denotes a sense of fluency, it also connotes ‘“gateway” or “threshold” skills which, once mastered, allow access to further learning and knowledge’ (Price et al., 2012, p. 8). As much as this involves equipping students with knowledge, competencies, and behaviours, the feedback literacy movement has also concerned itself with addressing the institutional factors which impinge upon the effectiveness of feedback. The harms which institutional factors cause feedback are many and varied. Evans (2013) has identified several of these, including growing class sizes, expectations associated with the marketization of higher education, the administration’s need for quantifiable data points, and the fragmentary character of feedback interventions in modularized degrees. Possibly the greatest single factor impeding the development of feedback literate learners is the contrasting experiences of secondary and tertiary educational institutions. As Beaumont, O’Doherty and Shannon note, the differences between school and university are often stark, “with the former providing extensive formative feedback and guidance, while the latter focuses upon independent learning judged summatively” (Beaumont et al., 2011, 671). The experience of feedback for many undergraduates begins and ends with the disappointment of their grade. Students are not taught what feedback is, where to get it, how to process it, and how it might help them. Worse, if they somehow infer all those things, they are not given the opportunity to implement their learnings because the curriculum consists of a series of summative events which proscribe and deter any value in becoming feedback literate. One possible solution to these challenges, we contend, is teaching feedback as a genre as part of the curriculum. What is genre pedagogy? How can it help students develop feedback literacy? Sydney School Genre Pedagogy Sydney School genre pedagogy finds its roots in Hallidayan Systemic Functional Linguistics (Martin, 2007). For Halliday, language is a social semiotic, a priori; it cannot and should not be divorced from its meaning (Halliday, 1985). The basic premise is that language derives fundamentally from its social purpose, which informs how the text will be staged. This is determined by considerations of the content (field), tenor (interpersonal relationship between the communicators), and mode (spoken or written) of the event. These strata form the basis for the definition of a genre as being ‘a staged goal-oriented social process’ (Martin, 2009, p. 10). Genre pedagogy also arose as a form of backlash against the popularity of the process writing movement in the early 1980s (Rose & Martin, 2012). The move to process writing/whole language focused on a progressivist approach that prioritized the learning experience over the eventual student product. Based on social constructivist theories, this model supposed that if students were exposed to sufficient successful texts, they would be able to reproduce them without direct instruction regarding how. In this model, students were usually guided through the writing

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process, and teachers’ roles were identified as facilitating rather than teaching, described as ‘a “drawing-out” rather than a putting-in of knowledge’ (Moore, 2000 paraphrased in Derewianka, 2015, p. 72). Genre pedagogy starts from the premise that “teaching means preparing learners for each learning task and then handing control to learners to do the task themselves” (Rose & Martin, 2012, p. 10). Based on their research into the kinds of writing task students were exposed to in a process-writing primary classroom, they determined that this approach was woefully inadequate in preparing students for the types of writing necessary in secondary school, particularly students from non-middle class professional families (Martin, 2007). Process writing was divorcing the act of writing from its social purpose, and preventing students from learning the what and why of writing. For the genre theorists, this was problematic, because it resulted in inequality of access to education for all students. Therefore, their focus is on providing students access to the powerful discourses that shape education and therefore access to various segments of society. Two key considerations came into play in this initial research project: the first was that teaching literacy could and should mirror teaching/learning to speak. They used the approach of ‘guidance through interaction’ in the context of shared experience as the model (Painter, 1986), based largely on Halliday and Painter’s research into early childhood language acquisition. This meant creating a more front-loaded classroom practice, where students were provided with more instruction and modelling before being expected to reproduce the structures. The second key point was that children and teachers needed a shared metalanguage in order to make meaning more effectively (Rose & Martin, 2012). Importantly, the researchers argue that parents have a natural disposition to teach when it comes to learning to speak, and children have a natural disposition to learn (Rose & Martin, 2012). Therefore, this disposition should be exploited in terms of improving literacy outcomes. The research of the Sydney researchers (who became collectively known as the Sydney School) was developed further within the context of secondary school curriculum, and finally into tertiary contexts. The pedagogy is centred around Rothery’s concept of the teaching and learning cycle (Rose & Martin, 2012), which is comprised of four key phases: building the field, deconstructing model texts, and joint construction of a text before the learner is expected to produce a text within the genre during the final phase of independent construction. This process sees the teacher as apprenticing the learners into the conventions of the genre through explicit instruction. Feedback and Genre Pedagogy Overall, the implications of the theoretical framework of SFL and the practical applications of genre pedagogy indicate the need for educators to shift their conceptualization of feedback. Traditionally, feedback has been conceived of as corrective (Ellis, 2009), meaning that feedback has centred on the problems and/or errors present in a student text. Hyland (2001), however, proposes that this is too restrictive an interpretation of feedback, and that it should be reconceptualized as a process. Genre theorists point out that this conversation nevertheless remains grounded in

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a concept of language as “control of correct clause-level grammatical forms rather than as the degree to which appropriate functional choices are made for a particular context” (Dreyfus et al., 2016, 266). The conversation should not be about control of grammatical structures, but about which language choice best serves the context of use. Looking at feedback as a socially constructed language event, therefore, enables us to conceptualize both what feedback is and how it is given in a new light. By understanding feedback as a communication event that is determined by the three strata of field, tenor, and mode, we are able to raise awareness of the genre conventions for both educators and students. The objective of regarding feedback as a discrete academic genre is to enable practitioners to be more systematic in their delivery and to allow students to more fully understand what feedback is, how it is structured, and what should be done with it. The goal of employing a genre pedagogy approach to increasing feedback literacy among students is to enable students to understand what feedback is aiming to achieve, how they should use the feedback, and finally, how they can transfer this feedback to other writing contexts. Feedback in the Gulf Context Much of the research conducted into feedback in the Gulf region has focused on how students and/or teachers deal with written corrective feedback. Much has been written of traditionally rote learning forms in state schools in the region (Hatakka, 2014; Muyksen & Nour, 2006) and of the sometimes difficult transition for students to a university context which not only requests that students demonstrate an understanding of texts, but also requires that they engage critically with them (Freimuth, 2014; Hatherly-Greene, 2012; Findlow, 2006). Less, however, has been said about the tools and strategies that can be employed to overcome these challenges. Sydney School pedagogy was chosen, then, for its relevance to the issues of inadequate and unequal secondary school instruction and the differing levels of preparation for tertiary study. As a pedagogy that was borne from overcoming the serious discrepancies in the literacy levels in Australian schools, it was an appropriate fit for our context. The aim of democratizing the educational playing field by providing all students with equal access to an understanding of the purpose and role of feedback was one that resonated with our context and the students recently displaced by the closing of the region’s foundation programmes.

The Research Design Setting and Participants This study used classroom-based research to develop feedback literacy over the duration of a course by using a targeted approach to teaching about feedback. The study aimed to assess student attitudes toward and use of feedback over the course

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of instruction, to determine whether explicit teaching of feedback as a key academic genre would enable greater student uptake of teacher feedback on academic writing, and also to ascertain whether this would positively influence their perceptions of feedback. The study took place at a government-funded EMI university in Abu Dhabi. The student population is 99% Emirati nationals, with the remaining student population coming from predominantly Khaleeji (Gulf) Arab nationals (Zayed University, 2018). Students are largely monolingual and monocultural as a result. Students were invited to participate in the researchers’ academic English classes. Participants were included across three levels of study: male students enrolled on a pre-sessional foundation course, female students enrolled in a second year academic writing course, and second year (fourth semester) IT majors enrolled on a Technical Communication course. Data Collection and Analysis Participants agreed to complete three surveys over the duration of the course. Since the research design was embedded within the curriculum, no further tasks or requirements were made of the participants, and all students were given equal access to the instruction and materials that were the subject of the study. In order to achieve this, the research design included explicit feedback literacy materials that would be delivered as part of the curriculum, as well as the three surveys that were conducted over the course of the research and course period. The first two measured beliefs about and attitudes toward feedback, and the last provided evidence to indicate the success of the approach as measured in actual student uptake. The final survey was cross referenced with the actual assessment feedback given by the course tutor, as well as the final draft in the subsequent assignment for evidence that the feedback had, indeed, been acted upon. While only students who agreed to participate took the surveys, all students had the same exposure to and experience of the explicit teaching of feedback as an academic genre. A discussion of each of the research instruments in detail follows. Initial Feedback Perceptions The first survey was conducted near the beginning of the course, and measured student perceptions of and beliefs about feedback in general. Likert scale questions asking respondents to rate the usefulness, comprehensibility, and transferability of feedback were used, as well as questions of how students interact with the feedback, and their feelings about negative feedback were asked. These initial answers were then analysed to determine positive/negative views toward and beliefs about feedback, establishing the base upon which any growth and/or development would be measured. Teaching Feedback as an Academic Genre The researcher/course instructor then conducted a brief in-class mini-lecture about different conceptions of and purposes of feedback. The aim of the lesson was to establish a shared understanding of feedback together with the necessary metalanguage to enable talking about feedback effectively. A key tenet of genre pedagogy is that a

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shared metalanguage with students is necessary, to enable the kind of talking around language where knowledge is developed/created (Rose & Martin, 2012). Teachers and students need a shared language through which they can discuss the text, so the feedback instruction established a shared understanding of feedback as existing across three levels, explained in the following section. The first level is explicitly positive in nature, as it focuses on reaffirming what the writer has done successfully in the work. This also serves as a positive entry into the feedback dialogue, lowering students’ affective filters to enable engagement with the feedback as a whole. The second level constitutes an evaluation of student work at the time of submission, identifying what could be improved. The third area of feedback in the targeted lesson dealt with specific techniques for how to extend the writing practice of the student in new ways, and was framed as not only positive/negative in nature, but rather the expansion of the students’ language toolkits. This area derives naturally from the evaluation, and provides strategies for improvement. As such, students were invited to perceive feedback as not only positive or negative, but also as a means of learning/ developing their academic writing skills. The lesson also deconstructed examples of feedback, using authentic but anonymized samples from previous submissions on the same task. In the Teaching and Learning Cycle developed by Rothery and Stenglin (1995).careful analysis of successful models is key to demonstrating the kinds of successful language choices students need to be making. In the case of feedback as a genre, students were asked to classify the contents of the student model in order to understand both the structure and purpose of the feedback ahead of their own experiences with individualized feedback. This served to familiarize students with the kind of feedback delivered, and also to confirm a shared understanding of its purpose. In the following class, students were given a second survey, this time seeking to determine whether any shift in beliefs and attitudes toward feedback may have occurred as a result of the targeted instruction in developing feedback literacy. This survey used Likert scale questions, but this time placing the feedback within the context of the specific course writing content. For example, male students on a presessional program were asked how useful feedback would be in the context of writing essay introductions. Female students on a second year composition course were asked about the benefits of feedback when writing an argumentative research essay. Measuring Student Uptake of Feedback A final survey was developed that sought to determine whether student interactions with the feedback had occurred, and if so, to what degree of success. To do this, three of the most frequent individual pieces of feedback common to the student population as a whole were identified, and respondents were asked to explain whether they had read the most recent feedback, why/why not, and if so, what the feedback had been. This was then matched to the feedback that had been given to determine whether students were being truthful in their self-reporting of the data, and also to determine whether they had been able to successfully incorporate the feedback in subsequent iterations of the assignment.

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Results Results indicated that teaching feedback literacy using an explicit genre pedagogic approach is effective as a means of increasing student uptake of teacher feedback. The majority of students actively engaged with the feedback, understood most or all of the feedback, and made noticeable improvements when they did. The results sections are organized below according to the results of the three research instruments used within the study. Initial Feedback Perceptions Questionnaire Results The first survey evaluated student perceptions of feedback and whether these perceptions could be graded as positive or negative. Overall, students indicated positive feedback perceptions. Of a possible 25 points for the first five questions indicating maximal positive attitudes and beliefs toward feedback, the female and male respondents averaged 19.9 and 19.8, respectively. All participants expressed strongly beneficial views of feedback in terms of its usefulness and comprehensibility, with a mean score of 4.24 out of 5. The median and mode scores were both 5, with only 1 (2.43%) respondent opting to rate feedback’s usefulness as a 1 on the scale. Comprehensibility was similarly rated, with average and median scores of 4, and a mode of 5. For this question, no students selected the 1 option, and only 2 (4.87% of) respondents chose 2. Questions relating to student responses to feedback were also positive in general. Interestingly, the highest score on this questionnaire came from student use of feedback to improve their academic writing, at 4.41, suggesting that students in this survey do not perceive written feedback to be difficult to understand, unlike those in the studies examined by Steen-Utheim and Hopfenbeck (2019) and Green (2019). No significant differences were noted in the scores of male vs female students, indicating both that gender and level of education were not significant variables impacting how students perceive the importance of feedback. Post-Assessment Questionnaire Results Results indicate that, overall, students perceived the time spent in explicit teaching of feedback to be a useful endeavour. 85% of participants professed to understand the meaning and concepts of feedback more after receiving explicit instruction on the nature of feedback, while over 97% of respondents stated that the feedback they received on their first stage assignment clarified assignment expectations. Finally, nearly 88% felt the feedback would be useful in later stage assignments. Interestingly, questions that asked students to compare the types and purposes of feedback got mixed results. Students were equally split on whether they found written or spoken feedback to be more helpful, as well as whether they value feedback that is beneficial for immediate needs over feedback that helps over the long time at university. When asked to decide which type of feedback is more important: feedback that makes you a better student or feedback that makes a better essay, students overwhelmingly chose ‘both’ with over 80%. This may indicate a design

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flaw with the prior two questions, where they were not given the option of choosing both. Feedback Perceptions Results The final research instrument sought to determine whether self-reported data of reading and understanding feedback was valid, as well as whether any perceptible improvement to writing was evidenced in their assignments, based on the feedback received. Overall, the data indicates that engaging with feedback as a genre contributes to greater student uptake and understanding of tutor feedback. Firstly, when asked to indicate whether they had read the feedback, all but two respondents indicated they had (94%). The two who indicated they had not given reasons for not reading it that identified their own (perceived) lack of language ability, with one student explaining: ‘no because of less knowledge’ and another indicating ‘because I forgot what the survey was about’. In order to determine whether the self-reported data regarding reading the feedback was true, respondents’ selected options were compared with the actual feedback they were given. Of the students who indicated they had, in fact, read the feedback, 86% correctly identified some or all of the feedback they were given, with just 14% incorrectly identifying the feedback they were given. This indicates a high degree of comprehension of the feedback, confirming early student views of the understandability of feedback. Finally, the survey asked participants to rate the usefulness of the feedback they had been given in writing a similar assignment in the future. The question rated usefulness from 1 to 5, with one meaning ‘definitely not’ and five meaning ‘extremely useful’. Overwhelming, the respondents indicated they found the feedback to be useful, with a vast majority of participants rating the feedback at a 5, and no students selecting the 1 or 2 options. Improvement of Student Work in Feedback-related Areas In order to obtain further objective data on whether student engagement with the feedback led to uptake in the writing areas that had been targeted, student feedback and results from the first assignment were further contrasted with feedback and results in the subsequent assignment. In this case, of the 36 students who interacted with the feedback, 69% achieved improvements in the targeted areas. Remarkably, only 2 of the 36 students decreased in performance, following the interactions with the feedback. Implications One of the ways in which Sydney School genre pedagogy has proved so successful generally, and, we would argue, in the Gulf context we have elaborated here, is in establishing a shared set of expectations about feedback. This was achieved by making everything as explicit as possible. We furnished students with the three most useful types of feedback they will receive, explaining how they work, and what they are intended to do. Students were shown examples, discussed what they meant, and were then exposed to the same style of feedback in their own work. This was then

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discussed with their teachers in turn, establishing meaning and reaffirming the need to act upon feedback. Any teacher with limited course contact time will immediately spot that they would have to give up valuable class time normally devoted to content in order to make feedback expectations explicit. This is true. While we aimed to keep the introductory session to 45 min, that is still 45 min of ‘lost’ content. It may well be argued that as Gulf universities have largely adopted a US model of Student Success that aims to provide all first year students with similar curricular and extra-curricular experiences in order to maximize their chances of long-term academic success that the most useful place for developing initial student literacy is in an academic skills course. While Wingate (2006) has argued compellingly against the practice of divorcing ‘study skills’ from content courses, this model may be preferable to an absence of overall explicit instruction in this area. Introducing nascent undergraduates to higher education feedback practices so early in their academic career would also help mitigate the difficulties new students find moving from a system of highly directed formative assessment in school to one of summative assessment requiring self-monitoring which is more common in university. It may be countered that while this does not rob time from any content in any specific course, it does contribute to time lost more generally in foundation and University College-style courses. This is not the place for that debate, but the point can be answered with regard to feedback. Having feedback literate students actually saves time for teachers over the long run. Students who understand feedback and act upon it require less time from their teachers. They know what to do with feedback, and because they understand the value of self-monitoring, they do not keep making the same mistakes. If this is one way the development of feedback literacy saves teachers’ time, another way is the simplification of feedback delivery. Using the genre-style forms with the three types of feedback clarifies the process not only for students, but also for teachers. Such clarity makes giving feedback an easier process. As class sizes across the tertiary sector increase, individualized feedback is one area that suffers. Genre-style feedback can limit the degradation of this service to students, and actually make it better. Another way in which time can be saved is by employing the same metalanguage—a key tenet of Sydney School genre pedagogy. If both students and teachers speak about feedback in the same way, this results in fewer misunderstandings about what an error is and how it can be corrected, for example. If there are fewer misunderstandings, less time is spent clearing them up, and more energy and intent can be expended on actioning the feedback. All of these measures require institutional-level planning and intent. If students and teachers are to speak the same metalanguage, then it is not only the students who will need to receive training in this regard. Feedback can be delivered ad hoc on an individual basis, or can be systematized so that quality is maintained across the university. For this to happen, higher administration will need to engage with the issue of feedback and ensure that there is time to develop consistency. Rather than a top-down approach, having one department within a college develop a best-practice model that can be generalized across a university might be a more effective option.

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Another area where time needs to be allotted by universities is the planning of curricula that afford learners the opportunity to act on feedback. This can happen in three key areas. Firstly, the assessment of a curriculum should allow for formative feedback, rather than simple summative assessment. In this way, students can act upon the feedback within an assignment. The second area where students need to be given chances to demonstrate improvement through feedback is across summative assignments. Assignments should share at least some similar learning outcomes within a course. Thirdly, and ideally, students should be able to engage with similar learning outcomes across courses. The modular nature of most current degree programmes obviate opportunities for this to happen, but a strategic approach to curriculum planning across courses would yield dividends. Lessons learned by students would have iterative applicability within and across modules and courses—what Carless refers to as feedback spirals (2019)—and all stakeholders would attend more diligently to it as a result. Students would not then begin each new encounter with an assignment with the same feeling of perplexity they experienced the first time. Rather, they would have an understanding of the expectations of their lecturers fostered by the feedback they have already received. This should lead to an emboldened sense of agency on their part which would make them more likely to engage with feedback by asking for it, questioning it, and using it, and, in turn, make teachers more likely to give it.

Conclusion If learner agency is partly a function of institutional coherence, it is also inevitably a realization of individual competencies that can be learned and, we would contend, mastered. If students know the purposes of the different types of feedback they will encounter, know what to do with it, and are given opportunities to use it, they will be empowered to act on that knowledge. While not the only way, what we are proposing here is that one of the effective ways of doing that within the current institutional parameters of EMI tertiary education in the Gulf is by treating and teaching feedback as a genre.

References Bailey, R., & Garner, M. (2010). Is the feedback in higher education assessment worth the paper it is written on? Teachers’ reflections on their practices. Teaching in Higher Education, 15(2), 187–198. Bilikozen, N. (2015). Academic literacy development and identity construction of undergraduates at an American university in the UAE. University of Sheffield. Beaumont, C., O’Doherty, M., & Shannon, L. (2011). Reconceptualising assessment feedback: A key to improving student learning? Studies in Higher Education, 36(6), 671–687. Butler, D. L., & Winne, P. H. (1995). Feedback and self-regulated learning: A theoretical synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 65(3), 245–281.

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Carless, D. (2006). Differing perceptions in the feedback process. Studies in Higher Education, 31(2), 219–233. Carless, D. (2019). Feedback loops and the longer-term: Towards feedback spirals. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 44(5), 705–714. Carless, D., & Boud, D. (2018). The development of student feedback literacy: Enabling uptake of feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(8), 1315–1325. Derewianka, B. (2015). The contribution of genre theory to literacy education in Australia. In J. Turbill, G. Barton & C. Brock (Eds.), Teaching Writing in Today’s Classrooms: Looking back to looking forward . Norwood, Australia: Australian Literary Educators’ Association (pp. 69–86). Dreyfus, S., Humphrey, S., Mahboob, A., & Martin, J. R. (2016). Genre pedagogy in higher education: The SLATE project. Palgrave Macmillan. Ellis, R. (2009). A typology of written corrective feedback. ELT Journal, 63(2), 97–107. Evans, C. (2013). Making sense of assessment feedback in higher education. Review of Educational Research, 83(1), 70–120. Findlow, S. (2006). Higher education and linguistic dualism in the Arabian Gulf. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 27, 19–36. Foord, R. (2019). Student satisfaction rises but universities should do more to improve feedback. (2019, July 3). Retrieved from https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-and-events/pressand-media/student-satisfaction-rises-but-universities-should-do-more-to-improve-feedback/. Forsythe, A., & Johnson, S. (2017). Thanks, but no-thanks for the feedback. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(6), 850–859. Freimuth, H. (2014). Challenges to building a “Knowledge Society”: The role of literacy in promoting critical thinking in the UAE. Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research: Policy Paper. No. 10. Green, S. (2019). What students don’t make of feedback in higher education: An illustrative study. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 38, 83–94. Halliday, M. A. K. (1985). Systemic Background. In James D. Benson, & W. S. Greaves (Eds.), Systemic Perspectives on Discourse, Vol.1: Selected Theoretical Papers from the Ninth International Systemic Workshop. Ablex. Vol. 3 in The Collected Works, p. 192. Hammoudi, F. A. (2007). UAE High School Students’ Perceptions of Teachers’ Feedback on Their Writing. (Master Dissertation). Retrieved from American University of Sharjah Theses & Dissertations. Retrieved from https://dspace.aus.edu:8443/xmlui/handle/11073/8814. Hatherly-Greene, P. (2012). Cultural border crossings in the UAE. Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research: Policy Paper. No. 6. Hatakka, M. R. H. (2014). Indicators affecting the development of first year students’ academic literacy skills in an English-medium higher education institute in the Arabian Gulf region. (Doctoral thesis). University of Exeter, UK. Retrieved October 8, 2015, from http://hdl.handle. net/10871/15458. Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112. Hyland, F. (2001). Providing effective support: Investigating feedback to distance language learners. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning., 16(3), 233–247. Martin, J. R. (2007). Metadiscourse: Designing interaction in genre-based literacy programs. In R. Whittaker, M. O’Donnell, & A. McCabe (Eds.), Language and literacy: functional approaches (pp. 95–122). Continuum. Martin, J. R. (2009). Genre and language learning: A social semiotic perspective. Linguistics and Education, 20(1), 10–21. Mohammedi, N. A. (2016). Exploring the Perceived and the Actual Written Feedback Preferences between Elf Students and Teachers in the UAE. Master of Education Dissertation. UAE University Scholarworks. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uaeu.ac.ae/. Mulliner, E., & Tucker, M. (2017). Feedback on feedback practice: perceptions of students and academics. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(2), 266–288. https://doi.org/10. 1080/02602938.2015.1103365

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Tony Myers has taught in higher education for over 15 years, eight of them in the UAE. He is currently Assistant Dean for Students in University College, Zayed University. He is interested in English for Academic Purposes, Sydney School Genre Pedagogy, Legitimation Code Theory, and feedback literacy. He has previously published books on essay writing and Slavoj Zizek. Jaime Buchanan has been teaching in Abu Dhabi since 2008, and has worked at Zayed University since 2012 where she is currently Senior Instructor working in University College and the College for Technological Innovation. Apart from feedback literacy, she also has research interests in genre pedagogy and systemic functional linguistics. She believes in the value of action research to develop and evaluate her teaching practice, and is passionate about developing writing skills – both practical and academic – in her students.

Chapter 21

Transitioning from Classroom Delivery to Simulated Online Delivery Across Campuses: General Education in the UAE Timothy White, Wasif Minhas, Georgia Daleure, Hisham Hanfy, Nadia Solovieva, and Corey Brandon Abstract In 2018 the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), a federally funded multi-campus tertiary institution across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) proceeded to standardize courses across its 16 campuses. The main goal was to ensure that the credentials earned across the campuses were consistent in terms of the skills and abilities demonstrated by graduates in each location. The General Studies Program, a sub-division of the General Academic Requirements Division, took the opportunity to incorporate technology tools, educational best practices, and innovative solutions to develop a simulated online delivery model, cross-listing courses in Blackboard Learn and introducing a hybrid flipped class delivery approach. To determine the feasibility of the model a three-stage pilot was run in which the first stage was to cross-list all General Studies courses and redevelop materials to suit the hybrid online delivery strategy. The effectiveness of the model was measured using two metrics, the overall mean score in representative courses and the difference between coursework and final exam grades in courses and campuses. The two metrics were compared using data from the academic year 2018 as compared to the semester in the academic year 2017 before the simulated online model. Comparison of student achievement data shows that the overall mean scores for targeted courses did increase. In courses where the overall mean did not increase, there was a narrowing of the discrepancy between final exam and coursework scores which is an important KPI in the institution. This innovative delivery system paved the way to a move toward a hybrid model fully incorporating blended learning one year in advance of the COVID-19 pandemic. The advanced preparation and experience of the General Studies Programs contributed to the overall preparedness of HCT to successfully transition to a fully online delivery model when the Ministry of Education decided to move all education delivery online in 2020. Keywords Learning management system standardization · UAE tertiary education · Hybrid flipped online class · Course standardization T. White (B) · W. Minhas · G. Daleure · H. Hanfy · N. Solovieva · C. Brandon Sharjah Colleges, Higher Colleges of Technology, University City, Sharjah, UAE e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_21

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Introduction The General Studies program in the Higher Colleges of Technology delivers general education courses in English language, Arabic language, Emirati Studies, Islamic Studies, Math, Future Strategic Foresight, Research Methods, Sustainability, and others to programs across the sixteen campuses in the system. In the 2015 academic year, the institution mandated a move to standardize its courses across all campuses. The main purpose of this was to ensure that graduates in all campuses were achieving consistent benchmarks and any credentials achieved demonstrated graduate achievement of the same skills and abilities. This was important for internal institutional validity as well as to the external community and accrediting bodies. One of the strategies to achieve this standardization was the introduction of a Faculty-Wide Assessment (FWA) in the 2015 academic year. The FWA is a common, comprehensive, summative assessment measuring achievement of all possible course learning outcomes. It was introduced across all campuses to ensure consistency and provide quality assurance measurement against the same metrics for institutional accreditation. Initial results from the FWAs indicated significant variance among campuses for the same courses. The variance was between campuses in terms of mean FWA grades in courses, as well as wide differences in mean scores comparing coursework with FWA. As an example, in General Education in the fall semester 2016, one course (completed by over 1,000 students) was identified as having over 30% of students with an unacceptably wide difference between coursework and FWA (more than 15 percentage points). There were also divergences between individual campuses. At one campus 5% of the students achieved a final grade achievement of A in the course. This was considerably higher at another campus where 35% of the students received an A grade in the same course. Feedback was given to divisions on grades with a requirement to come up with plans to address the wide variance. At the same time, there was a requirement to improve organizational efficiencies in utilization of human and physical resources. There was also an organizational focus on innovating classroom pedagogy away from a more traditional teacher-centred delivery style. One approach that was promoted by the institution was incorporating flipped classroom pedagogy into courses. Reasons for this included students having ready access to learning technology through laptops and/or iPads and to promote a more student-centred teaching approach. Given this background, the General Studies program took the opportunity to use up-to-date technology and inter-campus infrastructure to develop a simulated online model for its courses. Using the Blackboard learning management system, courses were cross-listed across all campuses. Cross-listing in Blackboard is when individual Blackboard class shells (child courses) are all linked under one common Blackboard class shell (master course), which includes all classes of any one course along with all the students and teachers in that course. Blackboard cross-listing was to allow standardization and monitoring of courses to ensure both content and assessments aligned with the course learning outcomes. At the same time the division introduced

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a self-access, flipped classroom simulated online delivery model through the crosslisted Blackboard courses. Both these measures were intended to standardize the course delivery and to reduce divergences in assessments between campuses and between coursework and final assessment grades.

Literature Review Tertiary Education in the UAE Tertiary education in the UAE is relatively new. The first tertiary institution in the UAE was the UAE University opened in 1977. By June 2020 there were 78 licensed tertiary institutions (Commission for Academic Accreditation, 2019), with 3 of them being federally funded. The number of students in tertiary education has grown at a strong rate, with 191,794 students in the 2016 academic year, up from 128,279 in 2013 (Federal Competitiveness & Statistics Authority, 2018). The rapid rise of tertiary education has led to many educators from around the world coming to work in the UAE. For example, in the emirate of Dubai the population in 2019 included just over 90% of expatriates (Dubai Statistics Centre) and there are reported to be more than 200 different nationalities in the UAE (United Arab Emirates’ Government Portal, 2020). These statistics indicate that the faculty working in tertiary education will bring different educational experiences and backgrounds with them. The UAE Vision 2021 (UAE Vision 2021, 2018) and Abu Dhabi’s Vision 2030 (The Government of Abu Dhabi, 2008) set out goals for transforming the UAE from an oil-based economy into a knowledge-based economy. Education was one area identified for the transformation of educational pedagogy and the increased adoption of educational technologies. However, coupled with this push for educational reform, there is a recognition that Emirati learners in tertiary education may not have developed skills associated with learner independence and expect a more structured teacher-centred educational setting (McLaughlin & Durrant, 2017) and still need to develop the competencies and skills needed for a local and international labour market (Ashour & Fatima, 2016).

Transitioning to Online Learning Online learning is an increasing trend within education. The Babson Survey Research Group tracked levels of distance and online learning in US tertiary institutions from 2003 to 2014, noting that the move to online learning has steadily increased throughout that period (Allen & Seaman, 2016). The move to online learning has been

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driven by various factors such as desire for personalization, easy access, cost-saving, and improving student outcomes and achievement (Horn & Staker, 2015). For the purposes of this chapter, we will work with the definitions of online learning given by The Babson Survey Research Group (Allen & Seaman, 2016). Online learning is one where course content is delivered in a distance mode of delivery—the learners are not required to be in a physical classroom. Traditional courses deliver all of their courses face to face in a physical classroom. Web facilitated classes are those where less than 30% of the course is online, such as in the use of learning management systems to deliver tasks and assignments. Blended learning are those courses that have 30% to 80% of the course delivered online and the remainder in a traditional physical classroom setting. An online (distance) course is one where at least 80% of the course content is delivered online. In the UAE, the adoption of educational technologies in tertiary education has been high. Federally funded institutions require learners to have laptops and/or iPads and there is institutional provision of learning management systems, such as Blackboard. However, the integration of these with courses and their usage by faculty has not been consistent (Daouk & Aldalaien, 2019). Research has identified that many teachers are not using educational technology in any substantive ways, but just as a supplement to existing traditional delivery methods (Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010; Koc, 2013). However, there had not been any wider move to blended or online distance learning in public tertiary institutions, until the COVID-19 pandemic when the Ministry of Education mandated that all educational institutions in the UAE deliver their programs by distance online from 22 March 2020 (United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education, 2020).

Flipped Classroom The flipped class approach is often described as a blended or hybrid approach, with features of asynchronous online and face to face delivery. Learners engage with content, such as recorded videos, before class so the face to face class time is then used for application and practice of that content (Chen, et al., 2018; Wozny et al., 2018). The authors often held to be the originators of the term flipped class describe the approach broadly as things traditionally done in the class are now done outside it, and things traditionally done outside of the class alone by students are now done in the class (Bergmann & Sams, 2012). The approach is often linked to active learning theory (Freeman, et al., 2014; Chun & Heo, 2018). A flipped class can be seen as enabling a student-centred approach as it frees the face to face class for a focus on active learning where an instructor can check student’s competency with the skills and concepts, apply those skills and also respond and react to learner needs (Horn & Staker, 2015). There have been a number of potential benefits mentioned with the adoption of a flipped class approach. One is an improvement in student achievement in assessments (Chun & Heo, 2018; Freeman, et al., 2014; Sawaftah & Aljeraiwi, 2016). A

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meta-study of 20 research studies on a flipped class approach (Zainuddin & Halili, 2016) found that most studies reported an improvement in academic performance on assessments. This improvement in achievement has in a number of studies been identified as more significant for higher achieving students (Asarta & Schmidt, 2017; Swoboda & Feiler, 2016; Wozny et al., 2018). Another benefit mentioned is developing student soft skills, building student independent learning skills and increased motivation. These skills would support students moving away from a traditional teacher-centred model towards a more fully online model. However, there is not yet strong evidence for a flipped class approach building life-long learning and soft skills (Reidsema, Kavanagh, & Hadgraft, 2017) or if changes in motivation are a substantive change over time (van Vliet et al., 2015; Chen, et al., 2018; Zainuddin & Halili, 2016). However, there is evidence that students spend more time preparing before classes and showing a positive correlation between the amount of time spent on flipped class material and academic achievement (Chun & Heo, 2018; Wozny et al., 2018), suggesting a change in study habits.

Factors in Success of Flipped Classes There have been a number of different factors identified in the success or otherwise of a flipped class approach. One is that online learning requires a learner to be highly independent (Al-Otaibi, 2017; Johnson & Berge, 2012) and less confident students need support in the process (Comber & Brady-Van den Bos, 2018). A UAE study in a tertiary institution on flipping an academic writing course found that while students were satisfied with the flipped class recorded videos, they expressed a desire to have it reviewed in a following class by a teacher (Engin & Donanci, 2014). This may suggest that in this context a move to online learning needs to be gradual, especially if students are used to a teacher-centred approach. Another factor is the design of the online learning environment itself. Studies of student perceptions in UAE universities found that important determiners of acceptance of e-learning were quality (Al-Malki et al., 2015; Salloum et al., 2019) ease of use and usefulness (AlHamad, 2020). Zainuddin and Halili (2018) in their analysis of 20 research studies identified a main challenge to online course success being poor materials which lack interactivity or quality. These points would indicate that designers of online environments need to ensure that course components, activities, content and tasks are well organized and sequenced and connected with each other in an online environment (Tseng & Walsh, 2016). A further point is the part faculty play in the move to online learning in general. Support for faculty is important in the transition to any online teaching (Hiasat, 2018; Johnson & Berge, 2012; Northcote et al., 2015). Also faculty’s attitudes to online learning are important as some have a perception of online environments being complex (Zanjani et al., 2017) and some report feelings of anxiety using technology (Al-Busaidi & Al-Shihi, 2012). There is also the preparation and transitioning of

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materials to an online environment (Johnson & Berge, 2012). Varonis (2014) argues that strong classroom instructors may not necessarily have the skills and technological expertise to create online or hybrid content. Another issue is faculty attitude to online learning and technology. Allen and Seaman (2016) in The Babson Online Report Card found that academic leaders in US tertiary institutions report that less than half of faculty accept the value of online education and are not convinced about it as a method of teaching. These points suggest the need for faculty support when designing and delivering online courses.

Learning Management Systems Learning management systems (LMS) are an established online platform used in many tertiary institutions and one of the most common platforms is Blackboard. An LMS can be used as a supplement for in-class lectures and repositories for course materials, a platform for delivering flipped classes and all the way up to supporting a distance model of online learning (Al-Busaidi & Al-Shihi, 2012; Georgouli et al., 2008). One functionality in Blackboard is the cross-listing of courses. This is when multiple classes of a course can be linked together in one common course shell. If the LMS is the mode of delivery of the course and materials, then cross-listing means that students and faculty across multiple campuses should have the same teaching and learning experience. For example, an academic reading and writing course that is delivered to 100 different classes would traditionally have had 100 different Blackboard course shells across the institution, however, under cross-listing they will all be linked into one common course. Cross-listing will address an issue of online courses maintaining standardization in course content and delivery (Georgouli et al., 2008; Zanjani et al., 2017). A cross-listed course is one that can be more easily monitored and is more transparent. This can make academic management of the course easier, preventing material and activities that don’t conform to a flipped class approach. Also updating of course materials happens in just one place. Course data for all classes and campuses can be accessed and compared easily, enabling transparency of student performance and more timely identification of issues. The points on cross-listed courses, as well as those on factors for the success of flipped class introduction, would suggest that a standardized online delivery using a cross-listed BBL model would support faculty and students in the transition to an online environment.

Description of the Simulated Online Model Based on existing literature on the standardization of courses using learning management systems and the introduction of flipped classes as a form of blended learning, the General Education division adopted the approach of cross-listing courses on

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Blackboard and introducing a flipped class delivery model through these cross-listed courses. This was introduced in the summer semester 2017 for all courses in the General Education course catalogue, including communications, mathematics, social science, and natural science courses (the only exception was a non-credit bearing mathematics course that was subsequently cross-listed in the following academic year). Prior to this, the model of delivery of courses in the 2017 academic year was one where the course curriculum was developed centrally with the posting of central course outlines before each academic year. The course outlines set the course learning outcomes, along with areas such as assessment structure, course resources, and delivery plan. A System Course Team Leader (SCTL) managed each course and often posted common course material on a repository that only teachers had access to. In turn, there was a Course Team Leader at each campus who disseminated information and organized the campus teachers. However, each class taught by a teacher had a separate Blackboard course shell (termed ‘child course’ in Blackboard) with one class of students registered to it. The instructor for that class managed the Blackboard course, uploading course material and assessments and setting up a gradebook recording learner assessment scores inside it. In this model, there was no rigorous standardization or easy central monitoring of course materials and delivery and no guarantee of a common course experience for all students and faculty. Blackboard integration with course content and delivery, depended on individual faculty. This model is represented in Fig. 21.1. Cross-listing of courses was introduced in summer 2017 and 2018. In this model, all the classes of a course are under one common course on Blackboard. Cross-listing a course meant that the System Course Team Leader could organize the architecture of the online learning environment and upload flipped class materials, assessments, class tasks, and gradebooks. All faculty and students taking that course in one semester would be registered to the same Blackboard shell. Faculty were all attached to this one cross-listed course and were instructed not to upload, delete or alter any content on the Blackboard course directly, to ensure

System Course Team Leader

SCTL

Campus Course Team Leader

Campus course faculty

CTL

Faculty 1

Faculty 2

Faculty 3

Child Course 1

...

.....

...

CTL

CTL

...

Faculty 50

Course materials LMS (Blackboard)

Fig. 21.1 Course management structure prior to cross-listing—2017

Child course 50

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standardization was maintained. In order that faculty could contribute to course and assessment development there was a Course Materials and Assessment Vetting Committee. The committee consisted of a number of faculty from different campuses. Any materials could only be uploaded onto the cross-listed Blackboard course after passing through the committee. The structure of the cross-listed simulated online model can be seen in Fig. 21.2. A comparison between the two models shows that the previous model in Fig. 21.1 was more fragmented where the System Course Team Leader had little direct control of or access to course content and delivery in Blackboard. However, the simulated online model in Fig. 21.2 shows a less hierarchical model with one common crosslisted course that could allow easier standardization of course and content for all faculty and students. The introduction of the cross-listed model provided an opportunity to introduce a simulated online delivery approach. The literature has shown that the success of flipped classes often depends on ensuring quality of course material and a clearly organized and easy-to-use online course. Therefore, the standardization allowed in a cross-listed course allowed a process to validate the quality of flipped class materials and its organization by the System Course Team Leader along with the Vetting Committee. It also relieved the pressure on teachers who did not have to create their own materials to be delivered online, but could contribute if desired. This was a simulated move online as in 2018 the courses still retained the 4 h of face to face classes from the 2017 model. The flipped classes were introduced as an additional fifth hour (see Fig. 21.3). This allowed a limited move towards online delivery of courses as the literature shows that tertiary students in the UAE may lack independent learning skills (McLaughlin & Durrant, 2017). The retention of 4 h in class with a teacher following the flipped class was to give the support and confidence to students during this transition process. This also allowed the institution a period to review the flipped class design to ensure optimal effectiveness before planning

System Course Team Leader

SCTL

LMS (Blackboard)

BBL Cross-listed course

Course Materials and Assessment Veƫng CommiƩee

Course materials

Faculty

Faculty 1

Faculty 2

Fig. 21.2 Course management structure after cross-listing—2018

.....

Faculty 50

21 Transitioning from Classroom Delivery to Simulated Online Delivery …

Flipped Class 1 hour

Face to Face Physical Class 2 hours

329

Face to Face Physical Class 2 hours

Fig. 21.3 Simulated online delivery model—2018

any move towards a blended learning approach where fewer parts of the course were delivered face to face in class.

Methodology As previously described, the main aims in cross-listing courses in Blackboard were to standardize courses to reduce the problems of grade discrepancies evident in the earlier model and also provide the platform to introduce a simulated online model using flipped classes which the literature suggests improves students’ achievement. In the transition of courses to the simulated online method, this chapter will look at the following questions. 1 2

Did a simulated online delivery model using a flipped class approach result in improved student achievement, measured in terms of mean final grades? Did a cross-listed course in Blackboard Learn result in a greater standardization of student grades, measured in terms of a reduction in the difference between coursework grades and final exam grades for a course and at individual campuses?

This paper uses a quantitative approach. The data was extracted from Blackboard gradebooks for the Spring semester 2017 and the Fall semester 2018 and analysed using SPSS. The mean final grade marks were compared for each course across both semesters. The mean final exam (FWA) marks and total coursework grade marks data were compared across both semesters by course and by campus. The difference was calculated using the Absolute function in Excel to ascertain if there had been an increase or decrease in final exam (FWA) score as compared with the coursework score from the 2017 academic year Spring semester to 2018 academic year Fall semester. A negative number shows the difference had narrowed. The 2017 Spring semester is when the General Education courses were delivered as traditional face to face classes with each course having multiple Blackboard course shells for each individual class. The 2018 Fall semester is when the General Education courses were delivered using a simulated online method as described earlier. Seven General Education courses delivered at the institution are included here. The only General Education course excluded was the Life and Future Skills course (LSS 1003) because there

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Table 21.1 Number of Students in General Education Courses LSC1103 LSS1123 LSC2103 LSM1003 LSN1113 LSM1113 LSM1123 2017 Spring 1505 semester

2153

1131

987

821

147

232

2018 Fall semester

1630

1843

782

1013

79

135

1931

were substantive changes to the system course learning outcomes in the 2018 Fall semester, making data comparisons invalid. The population of the study were female and male Emirati tertiary students studying General Education courses at 8 campuses of this tertiary institution. The number of students taking each course can be seen in Table 21.1 which shows the total count of students taking that course in each semester across all campuses. Two courses with noticeably lower numbers (LSM 1113 and LSM 1123) were not delivered in all campuses. The factors that are targeted to indicate success in the move to a simulated online model are defined as follows: 1. 2.

An overall increase in mean scores in courses A reduction in the discrepancy in mean scores in final exam score versus coursework score for a course and across campuses

Results Overall Mean Scores of Courses All of the courses in Table 21.2 showed a statistically significant difference between the 2017 Spring semester and 2018 Fall semester overall mean scores. As seen in Table 21.2, there were three courses that had a statistically significant difference between the Spring semester and the Fall semester with the final overall mean mark being higher in the simulated online model in the 2018 Fall semester. Table 21.2 Overall mean final scores of courses for Spring and Fall semesters with significance level LSC 1103 LSS 1123 LSC 2103 LSM 1003 LSN 1113 LSM 1113 LSM 1123 Spring 73.6227 2017

75.5118

77.6711

64.7042

74.8973

59.6124

62.4802

Fall 2018

74.7097

77.2623

74.5456

60.6834

74.3196

68.8863

58.4134

0.032

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.267

0.000

0.030

Sig

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This was LSC 1103 (Academic Reading and Writing I) that showed an increase of just over 1% between the mean scores and LSS 1123 (Introduction to Research Methods) with an increase of just over 1.6%. LSM 1113 (Statistical Mathematics) had more than a 10% increase in overall mean scores in the Fall semester with the simulated online model. One of the courses, LSN 1113 (Introduction to Sustainability), showed a slight drop of just over 0.5%. The other two courses both evidenced a significant drop in mean scores. LSC 2103 (Academic Reading and Writing II) had a drop of over 3%, LSM 1123 (Quantitative Reasoning) had just over 4% and LSM 1113 (Statistical Mathematics) had over a 10% drop in overall mean scores in the Fall semester with the simulated online model.

Difference in Final Exam Score Versus Coursework Score The results in Tables 21.3, 21.4, 21.5, 21.6, 21.7, 21.8 and 21.9 for each course look at the overall final exam-coursework difference and for each campus. A notation of n/a indicated that no students took the course at that campus. Cells in the difference row with a negative number are those where a reduction in the difference between the final exam and coursework marks was demonstrated in the fall 2018 semester with the introduction of the simulated online model. In Table 21.3, the LSC1103 course showed that there had been an overall increase in the difference between the final exam and coursework grades, which was replicated across campuses, except Al Ain and Madinat Zayed. The number of students studying the course at Madinat Zayed in the 2018 Fall semester was 10. The LSS1123 course in Table 21.4 showed a slight increase in the difference between final exam and coursework marks for all campuses. The only campus that saw a decrease was Fujairah. In Table 21.5, the LSC2103 course showed there had been a reduction in the overall difference between final score and coursework score. This result was found in all campuses, except Sharjah which had a very slight increase. The campus that is prominent with a difference of over 11 between final exam and coursework scores is Madinat Zayed where there were only 7 and 10 students taking the course in the Spring and Fall semesters, respectively. In Table 21.6, the LSM1003 course shows a reduction in the overall difference between final exam and coursework scores. The outlier campus here is Ruwais with a large increase, but the student numbers were low at 11 and 6 in the two semesters. In Table 21.7, LSN1113 showed a very slight increase in the overall difference between the marks. However, the campuses showed a wide fluctuation with one having a large increase in the final exam and coursework mark difference, Al Ain campus, and others having a reduction. The LSM1113 course in Table 21.8 showed an overall increase in final exam and coursework marks, which was seen across all campuses taking the course. It should be noted that this course was only offered to 5 of the 9 campuses.

−8.509 7.6156

6.6881 −2.102 −4.586

2.101 −6.537 4.4361

2017 Spring (difference)

2018 Fall (difference)

Difference—from 2017 Spring to 2018 Fall

136 0.8929

586

502

1894

135

1506

2018 Fall (student no.)

Abu Dhabi

2017 Spring (student no.)

Al Ain

All

Semester

LSC 1103—FWA-CW difference

3.4399

−6.66

3.2196

381

399

Dubai

5.5958

−6.05

0.4538

119

141

Fujairah

−5.605

0.3558

5.9612

10

39

MDZ

Table 21.3 LSC 1103 FWA and CW difference for Spring and Fall semesters with student numbers and difference levels

3.9115

−5.137

1.2256

229

269

RAK

4.9247

1.3276

−5.937

4.6095

−4.888 −9.813

404

405

Sharjah 29

21

Ruwais

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111 −12.94 −13.11

1619 −5.637 −7.349 1.7125

2018 Fall (student no.)

2017 Spring (difference)

2018 Fall (difference)

Difference—from 2017 Spring to 2018 Fall

0.1714

216

2153

2017 Spring (student no.)

Al Ain

All

Semester

LSS 1123—FWA-CW difference

4.3736

−9.532

−5.159

448

562

Abu Dhabi

1.8922

−6.893

−5

309

484

Dubai

−20.12 3.248

−6.311

−16.87

21

26

MDZ

0.5061

−6.817

153

131

Fujairah

Table 21.4 LSS 1123 FWA and CW difference for Spring and Fall semesters with student numbers and difference levels

5.8209

−8.108

−2.287

123

249

RAK

6.5833

−12.63

−6.043

42

39

Ruwais

1.1959

−5.442

−4.246

412

446

Sharjah

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113 −3.566 1.7071 −1.859

1855 −3.926 −2.03 −1.896

2018 Fall (student no.)

2017 Spring (difference)

2018 Fall (difference)

Difference—from 2017 Spring to 2018 Fall

65

1131

2017 Spring (student no.)

Al Ain

All

Semester

LSC 2103—FWA-CW difference

−1.417

−4.279

−5.696

534

347

Abu Dhabi

−4.77

−0.207

−4.978

345

340

Dubai

−3.276

−3.048

−6.324

129

48

Fujairah

−11.57

−1.98

−13.55

10

7

MDZ

Table 21.5 LSC 2103 FWA and CW difference for Spring and Fall semesters with student numbers and difference levels

−0.203

−2.937

−3.14

280

91

RAK

n/a

n/a

n/a

Ruwais

0.1579

−0.796

0.6382

444

233

Sharjah

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77 −19.19 −19.52 0.328

780 −17.65 −12.12 −5.534

2018 Fall (student no.)

2017 Spring (difference)

2018 Fall (difference)

Difference—from 2017 Spring to 2018 Fall

88

987

2017 Spring (student no.)

Al Ain

All

Semester

LSM 1003—FWA-CW difference

−2.96

−8.438

−11.4

183

183

Abu Dhabi

−5.115

−10.54

−15.66

139

192

Dubai

−6.298

−12.54

−18.83

72

108

Fujairah

−5.414

−14.97

−20.38

10

19

MDZ

Table 21.6 LSM 1003 FWA and CW difference for Spring and Fall semesters with student numbers and difference levels

−12.04

−9.117

−21.15

132

152

RAK

6.2059

−35.19

−28.98

6

11

Ruwais

−4.619

−15.34

−19.96

161

234

Sharjah

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91 −4.183 −17.88

1013 −10.38 −10.88 0.4986

2018 Fall (student no.)

2017 Spring (difference)

2018 Fall (difference)

Difference—from 2017 Spring to 2018 Fall

13.693

66

821

2017 Spring (student no.)

Al Ain

All

Semester

LSN 1113—FWA-CW difference

2.3935

−9.666

−7.272

296

214

Abu Dhabi

−8.927 −10.55

−0.949

−19.48

66

30

Fujairah

−12.93

−13.87

210

175

Dubai

n/a

n/a

n/a

MDZ

Table 21.7 LSN 1113 FWA and CW difference for Spring and Fall semesters with student numbers and difference levels

−3.325

−9.3

−12.62

130

175

RAK

n/a

n/a

n/a

Ruwais

0.0485

−9.157

−9.108

220

161

Sharjah

336 T. White et al.

8 −23.11 −28.98

79 −10.42 −14.19 3.7696

2018 Fall (student no.)

2017 Spring (difference)

2018 Fall (difference)

Difference—from 2017 Spring to 2018 Fall

5.8761

23

147

2017 Spring (student no.)

Al Ain

All

Semester

LSM 1113–FWA-CW difference

n/a

n/a

n/a

Abu Dhabi

1.7511

−10.65

−8.902

16

27

Dubai

3.992

−12.64

−8.646

12

38

Fujairah

n/a

n/a

n/a

MDZ

Table 21.8 LSM 1113 FWA and CW difference for Spring and Fall semesters with student numbers and difference levels

n/a

n/a

n/a

RAK

n/a

n/a

n/a

Ruwais

5.4748

−13.19

−7.712

43

66

Sharjah

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9 −8.868 −32.54

135 −8.019 −13.63 5.6133

2018 Fall (student no.)

2017 Spring (difference)

2018 Fall (difference)

Difference—from 2017 Spring to 2018 Fall

23.669

19

232

2017 Spring (student no.)

Al Ain

All

Semester

LSM 1123—FWA-CW difference

5.5946

−14.09

−8.491

34

71

Abu Dhabi

2.2729

−12.78

−10.51

36

37

Dubai

4.6528

−14.4

−9.745

12

42

Fujairah

n/a

n/a

n/a

MDZ

Table 21.9 LSM 1123 FWA and CW difference for Spring and Fall semesters with student numbers and difference levels

−14.39 10.449

−3.942

21

42

Sharjah

−0.033

n/a

n/a

n/a

Ruwais

−5.936

−5.97

23

21

RAK

338 T. White et al.

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In Table 21.9, LSM1123 showed an overall increase in the difference between the final exam and coursework marks. The large increase seen in Al Ain campus should be looked at in terms of the campus only having 9 students taking the course in 2018 Fall semester.

Discussion This section will consider the two areas targeted to indicate success of the introduction of a simulated online model.

Overall Mean Scores in Courses In terms of the increase in academic achievement with the introduction of a flipped class approach in the simulated online model in the 2018 Fall semester there are mixed results. Three courses showed a statistically significant increase, one had very little change and three showed a statistically significant decrease in academic achievement measured using final mean scores in the courses. Earlier studies have shown that in most cases the introduction of a flipped class approach has resulted in an increase in academic performance, although not in all studies (Zainuddin & Halili, 2016). This mixed result would seem to apply when looking at the seven courses the approach was applied to. The courses that showed an increase in this chapter were Academic Reading and Writing I (LSC 1103), Introduction to Research Methods (LSS 1123) and Statistical Mathematics (LSM 1113), a communication skills, social sciences and mathematics course. The courses that demonstrated a decrease included two mathematics courses (Applied Mathematics LSM 1003 and Quantitative Reasoning LSM 1123) and a communication skills course (Academic Reading and Writing II LSC 2103). Therefore, there does not seem to be a pattern regarding the type of course (communication, social science, or mathematics) and whether the final mean scores increased or decreased. Some possible explanations for the results can be considered. One possibility is that with a simulated online model a flipped class component was added, but the amount of face to face class time was not reduced. Therefore, teachers and students could have relied on the face to face class to consolidate, or even deliver, the flipped class. If this happened, this could have mitigated any possible effects of a flipped class. Another factor may be that this study looked at results across different courses. As we have seen in the earlier section describing the simulated online model structure, each course is managed by a different System Course Team Leader (SCTL). Therefore, while the materials and organization of the course may be standardized within the cross-listed Blackboard environment for each course, it may not have been

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standardized across courses. A comparison of the different Blackboard course structures and materials could investigate if there were differences in course organization and flipped class materials that could help understand why some courses showed an improvement in academic achievement, while others did not. Other studies have found evidence that higher achieving students perform better with non-traditional pedagogical approaches, such as flipped classes (Swoboda & Feiler, 2016). The students in this study are in a tertiary institution that is mandated to provide tertiary education opportunities to students with lower EMSAT or IELTS scores than many other institutions. Therefore, if a significant proportion of the student body is not high academic achievers, they may require more support to take advantage of a flipped class approach. Further research could drill down to an individual level to compare students’ GPA scores against assessment scores. This could see if academic achievement correlated with student GPA level in a simulated online course (Asarta & Schmidt, 2017).

Discrepancy in Mean Scores in Final Exam Scores Versus Coursework Scores The differences between the mean final exam and coursework marks showed that some courses achieved a reduction in the discrepancy between final exam and coursework scores, although other courses did not. Therefore, this may indicate an effect of the standardization involved in a cross-listed course. Two courses (LSM 1003 and LSC 2103) did show a consistent reduction across campuses in the final exam and coursework mean scores discrepancy. Both of these courses did not demonstrate an increase in academic achievement in the previous section. The three courses that had an overall mean increase in the academic achievement, measured by an increase in overall final mean scores (LSC 1103, LSS 1123, and LSM 1113) did not achieve the target of a reduction in final exam and coursework mark discrepancy, either overall or in most campuses. Therefore, while a simulated online model may have increased academic achievement, the cross-listing of the course did not result in a narrowing of the final exam and coursework discrepancy. The individual campus results for the LSM 1113 and LSM 1123 courses should be treated with caution as these courses were delivered across fewer campuses and to lower student numbers. In each campus, only one teacher delivered the course so student achievement may have been affected by teacher effects as much as introduction of the simulated online model.

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Limitations The data shows the move to a simulated online model introducing cross-listed Blackboard courses and the introduction of a flipped class approach at the same time. Further study would be needed to more clearly identify if results found correlate more strongly with a cross-listed approach or a flipped classroom.

Conclusions and Recommendations The results in this chapter provide some evidence that the move to a simulated online delivery mode improved the academic achievement for some courses and reduced final exam and coursework discrepancy in others. However, further research would be needed to identify to what extent the results were due to the introduction of a flipped class approach in the model or the move to cross-listing of courses to achieve standardization. The difference in results for courses may show the need to support students and faculty across all courses to ensure the simulated online delivery model was applied consistently across all courses. Studies have shown that teacher and learner support helps improve the effectiveness of non-traditional approaches, such as a flipped class or managing a cross-listed online environment. Teachers often need training to deliver online courses (Johnson & Berge, 2012) and may have anxiety or negative views connected to online learning (Zanjani et al., 2017). A suggestion could be to review training and support that teachers have which may support a more consistent delivery of a flipped class approach and improve its effectiveness. Along with this a further recommendation could be to look at strategies to support students with online components of courses, especially those who are not high achievers. Strategies such as developing time management and critical thinking and peer support programs have all been seen as having a positive effect on students’ ability to achieve with online courses (Broadbent & Poon, 2015). Learner training like this may ensure all students can take advantage of a non-traditional delivery method. A future area of research could then look at the role of teachers and students when moving to a mode of delivery involving online learning. The effect that teacher engagement and training on a flipped class approach has, as well as the effect that student motivation and learner independence has. This chapter has described a simulated online delivery model that introduced a flipped class approach while being supported by the same number of traditional face to face classes. This simulated online approach gave an opportunity to allow the model to be introduced while teachers and students were oriented to the new approach. Based on the results of cross-listing courses and moving to a flipped class delivery model, this supported a later move to a blended learning model in the next academic year after teacher orientation and training. The four hours delivery per

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week in the simulated online model was split into two hours online and two hours in-class face to face delivery. In turn, this supported the later move to fully online delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic when educational institutions in the UAE had to immediately cease all face to face classroom delivery and move online effective from 22 March 2020 (United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education, 2020).

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Engin, M., & Donanci, S. (2014, June). Flipping the classroom in an academic writing course. Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology; Indianapolis, 3(1), 94–98. Ertmer, P. A., & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, A. T. (2010). Teacher technology change: How knowledge, confidence, beliefs, and culture intersect. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 42(3), 255–284. Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority. (2018). Statistics by subject. Retrieved June 19, 2020, from Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority https://fcsa.gov.ae/en-us/Pages/Sta tistics/Statistics-by-Subject.aspx#/%3Fyear=&folder=Demography%20and%20Social/Educat ion/Higher%20Education&subject=Demography%20and%20Social. Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014, May). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. PNAS, 111(23), 8410–8415. Georgouli, K., Skalkidis, I., & Guerreiro, P. (2008). A framework for adopting LMS to introduce e-learning in a traditional course. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 11(2), 227–340. Hiasat, L. (2018). Blended and experiential learning for Emiratis in tertiary education. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 15(3), 874–881. Horn, M. B., & Staker, H. (2015). Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools. JosseyBass. Johnson, S. G., & Berge, Z. (2012). Online education in the community college. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 36(11), 897–902. Koc, M. (2013, October). Student teachers’ conceptions of technology: A metaphor analysis. Computers & Education, 68, 1–8. McLaughlin, J., & Durrant, P. (2017). Student learning approaches in the UAE: The case for achieving domain. Higher Education Research & Development, 36(1), 158–170. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/07294360.2016.1176998 Northcote, M., Gosselin, K. P., Reynaud, D., Kilgour, P., & Anderson, M. (2015). Navigating learning journeys of online teachers: Threshold concepts and self-efficacy. Issues in Educational Research, 25(3), 319–344. Reidsema, C., Kavanagh, L., & Hadgraft, R. (2017). Introduction to the flipped classroom. In Carl Reidsema, L. Kavanagh, R. Hadgraft, & N. Smith (Eds.), The Flipped Classroom: Practice and Practices in Higher Education (1 edn., pp. 3–14). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. Salloum, S. A., Al-Emran, M., Shaalan, K., & Tarhini, A. (2019). Factors affecting the e-learning acceptance: A case study from UAE. Education and Information Technologies, 509–530. Sawaftah, W. A., & Aljeraiwi, A. (2016). The effectiveness of blended learning based on Blackboard in immediate and delayed achievement and retention in a physics course among health colleges students at King Saud University (KSU). Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.24200/jeps.vol10iss3pp476-497. Swoboda, A., & Feiler, L. (2016). Measuring the effect of blended learning: Evidence from a selective liberal arts college. American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, 106(5), 368– 372. The Government of Abu Dhabi. (2008). The Abu Dhabi economic vision 2030. Retrieved from The Government of Abu Dhabi https://www.ecouncil.ae/PublicationsEn/economic-vision-2030-fullversionEn.pdf. Tseng, H., & Walsh, E. J. (2016). Blended versus traditional course delivery: Comparing students’ motivation, learning outcomes, and preferences. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 17(1), 43–52. UAE Vision 2021. (2018). First-rate education system. Retrieved from UAE Vision 2021 https:// www.vision2021.ae/en/national-agenda-2021/list/first-rate-circle. United Arab Emirates’ Government Portal. (2020). Fact Sheet. Retrieved June 19, 2020, from United Arab Emirates’ Government Portal: https://u.ae/en/about-the-uae/fact-sheet. United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education. (2020, March 22). Two-week distance learning initiative kicks off targeting all UAE students. Retrieved June 19, 2020, from United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education: https://www.moe.gov.ae/En/MediaCenter/News/Pages/elearning2.aspx.

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van Vliet, E. A., Winnips, J. C., & Brouwer, N. (2015, September). Flipped-class pedagogy enhances student metacognition and collaborative-learning strategies in higher education but effect does not persist. CBE Life Sciences Education, 14(3), 1–10. Varonis, E. M. (2014). Most courses are not born digital: An overview of the quality matters peer review process for online course design. Campus - Wide Information Systems, 31(4), 217–229. Wozny, N., Balser, C., & Ives, D. (2018, March). Evaluating the flipped classroom: A randomized controlled trial. The Journal in Economic Education, 49(2), 115–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 00220485.2018.1438860. Zainuddin, Z., & Halili, S. H. (2016, April). Flipped classroom research and trends from different fields of study. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 17(3), 313– 340. Zanjani, N., Edwards, S. L., Nykvist, S., & Geva, S. (2017). The important elements of LMS design that affect user engagement with e-learning tools within LMSs in the higher education sector. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 33(1), 19–31.

Timothy White is an English educator with 26 years’ experience, over 20 years of them in the Gulf and Middle East region. In the UAE he has worked in the General Academic Requirements Division of the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) teaching English Communication courses, as well as Ethics and Critical Thinking. In recent years he has worked on developing the General Education curriculum and supporting the move to blended and online delivery models. Wasif Minhas is an experienced educator, mentor and trainer. Since moving to the UAE, he has spent the last 10 years teaching Economics, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability at the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), Sharjah Campuses. He also leads the General Studies department at both Sharjah Campuses. More recently, Wasif has a leading role in transforming traditional classrooms to simulated online delivery across Sharjah campuses. Georgia Daleure is General Studies Dean at the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) and Social Studies (KG1-G12 Advanced) Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the UAE Ministry of Education. Combining her love of history, social science, and humanities with an Ed. D. in Educational Leadership and professional certifications including Future Strategic Foresight, Forensic Genealogy, and others, she leads projects to develop motivating curricula and engaging technology infused learning materials and delivery methods for students from KG through higher education. Hisham Hanfy is a mathematics faculty at the Higher Colleges of Technology with more than 24 years of experience in teaching mathematics in high school and higher education. Also, he has a solid background in the fields of Quality Assurance, Professional Development, Statistical Analysis and Curriculum Innovation. He believes that education is the milestone in building strong free students and that it is their key to succeed in life and be able to carry the responsibility of developing their own country. Nadia Solovieva has nearly 20 years of teaching experience in the UK, Hungary, Estonia and the UAE. She is an author and co-author of more than 27 peer-reviewed publications. Her current research interests include developing assessments for blended learning delivery, mixed methods case study research and applying new technologies in online classrooms. More recently, she had an important role introducing blended learning delivery at the Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE. Corey Brandon has 15 years of experience teaching secondary English and post-secondary Mathematics in the UAE. Mr. Brandon has 3 years of experience moderating and analysing assessments

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for the General Education division of the Higher Colleges of Technology. Moreover, Mr. Brandon is involved in maintaining the learning management system model used in the General Education division to ensure consistent content and assessments are delivered across multiple campuses throughout the UAE.

Part III

Practical Perspectives

Chapter 22

The Development of a Large Online Cross-Listed Course to Teach Life and Study Skills Melanie Gobert

Abstract The rapid shift to remote online learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a rethink of how education was, is, and should be delivered. The Life and Future Skills course at a large tertiary higher education institution in the United Arab Emirates was equipped to make this change, having been previously amended to deliver the curriculum in a blended learning environment. This chapter recounts the timeline of the innovative changes in the curriculum and delivery of the course and some of the challenges and successes that occurred during this time of change. Keywords MOOCS · Blended learning · Flipped learning · Synchronous learning · Online learning · Independent learning · Cross-listed courses · Future foresight · Strategic foresight · Future studies

Introduction The rapid shift to remote online learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a rethink of how education was, is, and should be delivered. At the largest government tertiary provider in the United Arab Emirates, the General Studies Department (GSD) was already well-equipped to make the change from blended learning to complete remote access learning due to the evolution of course delivery within the department. Hit by budget cuts affecting the number of teachers working in the department and by the minimization of general studies requirements for each major program, the GSD was able to make the changes quickly, efficiently, and with a minimum amount of disruption.

M. Gobert (B) Oostende, Belgium © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_22

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Definitions A lot of terminology is being used to describe non-traditional learning, meaning non-classroom-based learning, in the era of COVID-19, so it is pertinent to begin this chapter with a discussion and explanation of various terms to ensure maximum understanding of the current situation and challenges for General Studies education in the United Arab Emirates context. One term frequently used is online learning. Moore, Dickson-Deane, and Galyen (2011) write a comprehensive review of what is meant by e-Learning, distance learning, and online learning. The authors (2011) conclude that the term ‘E-learning,’ first used in the 1980s, must include an opportunity for individual learning, that is non-teacher or course-led learning, despite conflicts over the means by which it is delivered (i.e. analog or digital platforms). Distance learning, on the other hand, is generally understood to include the characteristic of geographical remoteness (Moore et al., 2011). However, they propose that online learning is much more complicated to define. It has characteristics of e-learning, can have characteristics of distance learning, though not necessarily, and in its most simple form, by definition, involves the use of internet technology, as the word ‘online’ is synonymous with accessing and using the internet. Further complexity comes into the equation when we attempt to pin down various diametrically opposed characteristics of online learning, such as whether it is self-directed and independent, or course or teacher-led, whether it is ‘blended’ and involves a face-to-face (F2F) component and an independent component, or whether it is by ‘Zoom’ (a synchronous, web-based video communication tool). Issues of synchronicity and asynchronicity also arise in a comprehensive erudition of the term, as traditional distance learning involves sustained asynchronous and independent learning, while delivery systems such as online web-based video conferencing tools, which are synchronous video interactive communication tools, offer little in the way of independent or self-directed learning, unless there is an element of choice and self-selection on the participant’s side before connecting to the web-based online conferencing tool. Another term that needs clarification is blended learning. According to Huang (2016), “blended learning is defined as the combined instructional environment where face-to-face learning and online learning are mixed within a single teaching and learning environment” (p. 14). Huang (2016) goes on to define “face-to-face learning” as referring specifically to traditional classrooms “where instructors and learners teach and learn face-to-face in physical classrooms,” (p. 14) whereas online learning “refers to web-based and self-directed learning either synchronously or asynchronously at computers,” using a variety of virtual resources and tools including “online learning materials, chat, message boards, and net meetings,” (p. 14). Deng (2019) offers a comprehensive overview of the origins of flipped learning or the ‘flipped classroom.’ The term was originally coined by Sams and Bergman (2013 as cited in Deng (2019). Sams and Bergman (2013) considered the flipped classroom as a teaching method, whereby what was “traditionally done in the classroom was now done at home and that students do homework or do some classroom activities in the

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class.” Deng (2019) concludes by defining flipping the classroom as “a pedagogical method in which students learn new knowledge through short videos, podcasts, ebooks as well as internet outside class and consolidate what they acquired through classroom activities with the help of classmates and teachers.” Two further terms that need to be clearly defined to understand the context and the innovation in course delivery developed by the GSD are cross-listed courses and massive open online courses (MOOC). A cross-listed course traditionally means one that is offered by one program or department but can fulfil program course requirements for another department, such as an elective undergraduate pharmacy program course which was cross-listed as an integrated studies course. In this example of a cross-listed course, any undergraduate junior or senior in the nursing program or health education program could take the pharmacy elective course in order to fulfil the graduation requirements for their program of study (Poirier et al., 2016). Hodges and McGuiness (2014) define a cross-listed course as “students enrolling in different sections of a course, where all students are then placed in the same distance-accessible course, but the sections remain separate.” According to the authors, one advantage of cross-listed courses is that groups can remain small while still receiving the same course information. However, in the context of this chapter, a cross-listed course means that all students taking a particular course are enrolled in one course and all of the instructors are also enrolled in the same course. In the case of the cross-listed course illustrated by Hodges and McGuinness (2014), there were 300 students enrolled in the cross-listed course, whereas in this case study the total number of students enrolled on one cross-listed course was over 3,000. The Learning Management System (LMS), Blackboard Learn (BBL) has created the possibility of cross-listing courses in the platform so that instructors teaching multiple groups of students in different classes taking the same course can make changes in a master course, without making changes in each ‘child’ course (the group-specific course). For example, if a teacher has three different classes (groups of students) taking English for Specific Purposes, each class has its own course, but if the teacher changes any of the content of the course, the teacher does not need to make changes on each group’s course, but can simply make the change on a ‘master’ course, and the changes will be reflected in each ‘child’ course. This saves the teacher time in not having to make the same change multiple times in the platform if there is an amendment in the course or assessment. MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course. Spector (2014) gives an extensive, comprehensive overview of MOOCs specifying what each letter of MOOC stands for. M stands for massive; while a typical online course rarely exceeds 50 students, enrolments in MOOCs are generally in the 1000 s (Spector, 2014). MOOCs are open to anyone without cost, can be accessed by anyone who has the internet, and there are no prerequisites (Spector, 2014). The commercial model of the MOOC is that students who pay for the course get instructor feedback and feedback on assessments, and there is also a model where students who take the course pay a certain amount in order to receive a certificate that they have completed the course. Usually less than 10% of the students who take the course, pay for the certificate (Spector, 2014). MOOCs usually offer open, license-free content as well and the idea behind

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them is altruistic, “make learning resources available to the widest possible community at little or no cost.” (Spector, 2014, p. 396). One further important point for the purposes of this chapter is that MOOCs are generally asynchronous and participants may access the materials at any time or place that suits them. This is due to the extremely large numbers of students enrolled at any one time in any particular course (Spector, 2014).

The Context The General Studies Department (GSD) is part of the largest government tertiary education provider in the United Arab Emirates. There are 16 male and female campuses and over 20,000 students. The institution was founded in 1988 by federal decree and over 60,000 students have graduated from the institution. There are over 1000 faculty, with over 250 in the GSD. Sixty-eight percent of the students are female, while 32% are male. The institution offers bachelor’s degrees in the following programs: Engineering and Science Technology, Business, Computer Information Science, Health Sciences, Applied Media, and Education (HCT Factbook, 2019–2020). The GSD currently offers five core courses taught through the medium of English and two mathematics courses. Students need a total of 120 credit hours to graduate with a bachelor’s degree, of which 33 credits must be in General Studies. Nine of these credits are from required Arabic and Emirati Studies courses (HCT Catalogue, 2020) and the rest are from General Studies courses. This chapter will focus on the Life and Future Skills course, the content of which was first developed in 2017, replacing the previous Life and Study Skills course. The course had a total enrolment of 3,072 in the Fall semester of 2020. Unlike the definition of a cross-listed course in the study of Hodges and McGuinness (2014) mentioned previously, which had a total enrolment of 300 students, divided into smaller groups in ‘child’ courses, all 3,072 students were enrolled in the same ‘master’ course, making it very MOOC-like in number. There were a total of 30 instructors in the same master cross-listed course.

Research Method This research uses a retrospective case study approach. “Retrospective case studies are a type of longitudinal case study design in which all data, including first-person accounts, are collected after the fact” (Mills et al., 2010). The data used in the study will include course data, the author’s personal account as a lived experience, student and teacher surveys, and student performance data.

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Course Timeline This course experienced significant changes in content, delivery, and assessment in the period from 2016–2020. Prior to 2018, the original Life and Study Skills course was not cross-listed system-wide for all students and teachers taking the course, but followed the normal delineation of a cross-listed course as detailed by Hodges and McGuiness (2014), whereby all the students of a particular teacher were enrolled in a cross-listed course and the teacher could make changes in the ‘master’ course, while the students in the same class were in separate sections, ‘child’ courses. This enables a smaller number of students to be enrolled in each course site and enables the teacher to utilize several functions of the LMS platform such as discussion boards and announcements with only her/his students currently taking the course. Teachers could also personalize the timeline of the course assessments. The course, in its original course outline and content, included such life and study skills as time management, academic research skills, and introductions to the institution’s volunteering program (students are required to have 100 volunteering hours in order to graduate), and the rights and responsibilities of the students as detailed in the institution’s student handbook. A major curriculum reform occurred in 2018 and the course became an introduction to strategic foresight, also known as future studies. Strategic foresight as described by Dan-Suteu and Giorgi (2019) is a means of posing questions and using scientific methodology to forecast estimations of the short-, medium-, and long-term future based on past and current data and analysis of trends. The authors propose that since work environments change continuously, traditional education will not last for a student’s entire working life and that educational programs need to include future studies from an early learning stage. This will provide students with the tools they need to anticipate the future and learn how to continuously un-learn and re-learn in order to remain employed for their lifetime. It will also give them the benefit of imagining possible, preferable, and probable futures, even though the future itself remains unknowable (Dan-Suteu & Giorgi, 2019). Another major change occurred in course delivery in 2018. The course would no longer be delivered by individual teachers using cross-listed courses in the traditional sense (one ‘master’ course for a single teacher to edit and update, with students in the same class enrolled in separate ‘child’ courses), but all teachers and all students taking the course would be enrolled in the same course. This presented some logistical problems in the beginning because teachers were used to setting their own deadlines for assessments and using tools such as ‘announcements’ to communicate with all of their students at once, as well as adding their own created material to the course to teach the various concepts. With the new massive cross-listed course, teachers were not allowed to use common tools in the LMS platform or to make any changes in the course content, delivery, or assessment. Many teachers were still able to circumvent this directive by using other platforms, such as Edmodo, Microsoft One Drive, or email, to communicate and share their own course materials with students. Initially, this caused some confusion for the

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Table 22.1 Life and Study Skills/Life and Future Skills Course Enrolment from 2017 to 2020 Year

Semester

No. of Students

No. of Instructors

Average Class Size

2017

Fall

2,177

61

18

Spring

1,826

43

21

2018

Fall

2,023

48

22

Spring

1,773

41

21

Fall

2,011

35

32

Spring

2,379

38

34

Fall

3,072

30

56

2019 2020

students because they had to access course content from two different locations, the official LMS and the platform for supplementary material chosen by the teacher. However, eventually most teachers settled for using only the material available on the cross-listed master course as this was more convenient and less time-consuming for them. In addition, supplementary learning materials created by teachers began to be incorporated into the master course after being approved by a vetting committee. One of the major advantages of having large online cross-listed courses is that curriculum, course materials, and assessment are standardized. However, one of the disadvantages is that teachers do not have the opportunity to be trained in the full use of all of the tools and facilities of the LMS platform. Table 22.1 shows the number of students enrolled in the course, the number of instructors teaching the course, and the average class size from the period 2017 to 2020, for fall and spring semesters. The course underwent another significant change in course delivery in the fall semester of 2019. The course went from being a full-time face-to-face course delivered in two 1- hour 40-min time periods for 14-weeks, to being a ‘flipped’ class or ‘blended’ learning course. ‘Flipping’ the class in the words of its originators means, Instead of coming to class to watch the teacher lecture and then going home to practice what they learned--thus the word homework--students watch the lecture at home and then come to class to practice what they’ve learned--that is, they’re now doing homework in class (Sams & Bergmann, 2013, p. 16)

In the GSD, students were no longer required to attend class face-to-face twice a week for a total of two 1-h and 40-min periods (200 min or 3 h and 20 min), but were only required to attend class face-to-face once a week for one period of 1-h 40 min. Classes were divided into Group A and Group B, with half of the class coming to the first period taught during the week and the other half of the class coming to the second period taught during the week. The rationale behind this was to encourage the students to become independent learners, in line with twenty-century goals and norms, and to increase class capacity, due to a decrease in the number of teachers available and room-size restrictions at the campus level. The average-sized classroom could comfortably hold 20–25 students at a time. Students were expected to do the flipped material on their own, outside of class, and they were to be given a ‘flipped’

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class quiz on their day in class face-to-face with the teacher at the beginning of class to assess if they had done the material in the flipped class folder for the week, which was located in a course content repository folder on the LMS of the cross-listed course. The flipped quizzes counted 1% of the students’ assessment for a total of 10% of their overall grade and it was hoped that this would motivate students to do the flipped content, although it has been shown that grades are not a great motivational tool to use with students (Stan, 2012). Originally, for accreditation purposes as specified by the Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA) (the UAE accrediting body for higher educational institutions) regarding the number of hours spent in class to equal a credit-hour of program requirements, students were required to attend an online tutorial with any instructor across the system and input a code in order to be counted as present for attendance purposes for the 1-h 40-min period of ‘blended’ or ‘flipped’ learning. (It is a requirement of the institution that students attend 85% of their courses.) However, the online tutorial component of the blended learning model was quickly shelved as students did not attend the online tutorials to get help or ask questions clarifying the course content, but merely to demand that they be given the code in order to enter it into the system, so they would be marked present for their attendance. The CAA has since updated its Standards for Institutional Licensure and Program Accreditation to reflect a more modern stance on online learning and blended learning in higher education Commission of Academic Accreditation (2019) with more flexibility for institutions to implement blended and online learning components in course delivery. Within the first semester of going to a ‘flipped,’ or more accurately, a ‘blended’ learning environment, with part of the course content being delivered face-to-face and part of the course content to be self-accessed by the students independently, it became apparent to teachers that students were not doing the flipped content, but merely coming to college to attend the face-to-face class and do the flipped class quiz in class with their teacher at the start of the period. Many teachers recounted that their students were not doing the ‘flipped’ or independent, self-access learning material before coming to class. Several teachers said they started reviewing the materials with the students at the beginning of class before administering the quiz. They did not think it was right to refuse to answer questions or go over content that was supposed to be independently studied before giving an assessment that would count as part of the students’ grades. This undermined the motivational strategy of giving a low-stakes quiz to assess if students had done the independent online learning component of the course. However, the benefits of blended learning, ‘faceto-face’ learning with ‘independent’ or ‘online’ learning are numerous as recounted by Huang (2016), mainly for its flexibility, and Huang found that most students preferred blended learning to either full-time face-to-face learning or completely independent, online learning. With the arrival of COVID-government imposed lockdowns, teaching, and studying from home was ordered across all institutions and schools in the UAE in mid-March, 2020, and the course went from being one of ‘blended’ learning with a face-to-face classroom component to being entirely delivered online. However,

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the course was still partially delivered ‘face-to-face’ online for one 1-h and 40-min period a week, using a web-based video communication platform inside the LMS platform, ‘Collaborate,’ with the second 1-h and 40-min period supposed to encompass the independent, self-access materials. At this point in the semester, teachers were instructed to give the quiz at the end of the ‘face-to-face’ class, which was a synchronous lesson done using Collaborate, as the students were not doing the flipped material independently as evidenced anecdotally and in the performance of the students’ on the 1% quizzes. The goal was to enable the students to pass the course despite the challenges of going to a fully online, synchronous remote delivery mode using a video communication platform for both students and teachers. A further consideration was the switch to assessment of learning, rather than assessment for learning (Gan eet al., 2019) in an informal sense. We wanted to motivate the students to pay attention to the class content delivered ‘face-to-face’ online by video communication platform and assess if they had understood the lesson at the end of the session, rather than assess students on what they were supposed to learn on their own independently outside of class. In this way, the switch was one to formative assessment rather than summative assessment. One of the major challenges faced by both students and teachers was online fatigue, two 1-h 40-min periods per course amount to 200-min online, or 3 h and 20 min, 4–5 courses per student and teacher, so the total amount of online time for class was from 13 h and 20 min to 16 h and 40 min per week. General Studies was already well in advance for adapting to this change because the courses were already designed to be delivered 50% face-to-face, now using an online video communication platform, and 50% online, independent, self-access study. However, the amount of time spent teaching online for the teacher was the same as in face-to-face regular classrooms because the classes had been split into two groups in order to accommodate more students in each class. The teacher delivered the same lesson to each of the two groups once per week during the 1-h 40-min sessions. Eventually the institution announced that in the summer semester, the time spent ‘face-to-face’ in-class synchronously using the video communication platform would be decreased to one 75-min period of duration rather than 1-h and 40-min (100 min). The decision boldly aided the online fatigue issue but somewhat exacerbated the issue of covering the course material specified in the course syllabi without sacrificing depth or breadth.

Course Content and Delivery When the current system-wide course team leader took over the course in 2019, the course was already well developed as a Future Studies or Strategic Foresight course and extensive work had gone into developing the course and developing the topics for the course and the course content and assessment. However, the original iteration of the course was for in-class face-to-face two 1-h 40-min periods a week, or 200 min. Most of the course materials were paper-based and very little thought was given to how the course could be delivered using rich interactive technology

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tools. However, there is ample evidence to indicate that enhanced use of technology is instrumental in motivating learners in higher education (Bond et al., 2020). At the same time, since the course became, ‘flipped’ or ‘blended,’ the overall timing of the face-to-face component of the course dropped from 64-contact hours to 32-contact hours as the course became blended to accommodate more students in the classroom, so from 3,200 min to 1,600 min. The dimensions of the average-sized classrooms at the institution were large enough to accommodate approximately 20–25 students. If the teacher met the class face-to-face, only 20–25 students could take the classes offered per semester, but if the course became ‘blended’ or ‘flipped,’ the class could accommodate 40–50 students with only half of the class coming for one period of 1-h and 40 min per week. This is indeed what occurred. At the same time, students working their way through paper-based classroom materials individually for the independent or self-access part of the blended course, was not very engaging for the students. The Fall 2019 semester was spent assigning various volunteer faculty members to create more engaging interactive activities for both the face-to-face and independent learning components of the course content using such technology tools as Padlet, Nearpod, Quizlet, Softchalk, Storyboard That, and Kahoot. This was met with varying degrees of success. The materials were not developed with one, consistent format in mind and teachers were somewhat at their own liberty to decide which tools to use and for which component, whether for independent study or face-to-face. For example, Softchalk is more suitable for individual, independent learning, but some teachers designed the face-to-face component to use Softchalk. Some teachers who had volunteered to adapt lessons also ended up not fulfilling their task. The course content was also re-designed so that the independent learning segments to be done prior to class became ‘tasters’ for the face-to-face class, rather than content meant to be learned independently in the ‘flipped’ component of the class. This was due to the practical issue that students were not doing the ‘flipped’ (independent study) part of the course, even if they were tested on the material at the beginning of the face-to-face class. By the end of Spring 2019, with the onset of fully remote learning halfway through the semester due to COVID-19 restrictions, we had a pretty good idea of what would be effective for our students to help them engage with the material both online using the video communication platform with their teacher, and independently. A small team of teachers worked to develop the nine topics covered on the course into both a video communication platform-delivered lesson lasting 75-min and an independently studied component for each topic. We came up with the idea of starting off each synchronous remote component delivered via the video communication platform with a lesson plan for the teacher, as new teachers came and left the course regularly. The first part of the lesson, was a pre-lesson vocabulary task on Quizlet where the teacher introduced the students to the vocabulary which was necessary to understand the lesson (our students are English as a Second Language Learners) and then played Quizlet Live (a team vocabulary game that can be played remotely on different devices). The next part of the standardized lesson plans was to have one or two students in the class read aloud the learning objectives for that lesson.

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The lesson itself was delivered via a live Nearpod session using different interactive activities available on Nearpod, which students can access on their mobile or laptop, including open-ended questions, a collaborative activity with sticky notes, drawing for matching images to text, polls, and a reading with quiz questions. The teachers were encouraged to have students read the Nearpod and there was generally a reading text which students could also read aloud by round robin, with comprehension questions on Nearpod, and occasionally a short video that students could watch on their own devices. All of this occurred remotely. One of the best things about Nearpod as an online learning pedagogical tool is that teachers can generate a report to gauge student participation. The Nearpod lesson usually ended with a Collaborate activity done in break-out groups using the video-conferencing platform, so that students could work together in small groups to accomplish a task. Task-based learning has been shown to be especially effective when using Web 2.0 tools (Annamalai, 2019). The session ended with a quiz worth 1% of the student’s mark to see if they had participated in the Nearpod lesson and understood the course material covered in the synchronous remote access online session. The sessions were planned to last 75-min to maintain students’ interest and engagement and decrease online fatigue. Two additional features were incorporated in the Fall 2020 semester to further enhance student engagement and motivation. SEPPO, which is a mobile-based educational game platform, was used as a warm-up for the current lesson. The SEPPO game was designed to review the previous session’s lesson and was played for 5 min by students individually in a competition format with a live scoreboard. The course also began to incorporate a feature called ‘achievements’ in the LMS platform in which students could complete a task which was assessed in a quiz format and earn a badge. Badges were given motivational names such as ‘Vocabulary Champion,’ and ‘Academic Honesty Warrior.’ By the end of the first two weeks of the semester in Fall 2020, 937 and 852 students out of 3,079 had earned these badges, or approximately 30%. We were trying to use the carrot rather than the stick approach to encourage online, independent, self-access, learning.

Faculty Course Evaluations Table 22.2 shows the results of the system-wide faculty course evaluation from the period Spring 2017-Spring 2019. Return rates remained quite high throughout: Spring 2017, 98%, Fall 2018, 81.25%, Spring 2018, 90%, Fall 2019, 89.7%, and Spring 2019, 97.3%. It is worth noting that the large curriculum revision from a typical Life and Studies skills course to a Future Studies/Strategic Foresight course, which occurred between Spring 2017 and Fall 2018, could account for the large shift in items: 1. Appropriateness of the course learning outcomes, 2. Extent to which the course syllabus was covered, and 3. Extent to which the course learning outcomes were met. The satisfaction levels decreased by 15, 10, and 14% from Spring 2017 to Fall 2018. Then

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Table 22.2 Faculty Course Evaluation Survey Results from Spring 2017 to Spring 2019 Item

Semester

% Satisfaction level

1. Appropriateness of the course learning outcomes

Spring 2017

79.0

Fall 2018

64.0

Spring 2018

75.0

Fall 2019

74.2

2. Extent to which the syllabus was covered

3. Extent to which learning outcomes were met

4. Appropriateness of textbooks

5. Appropriateness of software resources

Spring 2019

76.0

Spring 2017

81.0

Fall 2018

71.0

Spring 2018

81.0

Fall 2019

76.6

Spring 2019

81.0

Spring 2017

86.0

Fall 2018

72.0

Spring 2018

81.0

Fall 2019

73.4

Spring 2019

78.0

Spring 2017

–

Fall 2018

–

Spring 2018

–

Fall 2019

59.4

Spring 2019

61.0

Spring 2017

–

Fall 2018

–

Spring 2018

6. Appropriateness of other learning resources

71.9

Spring 2019

78.0

Spring 2017

–

Fall 2018

–

Spring 2018

–

Fall 2019 7. Appropriateness of assessment instruments

8. Appropriateness of the balance of assessment

–

Fall 2019

68.0

Spring 2019

79.0

Spring 2017

76.0

Fall 2018

75.0

Spring 2018

67.0

Fall 2019

59.4

Spring 2019

71.0

Spring 2017

64.0 (continued)

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Table 22.2 (continued) Item

9. Appropriateness of prerequisites

10. Level of academic challenge

11. Course content (currency, relevancy, etc.)

12. Appropriateness of the teaching and learning methodologies

13. Overall course experience

Semester

% Satisfaction level

Fall 2018

74.0

Spring 2018

67.0

Fall 2019

61.7

Spring 2019

70.0

Spring 2017

69.0

Fall 2018

59.0

Spring 2018

65.0

Fall 2019

64.1

Spring 2019

63.0

Spring 2017

71.0

Fall 2018

64.0

Spring 2018

76.0

Fall 2019

60.2

Spring 2019

66.0

Spring 2017

71.0

Fall 2018

62.0

Spring 2018

73.0

Fall 2019

70.9

Spring 2019

71.0

Spring 2017

73.0

Fall 2018

72.0

Spring 2018

76.0

Fall 2019

71.9

Spring 2019

78.0

Spring 2017

–

Fall 2018

–

Spring 2018

–

Fall 2019

65.6

Spring 2019

70.0

there is a gradual acceptance of the new course learning outcomes which becomes apparent in Spring 2019 (satisfaction levels increased by 12, 10, and 6 percent for items 1, 2, and 3, respectively, from Spring 2018 to Spring 2019), though there is still a lower satisfaction rate for item 3. The Extent to which learning outcomes were met, when compared to Fall 2017 (86% versus Spring 2019, 78%). Spring 2017 was before the course curriculum was significantly changed to Life and Future Studies. Items 4, 5, 6, and 13 were added to the institutional faculty course satisfaction survey in Fall 2019, so there is no comparative data. There is actually no coursebook used

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in the course so the response to item 4 is not surprising. Items 9. Appropriateness of prerequisites and 10. The level of academic challenge seems to show, according to the qualitative comments on the surveys, that in Spring 2017, teachers felt the course was too easy, whereas in Spring 2019, they felt the course was too difficult. Here it is worth mentioning that the institution changed its entry-level benchmark for English proficiency in Fall 2019, and this could account for the teacher’s perception that the course was too difficult in Spring 2019. Dissatisfaction with the course assessment in item 7. Appropriateness of assessment instruments and 8. Appropriateness of balance of assessments occurring in Spring 2019 is probably accounted for by the introduction of flipped class quizzes for the independent work, as qualitative comments revealed that the teachers felt there were too many assessments, especially as the teaching time was halved in the ‘blended’ or ‘flipped’ learning model that was introduced that semester. A rise in satisfaction with item 12. Appropriateness of the teaching and learning methodologies from 71.9% in Fall 2019 to 78% in Spring 2019 was probably due to the introduction of interactive learning platforms such as Nearpod, Softchalk, Storyboard That, Quizlet, Padlet, and Kahoot, though there was no indication of this in the survey comments. Table 22.3 shows the results of the student course evaluations from Spring 2017Spring 2019. Results remain consistent except for a marked decline in almost all items on the surveys starting in Spring 2019 when the course became ‘blended’ or ‘flipped.’ The total number of students responding to the course surveys is only available in Spring 2019 (96 students out of 2,011 or 4.7%) and Fall 2019 (224 students out of 2, 379 or 10.2%), but the response rate was very low. The student course evaluation also went through a change between Spring 2018 and Fall 2019 to reflect students’ perceptions of labs, lab instructors, and lab facilities for their program major courses, but since this course was not taught in a lab and did not include any lab elements, those results have been omitted from Table 22.3.

Student Performance Table 22.4 shows the percentage of students achieving 100–90%, 89–80%, 79–70%, 69–60%, and below 60% in the coursework, final assessment, and final grade from Spring 2017 to Fall 2019. The major change to a new curriculum, the Future Studies/Strategic Foresight curriculum occurred in Spring 2018 and the course was still taught full-time faceto-face over a 64-h course. The major change to ‘blended’ learning or ‘flipped’ learning, from a total number of contact hours of 64 periods per semester to 32 face-to-face periods, occurred in Fall 2019, and the complete shift to online learning by remote video conference platform occurred in March of 2019, during the Spring 2019 semester. The percentage of students achieving 90–100% in coursework, final assessment, and final grade dropped significantly during this time, and the number of students achieving below 60% in the coursework and as a final grade increased

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Table 22.3 Student Course Evaluation Results from Spring 2017 to Spring 2019 Item

Semester

% Satisfaction level

1. Alignment of assessments to the course learning outcomes

Spring 2017

82.3

2. Availability of additional educational resources

3. Extent to which the course learning outcomes were covered

4. Level of academic challenge

5. The course textbook/eBooks

6. Appropriateness of the teaching and learning methodologies

7. The facilities provided for this course

Fall 2018

81.1

Spring 2018

78.8

Fall 2019

73.0

Spring 2019

73.0

Spring 2017

83.5

Fall 2018

80.1

Spring 2018

83.3

Fall 2019

75.0

Spring 2019

73.0

Spring 2017

82.8

Fall 2018

79.2

Spring 2018

82.3

Fall 2019

75.5

Spring 2019

75.5

Spring 2017

81.4

Fall 2018

77.8

Spring 2018

79.8

Fall 2019

74.0

Spring 2019

72.0

Spring 2017

79.4

Fall 2018

75.5

Spring 2018

78.8

Fall 2019

69.0

Spring 2019

71.0

Spring 2017

–

Fall 2018

–

Spring 2018

–

Fall 2019

73.0

Spring 2019

75.0

Spring 2017

79.0

Fall 2018

76.6

Spring 2018

80.9

Fall 2019

72.0

Spring 2019

73.0

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Table 22.4 Students’ Grade Distribution from Spring 2017 to Fall 2019 as Percentages Semester

Year

100–90%

89–80%

79–70%

69–60%

< 60% 3

Coursework Spring

2017

30

48

16

3

Fall

2018

26

42

21

6

6

Spring

2018

26

43

20

5

5

Fall

2019

12

32

30

12

14

Spring

2019

4

21

32

16

27

Final Exam Spring

2017

22

27

24

11

16

Fall

2018

18

27

22

12

22

Spring

2018

16

27

27

13

17

Fall

2019

8

24

29

17

21

Spring

2019

9

35

27

8

21 3

Final Grade Spring

2017

25

44

23

5

Fall

2018

20

37

28

8

8

Spring

2018

20

39

27

8

5

Fall

2019

9

31

32

13

15

Spring

2019

4

23

33

13

26

*

Percentages

substantially. There was no change in the assessment strategy or assessment instruments between Spring 2018 and Fall 2019 with the exception of the introduction of the flipped class 1% quizzes. (The weighting of a project component of the coursework assessment was reduced from 20 to 10% to allow for this change.) With the onset of the Coronavirus and subsequent restrictions on face-to-face classroom interactions, it is not possible to make any conclusive judgements on the above data besides surmising that some students may appear to lack the necessary maturity and motivation to pursue online learning, as online learning has traditionally been the preserve of older, non-traditional students who are highly motivated to obtain higher credentials, usually for employment purposes (Kauffman, 2015). Remote learning is hard, and remote learning during a pandemic is ever harder (Khan cited in Kelly, 2020).

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Conclusion This chapter has used a retrospective narrative approach to recount the significant changes that the Life and Study Skills course has undergone at a large government tertiary institution in the United Arab Emirates. It has been transformed into a Future Studies/Strategic Foresight course with ongoing curriculum, assessment, and delivery revision in order to increase the students’ employability on graduation. The course was strategically placed to lead the way towards remote access learning by web-based video communication platforms as it had already been blended in a hybrid environment of half online and independent and half face-to-face with the instructor. The advantages are that curriculum, assessment, and course materials are standardized while a disadvantage of using cross-listed courses with a large number of students is that teachers will lack the training and the practice to upskill in all of the features available in the LMS platform. The onset of the Coronavirus pandemic has placed many challenges in front of students, teachers, and educational institutions on how best to ensure quality education in a new era.

References Annamalai, N. (2019). The use of web 2.0 technology tools and beyond in enhancing task based language learning: A case study. The English Teacher, 48(1), 29–44. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/openview/bcc543447f57c95d87067a85926528d2/1? pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1306357. Bond, M., Katja, B., Svenja, B., Zawacki-Richter, O., & Kerres, M. (2020). Mapping research in student engagement and educational technology in higher education: A systematic evidence map: Revista de universidad y sociedad del conocimiento. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 17(1). Commission for Academic Accreditation. (2019). Standards for Institutional Licensure and Program Accreditation. Retrieved from https://www.caa.ae/caa/images/Standards2019.pdf. Dan-Suteu, S., & Giorgi, G. (2019). Future studies, forecast and foresight - critical considerations and relevant findings. Bucharest: “Carol I” National Defense University. Retrieved from http:// dx.doi.org.ezproxy.hct.ac.ae/https://doi.org/10.12753/2066-026X-19-017. Deng, F. (2019). Literature review of the flipped classroom. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 9(10), 1350–1356. Gan, Z., He, J., & Liu, F. (2019). Understanding classroom assessment practices and learning motivation in secondary EFL students. Journal of Asia TEFL, 16(3), 783–800. HCT Catalogue. (2020). Retrieved from http://www.hct.ac.ae/en/catalogue/. HCT Factbook. (2019–2020). Retrieved from http://www.hct.ac.ae/content/uploads/HCT-FACTBOOK-2019-20.pdf. Hodges, A. L., & McGuinness, T. (2014). Improving communication in distance-accessible advanced practice nursing courses via instructor presence. Journal of Nursing Education, 53(8), 479–482. Huang, Q. (2016). Learners’ perceptions of blended learning and the roles and Interaction of f2f and online learning. ORTESOL Journal, 33, 14–33. Kauffman, H. (2015). A review of predictive factors of student success in and satisfaction with online learning: Association for learning technology journal. Research in Learning Technology, 23.

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Kelly, A. (2020, Augest 31). Khan Academy’s Sal Khan shares advice for online learning: Do less, and turn off the camera. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/ technology/2020/08/31/khan-academy-remote-learning/. Mills, A. J., Durepos, G., & Wiebe, E. (2010). Encyclopedia of case study research (Vols. 1–0). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412957397. Moore, J., Dickson-Deane, C., & Galyen, K. (2011). e-Learning, online learning, and distance learning environments: Are they the same? Internet and Higher Education, 14, 129–135. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1096751610000886. Poirier, T., Devraj, R., Blankson, F., & Xin, H. (2016). Interprofessional online global health course. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 80(9), 1–11. Retrived from https://www.ajpe. org/content/80/9/155. Sams, A., & Bergmann, J. (2013). Flip your students’ learning. Educational Leadership, 3, 16–20. Retrieved from https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/flip-your-students-learning Spector, J. M. (2014). Remarks on MOOCS and mini-MOOCS. Educational Technology, Research and Development, 62(3), 385–392. Retrieved from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/153780/. Stan, E. (2012). The role of grades in motivating students to learn. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 69, 1998–2003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.12.15

Melanie Gobert Ed. D., was on the General Studies faculty of Abu Dhabi Men’s Campus of Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates. She was the past president of TESOL Arabia and the conference chair in 2015. She was the editor of Perspectives, a peer-reviewed English Language Teaching journal from 2008–2016. She has published and presented widely on literacy, assessment, vocabulary learning, teaching writing, and educational technology.

Chapter 23

Using Corpus Linguistics to Better Prepare Students for the IELTS Reading Exam Colin Michell

Abstract Preparing students for the reading component of the Academic IELTS exam can be a particularly daunting task. Of the four components of the exam, the reading is considered to be the most difficult, and this is due to the amount of unknown lexical items. With that in mind, I conducted a study to ascertain the possibility of generating a wordlist from a sizeable selection of previous IELTS readings. I downloaded readings from the three parts of the reading section and generated a wordlist from them using the concordance program WordSmith Tools. I filtered out all function words and concentrated on lexical words. I chose the first 100 lexical words from the wordlist and grouped them according to the CEFR scale and the Academic Wordlist. This study showed that it is indeed possible to generate focussed vocabulary lists that will potentially help students perform better on the IELTS reading sections. Keywords IELTS · Corpus · Academic reading · Wordlist · Concordance

Introduction The reading component of the IELTS exam is arguably the most challenging aspect of the test for most people who have to take the IELTS exam. It is also a very difficult component for teachers, as it is a very broad area. Vocabulary is the most obvious starting point, but what lexical items should be focussed on is the primary question. There are numerous vocabulary for IELTS books that come to the market every year, such as Check your English vocabulary for IELTS (Wyatt, 2017), and IELTS vocabulary masterclass 8.5 (Roche, 2018). The chief concern regarding these IELTS vocabulary preparation books is that they are very broad and generic in nature. I believe what is needed is a list of lexical items that is focussed on the most likely to occur lexical items. To that end, I will research the question: Is it possible to generate a list of high-frequency lexical items for the IELTS academic reading section of C. Michell (B) Fujairah, UAE e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_23

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the exam? The rationale behind taking this approach is that by using a corpora of readings from past IELTS exam papers, I am more likely to get a representative list of the vocabulary items that the students are likely to encounter. The use of corpora in language teaching weaves together the other ideas in language teaching, from authenticity and autonomy to induction and constructivism, all of which absorb much of what is understood about language from corpus linguistics, as it constitutes a fuzzy, probabilistic nature with an emphasis on lexical patterns, collocations, chunks, frequencies, and distributions (Boulton & Landure, 2016). The IELTS reading test consists of three sections with a total of 40 questions to be completed in one hour with each question being worth one mark (Cambridge University Press, 2012). The three sections get progressively more difficult. Teachers who are preparing students for the IELTS need to be able to focus the students on the sections they are most likely to get the highest grades. Most academic institutions require a band between 5 and 7 depending on the programme of study. Therefore, we need to maximize their chances on the easier texts of sections one and two. The Academic Reading texts consist of general interest texts which have been written for a non-specialist audience and are usually taken from magazines, journals, research papers, books, and newspapers. The reading passages deal with issues that are interesting, recognizably appropriate, and accessible to candidates entering undergraduate or postgraduate courses or seeking professional registration (Cambridge University Press, 2012). My data will be corpora of Academic reading texts garnered from open source online sites. In order to conduct the analysis of the corpora, I will make use of the concordance program WordSmith TooIs to create word lists of the most frequently used words. I believe that if consistent patterns of lexical items are shown, then teachers can hone in on what the students need to do, in order to do well on the reading component. Even though this study is centred on helping students obtain a better IELTS score, the benefits of this method go further than the IELTS test. The use of corpus analysis in TESOL, and even in subject specific course content can help educators create lexical profiles of texts, which will help with reading comprehension and even writing tasks based on readings. Although on a personal note, I don’t generally approve of teaching to the test, I do appreciate the exigencies of our students and their need to achieve the IELTS band score they need.

Literature Review The use of corpus linguistics to analyse the vocabulary on the IELTS reading test is arguably a fairly under-researched area that brings together the domains of testing and lexis. For this literature review, I will begin by, firstly, describing the main principles of the IELTS test, and in particular, the reading section. Secondly, I will examine the lexical needs of IELTS test-takers. Lastly, I will discuss the use of corpora and how it relates to lexical acquisition.

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The IELTS Exam Proficiency tests like the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) are fairly recent arrivals to the world of testing (Fulcher, 2003). IELTS was started in 1989 and is currently jointly owned by the British Council, IDP (Independent Development Program): IELTS Australia, and Cambridge Assessment English. According to the British Council (2017), more than three million people took the IELTS exam in 2017 in order to gain access to either higher education or immigration. IELTS is the most widely used test of English for migration to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK. It is recognized by over 10,000 universities, schools, employers, and immigration bodies, including all universities in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK, and many of the leading institutions in the USA. The IELTS exam has two streams: Academic and General. The Academic stream is designed for those planning to undertake higher education studies in a college or university in an English speaking country, and the General stream is used mainly for immigration purposes. Both the Academic and General streams test reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The writing and reading sections are different in the General and Academic streams, whilst the speaking and listening components are the same. Table 23.1 shows how IELTS and TOEFL match up as well as how they relate to the European Framework, and the most commonly used levels in EFL teaching (What is IELTS, 2019). IELTS does not have a pass or fail system, instead test-takers get a band between 0 and 9 for each of the components. 0 would be awarded to someone who could produce very little or no English and 9 would be an expert user. Band 5 means that the candidate has a modest command of English which can handle basic communication. Table 23.1 Comparing EFL, CEFR, IELTS, and TOEFL adapted from About IELTS Scores (n.d) EFL level

CEFR

IELTS

TOEFL iBT

TOEFL CBT

TOEFL PBT

Proficiency

C2

9.0 8.5

Advanced

C1

8.0 7.5 7.0

110–120

270–300

637–677

Upper Intermediate

B2

6.5 6.0 5.5

87–109

227–269

567–636

Lower Intermediate

B1

5.0 4.5 4.0

57–86

163–226

487–566

Elementary

A2

3.5 3.0

40–56

120–162

433–486

Beginner

A1

2.5 2.0

0–39

0–119

310–434

Starter

A0

1.0

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Table 23.2 Interpreting IELTS band scores, adapted from Cambridge University Press IELTS 7 (2012) Band score Skill Level

Description

Band 9

Expert user

Has full operational use of English

Band 8

Very good user

Has an excellent command of English with only occasional errors

Band 7

Good user

Has operational command of English, Although there are occasional errors, and misunderstandings

Band 6

Competent user

Has an acceptable command of English despite some errors. Can utilize and comprehend fairly complex language, especially in familiar contexts

Band 5

Modest user

Has adequate command of the language and can cope with general meanings in most situations, though is likely to make many errors

Band 4

Limited user

Basic usage is limited to familiar situations. Has frequent problems in understanding and expression. Is not yet capable of using complex language

Band 3

Extremely limited user

Can only use the language in very familiar situations. Frequent breakdowns in communication occur

Band 2

Intermittent user

Very little communication is possible except for the most basic information using single words or short formulaic expressions to meet immediate needs. Has great difficulty understanding spoken and written English

Band 1

Non-user

Essentially has no ability to use the language beyond possibly a few isolated words

Band 0

Did not attempt the test No assessable information provided

Whereas, Band 6 refers to an English speaker who is classified as a fairly competent user, one who has an understanding of fairly complex language on a variety of topics, but can still make many mistakes (Cambridge University Press, 2012). Table 23.2 gives a breakdown of the IELTS bands that are interpreted.

The IELTS Reading Test The IELTS Reading test consists of three sections and contains 40 questions. Each correct answer is awarded one mark. Scores out of 40 are converted to the IELTS nine-band scale, and the scores are recorded in whole and half bands (Cambridge University Press, 2012). Table 23.3 shows how the IELTS readings are graded. Although the Academic and General Training Reading tests are graded on the same scale, there is a distinction in the text types for each strand. The Academic reading section has texts on topics of general interest drawn from journals, books, magazines, and newspapers. Usually, one of the texts contains a detailed logical argument. In contrast, the General reading uses texts from notices, advertisements,

23 Using Corpus Linguistics to Better Prepare Students for the IELTS Reading Exam Table 23.3 How the IELTS reading scores are rendered. Adapted from Calculate IELTS band scores: Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking (n.d.)

371

IELTS Reading band scores Correct answers

Band score

39–40

9

37–38

8.5

35–36

8

32–34

7.5

30–31

7

26–29

6.5

23–25

6

18–22

5.5

16–17

5

13–15

4.5

11–12

4

leaflets, newspapers, instruction manuals, books, and magazines. The first section is concerned with providing factual information pertinent to linguistic survival in an English speaking context. The second section is more linguistically complex and usually focusses on a work situation. The third section involves more extended reading texts which are geared more towards being instructive rather than argumentative. Both the General and Academic strands have the same question types, namely: multiple choice, short-answer questions, sentence completion, notes/summary/flowchart/table completion, diagram label completion, classification, matching, choosing suitable paragraph headings from a list, identification of writer’s views/claims, yes/no/not given, identification of information in the text, and true/false/not given (Cambridge University Press IELTS 7, 2012).

Vocabulary and the Importance of Word Lists Second language students who are transitioning from high school to college or university are confronted with a critical stage during which they need to adapt to a new academic culture and their understanding and pre-conceived notions of English learning may change. First-year undergraduate students, especially ESL/EFL students, may find the use of English at university difficult in terms of understanding technical and content-specific lexis (Yung & Fong, 2019). The lack of lexical knowledge is often considered to be one of the principal challenges for second language students embarking on an academic study in English. Most of the research conducted in this field has focussed on acquiring vocabulary for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classes (Durrant, 2016; Evans & Morrison, 2010). To help students overcome this barrier, a great deal of research has been conducted into the efficacy of creating wordlists to guide students’ acquisition of content-specific lexis (Durrant, 2016).

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Wordlists, as explained by Nation and Waring (1997), are the comparatively small number of frequently occurring words that are present in a text or series of texts. It is suggested that the targeted learning of these high-frequency lexical items will improve the students’ prospects of understanding the content material. In recent years, there has been a great deal of research into the use of wordlists Gardner and Davies’s (2013) Academic Vocabulary List (AVL) which originated from the Corpus of Contemporary American (COCA) (Davies, 2008). The AVL is considered to be superior to other preceding academic vocabulary wordlists, as it is far larger and more representative of all disciplines. However, questions have been raised as to how relevant such a wordlist is, as the lexical needs across disciplines are quite extensive, and no single wordlist would be suitable in meeting the needs of all EAP students (Durrant, 2014). Rather than using a single one-size-fits-all wordlist, it is recommended that the teaching of lexis should be discipline-specific (Eldridge, 2008; Hyland & Tse, 2007). The strength of the AVL is that it is based on texts which the learners are likely to encounter during their studies, and this ensures the validity of the wordlist. Durrant (2014) notes the drawback of a wordlist is that it focusses on the receptive nature of this form of vocabulary acquisition, and this may limit the usefulness of the wordlist. Since the wordlist only provides a decontextualized list of words, it is impossible for students to know how to use the lexical items productively, as there are no clues to the register, grammatical function, or collocations. In addition, wordlists do not allow for the usual coping strategies employed by students when faced with unknown words while reading, such as inferring meaning from context or ignoring the unknown word. Durrant (2016: 50) states that “This implies that a pedagogical focus on productive vocabulary is as at least as important as one on receptive vocabulary. It is therefore important to establish the extent to which lists like the AVL are useful for these purposes”. Mackey (1965: 177) cited in Durrant (2016) argued that “since items occurring the most frequently are those which the learner is more likely to meet, they are the ones which are selected for teaching”. This quote underlines the fact that the lexical range in any given language is enormous, and it would be impossible for any student to learn a lexicon that is so vast. Wordlists are the most obvious compromise, as they are able to dilute the lexicon down to the vocabulary the student is most likely to need by prioritizing the most frequently occurring lexical items. Nation and Waring (1997) explain how the most frequent 1,000 words of English account for around 72% of all the lexical items to be found in a wide variety of written texts. This emphasizes the need for frequency-based wordlists which tend towards being highly skewed in favour of a relatively small number of lexical items while the majority of words occur infrequently. As a rule, students doing general English should focus their efforts on learning the first 3,000 high-frequency words and then learn strategies to help them learn any unknown lexical items they might encounter. Learners of English for Specific purposes including EAP should focus on the first 2,000 words before moving on to specialized word lists. Even though word lists provide invaluable data about the frequency of lexical items in a variety of contexts, and this is essential for syllabus design, there is a real danger

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that this could lead to a new form of prescriptivism where a form of frequency worship that concentrates on frequently occurring items and all less frequent or idiosyncratic forms are overlooked. This is not to suggest that students should not be given word lists or taught that some features are more frequent than others. Students need to be taught that less frequent does not equate to less acceptable, and infrequent does not mean wrong. Equally important is that they are made aware that lexical frequencies can change over time and according to usage (Gabrielatos, 2005).

Using a Corpora The use of corpora for language teaching arrived in 1987 with the publication of Collins COBUILD English Language Dictionary which was the first corpus-based dictionary for students (Johns, 1988). Vocabulary lists and phraseology lists, particularly lists that that include words or phrases found in a discourse domain including frequency information of the word or phrase has been the primary application of corpus-based research over the last 70 years (Miller & Biber, 2015). Prior to the advent of modern computer technology, it was an extremely labourious task to create a wordlist. Thorndike and Lorge (1944) cited in Miller and Biber (2015) managed to create a list of 30,000 words from an analysis of 4.5 million words, and West (1953) was able to produce the General Service List of the most frequently occurring words in English from a corpus of 5 million words. The advances in computer software and corpus design in recent decades have resulted in the creation of numerous newer lists. The most popular in the English speaking world being frequency lists based on the British National Corpus (BNC) (Leech et al., 2001), and a lexicon of the 5,000 most frequently used words in American English derived from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) (Davies & Gardner, 2010), and the recently updated General Service List compiled by Brezina and Gablasova (2013), which was the result of an analysis of 12-billionwords taken from four general corpora. Similar frequency lists have been created for Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic (Miller & Biber, 2015). Word lists for many other specialized areas of study have been compiled over the years as the need arose. Some examples cited by Miller and Biber (2015) include an analysis of a 5-million-word corpus of school textbooks (grades 3–9) by Carroll et al. (1971). An Academic Word List (Coxhead, 2000), and a more up-to-date Academic Vocabulary List (Gardner & Davies, 2013). A list of the most important lexical formulas in academic discourse was constructed by Simpson-Vlach and Ellis (2010). The value of corpus-based word lists has not gone unchallenged, Hyland and Tse (2007) have questioned the validity and usefulness of general academic lists by suggesting that researchers should be creating lists of the most relevant lexical items used in particular academic disciplines. This viewpoint has been echoed by a number of other researchers in the field. (Miller and Budgell, 2008) have argued for a public health word list; (Wang et al., 2008); for medicine; (Ward, 2009) for engineering: and Martínez et al. (2009) for agriculture.

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Despite the popularity of corpus-based linguistics with teachers and students increasingly utilizing corpus-based educational products, such as dictionaries and grammar. Not all teachers fully understand the nature of corpora, or how it can add value to their teaching, and fewer still have ever made direct use of a corpus. The questions most frequently asked by teachers are: What is a corpus? How are corpora relevant to language teaching? How can they be used? (Boulton & Landure, 2016).

Method A review of literature shows the complex nature of teaching vocabulary for a highstakes test such as the IELTS, where there is no indication of what vocabulary the test-taker will need to know for the test he/she is about to undertake. Thankfully, there is a substantial body of past papers that can be analysed, and trends found that may indicate the types of vocabulary that the test-taker may need. This historical approach (Cohen, et al., 2007) allows the researcher to use history to predict the future. The goal of this study is to determine if it is possible to generate a list of high-frequency lexical items for the IELTS academic reading section of the exam?

Research Methodology Using a corpus as an aid to language teaching has become increasingly relevant since the mid-1980s (Sinclair, 2004). A corpus can be defined as a collection of texts which are used for linguistic purposes, and these texts are generally accepted to be representative of a language or dialect (Girgin, 2011: 1). A large and systematically gathered corpus can be a very useful resource to know how different languages are learned and to improve the learning process (Divsar & Heydari, 2017). Creating a frequency list from a corpus usually follows the same standard methodological approach: (1) design and create a suitable corpus; (ii) identify the full set of lexical items that occur in that corpus; (iii) analyse the distributions (frequency and range) for each lexical item; and (iv) select the lexical items with the highest frequencies and widest dispersions in the corpus, resulting in a list of the most frequently occurring lexical items. The techniques used for the final two steps have changed over time with more complex methods for lexical analysis being developed (Miller & Biber, 2015: 31).

Analysing a Corpus The usage of corpora together with the advances in computer software are proving their relevance in the field of language teaching particularly as a source of language descriptions, and as inspiration for teaching materials. Unfortunately, these developments have not cascaded down to the classroom level as well as they should have

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(Gabrielatos, 2005). For this study, I will be using WordSmith Tools, which is an organically integrated suite of programs used to analyse the manner in which grammatical and lexical features act in a text. It was developed by Mike Scott of the University of Liverpool (Guillén-Nieto, et al., 2008) and is currently (October 2019) on version 7.0. WordSmith Tools has at its core three main tools, namely Concord, KeyWord, and Wordlist, and eight utilities, namely choose languages, corpus corruption detector, file utilities, file viewer, minimal pairs, text converter, version checker, and viewer & aligner (Scott, 2012). The three core tools have the facilities for analysing texts and obtaining statistical information. For this study, I first downloaded a number of Academic Reading texts from the website https://www.ielts-mentor.com, which contains the same readings used in the Cambridge IELTS: Examination papers from University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations: English for Speakers of Other Languages series of IELTS practice books. This series purports to be the only official publisher of past papers from Cambridge ESOL. I managed to obtain a corpus of 253,899 words from the academic reading texts. The corpus is comprised of three separate sub-corpora representing the three reading sections (Table 23.4). My second step was to convert the MS Word document into a.txt document which is the only readable format for the concordance program WordSmith Tools. My third step was to create a word list using the WordList function of WordSmith Tools (Table 23.5). Guillén-Nieto et al., (2008: 16) explain some of the pertinent functions of WordList. Firstly, it generates a word list in order of frequency and/or alphabetically, so texts can be analysed at a lexical level. Secondly, there is a Statistics tab that provides additional information about the text(s) such as the size, number of running words (tokens), number of distinct words, type/token ratio (TTR), standardized TTR (STTR), length of words, and the number of sentences, and paragraphs. Once the word list was generated, I need to filter out most function and grammar lexical items, as well as numbers. Olsson (2009) describes two types of words: lexical words and function words. Lexical words include word classes such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and certain adverbs. Function words are “semantically bleached” (Juola, 2006: 265), meaning they have a limited amount of independent meaning, as they constitute the grammar of the language and include features such as prepositions, determiners, and function adverbs. I only focussed on including lexical words in my word list. Table 23.4 Word count of the three sub-corpora

Reading section

Word count

Number of texts

Reading section 1

105,128

66

Reading section 2

70,240

54

Reading section 3

78,528

34

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Table 23.5 Example of a generated word list N

Word

Freq

%

Texts

%

Dispersion

1

THE

17,315

6.75

3

100

0.99

2

OF

9,107

3.55

3

100

0.98

3

TO

6,608

2.58

3

100

0.98

4

IN

5,984

2.33

3

100

0.99

5

A

5,882

2.29

3

100

0.98

6

AND

5,707

2.22

3

100

0.98

7

IS

3,168

1.23

3

100

0.96

8

THAT

2,6787

1.05

3

100

0.97

9

FOR

2,287

0.89

3

100

0.97

10

ON

2,008

0.78

3

100

0.97

11

ARE

1,827

0.71

3

100

0.96

12

IT

1,798

0.70

3

100

0.97

13

AS

1,719

0.67

3

100

97

Lemmas

Set

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) My main concern was in deciding where to draw the line in the number of words chosen. For this study, I have chosen all lexical words with a frequency percentage of ≤ 0.05. I kept certain function words in the list that are known to be problematic for students, such as then and than. I then classified the chosen words in the word list according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), which is an international standard for describing language ability. The CEFR ascribes a six-point scale to language ability, from A1 for beginners, up to C2 for those who have mastered a language. This aids anyone involved in language teaching or testing, such as teachers, students or administrators to benchmark language proficiency (cambridgeenglish.org). The rationale for using CEFR bands is so teachers can ensure that the parts of the word list they choose to use are at the correct level for their students.

The Academic Word List In addition to the CEFR banding, the word list was mined for words from The Academic Word List (AWL). The AWL is a list of words developed by Averil Coxhead at the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. The Academic Word List contains 570 words which were selected because they are frequent across a wide range of academic texts.

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The Academic Word List is independent of the most frequent 2000 words of English (the General Service List), which means that the lexical items contained in the AWL are specific to academic contexts. I believe this to be an important addition to the word list since the majority of the test-takers are doing the IELTS to enter higher education, they will need to be made aware of which words are more common for academic discourse. The AWL was specifically created so that it could be utilized by educators as part of a preparation programme for students at tertiary level study, or it can be used by students working independently to learn the lexical items most needed to study at colleges and universities. (examenglish.com). 570 words are clearly too much for an exam preparation class, especially if the students are at best at a CEFR B2 level with most below that level. In order to get a substantial list, I mined the first 1,000 words of the word list for AWL lexical items. Both the CEFR and AWL data was obtained using the website http://vocabkitchen.com/profiler.

Results The following section presents the results obtained from doing the analyses of the wordlist with the aim of helping to answer the question of whether corpus linguistics can help students navigate the Academic Reading section of the IELTS exam. I will begin by looking at the word list generated from the frequency list, then move on to examining the results from the Academic Wordlist. Word list generated from the frequency count. Table 23.6 shows the final wordlist that had been generated for words whose frequency percentage is ≤ 0.05. The full word list consists of 16,785 entries with only the first 247 having a frequency percentage of ≤ 0.05. For the production of this list, the first 106 words on the word list were discounted, as they were either decontextualized function words or single letters or numbers. The numbers and single letters were the results of paragraph headings from the original reading texts and comprehension questions, which had been left in, as it was felt that students would benefit from practising words that formed the questions such as paragraph and choose. The words on the list are in order as they appear on the frequency list. The first word is children, which is number 107 on the list and occurs 296 times in the corpus. It has a frequency percentage of 0.11, and it is present in all three sub-corpora. The final word is modern, which is number 246 on the list and occurs 116 times in the corpus. It has a frequency percentage of 0.05, and this too is present in all three corpora. All the words on the word list that have a frequency percentage of ≤ 0.05 occur in all three corpora. In order to help teachers decide which lexical items to focus on with their classes, I have highlighted the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) for each word. The legend shows which colour corresponds to which CEFR level. The bulk of the words are at A1 (52) and A2 (24) levels which roughly equate to IELTS band level 4 (ielts.org, 2019). The remaining words are B1 (6) which would be approximately IELTS band 5, and B2 (15) which is in the region of IELTS band 6.5. There were only four words that were off the list

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Table 23.6 Word list generated from the frequency count

Children

Words

After

Still

Following

Century

Become

Light

Example

Health

Long

Just

Correct

While

Through

Better

Because

Like

Known

English

Work

Where

Statements

Might

However

Any

During

Large

Way

List

Brain

Down

Made

Species

Countries

Agree

Water

Study

Important

Sea

Life

Complete

Part

Evidence (AWL)

Even

Often

Early

Problems

Choose

Answers

Animals

Certain

Research (AWL)

Year

System

Paragraphs

Diffrent

Food

Development

process (AWL)

Between

Same

According

major (awl)

Number

High

Population

Contradicts

Being

Glass

Environment (AWL)

area (awl)

Language

Less

Change

Develop

Very

Human

Another

Transport

Well

before

Land

Age

Make

using

Social

Appropriate (AWL)

Much

Need

Scientist

Say

Now

Both

Day

Per

Letter

Found (AWL)

Without

Modern

and are, therefore, not categorized according to the CEFR levels. Words that are also on the Academic Word List (AWL) are also highlighted, and there are only eight of them. Legend: Colour codes for the CEFR levels. CEFR A1

CEFR A2

CEFR B1

CEFR B2

Off list

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Academic Word List (AWL) Table 23.7 shows the Academic Word List as generated for the first 1,000 words. It can be seen that unlike the word list generated from the frequency count, this list has a greater number of higher level vocabulary items, and would, therefore, be more useful for test-takers who are aiming for a higher IELTS score of 6 + . There are only two A1 words, and five A2 words, as opposed to forty-six B1 words, and twenty-seven B2 words. The Academic Word List here is alphabetically ordered rather than by frequency count. The highest frequency word is research which is number 123 on the frequency list, and it occurs 248 times (0.11), and is present in all three sub-corpora. Revolution is number 1,000 on the frequency list, and it occurs 32 times (0.01). CEFR A1

CEFR A2

Table 23.7 Academic Word List for the first 1,000 words

CEFR B1

CEFR B2

Adults

Design

Instance

Project

Affected

Despite

Institute

Range

Alternative

Economic

Intelligence

Region

Approach

Energy

Involved

Require

Appropriate

Ensure

Issue

Research

Area

Environment

Job

Resource

Available

Establish

Major

Revolution

Aware

Eventually

Majority

Role

Benefit

Evidence

Medical

Section

Chemical

Factor

Mental

Significant

Communication

Feature

Method

Similar

Community

Finally

Occur

Source

Complex

Financial

Paragraph

Specific

Concept

Focus

Percent

Techniques

Consumer

Found

Period

Technology

Contradict

Function

Physical

Text

Create

Global

Policy

Theory

Culture

Impact

Positive

Traditional

Data

Income

Potential

Transport

Decade

Individual

Process

Vision

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Discussion and Recommendations This section will examine the issues that have arisen from the results of the analyses, and will provide some recommendations on how best to incorporate corpus linguistics into an exam preparation class.

Word List Generated from the Frequency Count It is generally accepted that a corpus analysis of texts should inform the lexical content of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and that it should be geared towards the students’ specific needs (Hyland & Tse, 2007). In this case, their needs are to pass the Academic IELTS Reading test. It could be argued that this particular word list, despite the fact that it is based on vocabulary from the readings and the frequency percentages are ≤ 0.05, is not as useful as one would have hoped. My primary concern about this particular word list is that 76 of the words are graded at A1 or A2 CEFR which equates to roughly Band 4 on the IELTS exam. This was not entirely unexpected, as the more frequent a word is used, the more likely it is to be found at A1 and A2 levels (Milton & Alexiou, 2009). Only 25 words were at the B1 or B2 level, which equate to bands 5 and 6. This is clearly a limitation if one is looking to use the list to improve the chances of students in the higher bands. One possible solution would be to adjust the cut-off point from ≤ 0.05 to ≤ 0.01, as this should locate more B1 and B2 words further down the list. However, even at the higher bands, the list, as it is, is not without its uses. It could be used at the initial stages of any preparation course to ensure that the students are knowledgeable of the basic words they are likely to encounter in reading test.

Academic Word List (AWL) The Academic Word List (AWL) produced a more substantial list with only seven of the words falling into the A1 or A2 CEFR bracket. The remaining words were all B1 or B2 which should be the level of a L2 English user hoping to enrol at tertiary level in an English speaking country. A concern raised by Hyland and Tse (2007: 245) that needs to be borne in mind when creating student worksheets is that the words on the AWL exhibit ‘a considerable amount of semantic variation’ and they tend to have specific contextualized meanings depending on the subject being discussed. For example, the word factor can have two meanings depending on context. The first meaning of factor is a circumstance that contributes to an outcome, and the second meaning comes from the field of mathematics where a factor is a term that is a part of another term when multiplied, so the number one is a factor for all existing numbers. In addition to that, students need to be made aware of all the

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different derivations and inflections of a word (Hoey, 2010). For example, the word economic is an adjective, but students need to be made aware of economical (adj), economically (adv), economise (verb), economy (noun), and economist (person). Considering, the above-mentioned aspects, it can be concluded that it is possible to generate a suitable wordlist of AWL words by utilizing a corpus analysis. However, the word list is purely a blunt instrument, as there is no context given which could help with the meanings of the words.

Limitations Considering the length of time IELTS has been active and the amount of readings that have been produced, the corpus produced for this study is somewhat small at only 253,899 words. Furthermore, having all three sections together in one corpus is a disadvantage for students who are only at IELTS band 5 level.

Suggestions for Future Study As noted in the limitations of the study, having all three sections in one corpus is a disadvantage for lower level students. Therefore, individual wordlists could be generated for each of the three sections. The more advanced students would benefit from having a word list based on the difficult reading three. This study only focussed on the Academic Reading section. A corpus could be developed for the General Reading section. Reading three of the General Reading is similar to the Academic Reading parts, but readings one and two are vastly different as they deal with dayto-day topics like ordering from a restaurant and how to find a house. Another useful study would be to create a similar corpus of the listening section, both the tapescript and the questions. One of the primary criticisms of using wordlists is that the words are decontextualized and even the grammatical function of the word is ambiguous. To help teachers preparing students for the IELTS exam overcome this issue, it is important to show the different uses of each word. Scott (2012: 124) States that “you get a much better idea of the use of a word by seeing lots of examples of it, and it’s by seeing or hearing new words in context lots of times that you come to grasp the meaning of most words in your native language”. One way to achieve this is to use the Concordance tool of WordSmith tools. Scott (2012) explains that the principal utilization of a concordance is to ascertain how many lexical items are in context, as it allows a researcher to analyse a word, an aspect of a word or lexical chunk in its linguistic context and thereby record recurring lexical features or idiosyncratic usages of a lexical item or chunk (Guillén-Nieto et al., 2008). The pedagogical utility of analysing language lexically has been championed by Michael Lewis in his seminal work The Lexical Approach (1993). He describes the lexical approach as

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being a method of teaching foreign languages based on the basic concept that the main aspect of learning a language consists of being able to understand and produce lexical phrases as chunks. Students need to be shown how to taught to decode patterns of language into meaningful sets of chunks and collocations. Lewis sums up the lexical approach to language learning by stating that “instead of words, we consciously try to think of collocations, and to present these in expressions. Rather than trying to break things into ever smaller pieces, there is a conscious effort to see things in larger, more holistic, ways” (1997: 204).

Conclusion The academic reading section of the IELTS exam is arguably one of the most challenging aspects of the IELTS exam, and especially for teachers tasked with preparing students for the exam. Reading comprehension is palliated by students having a broad vocabulary that they can draw on. The problem for the teacher is knowing which lexical items the students are likely to encounter in the exam. To that end, a corpus linguistic analysis was done on a series of IELTS Academic Reading texts to generate a frequency count of the most commonly occurring words. The results of this experiment highlighted the difficulty of creating a single coherent useful word list from such disparate texts. Despite that, better results were obtained when the corpus parameters were extended and focussed on words from the Academic Word List. I believe this honing in on the relevant AWL words will be this study’s contribution to the field of exam preparation classes.

References About IELTS scores. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ieltsessentials.com/global/results/ielts9ban dscale. Boulton, A., & Landure, C. (2016). Using Corpora in Language Teaching, Learning and Use. Recherche Et Pratiques Pédagogiques En Langues De Spécialité –Cahiers De l APLIUT, 35(2). https://doi.org/10.4000/apliut.5433. British Council. (2017). IELTS numbers rise to 3 million a year. Retrieved from https://www.ielts. org/en-us/news/2017/ielts-numbers-rise-to-three-million-a-year. Brezina, V., & Gablasova, D. (2013). Is There a core general vocabulary? Introducing the new general service list. Applied Linguistics, 36(1), 1–22. Calculate IELTS Band Scores: Reading, Listening, Writing & Speaking. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ielts.com.au/get-ielts-results/band-score-calculation. Cambridge University Press. (2012). Cambridge IELTS 7: examination papers from University of Cambridge ESOL examinations: English for speakers of other languages. Cambridge, UK. Carrol, J. B., Davies, P., & Richman, B. (1971). The American heritage word frequency book. American Heritage. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research methods in education (6th ed.). Routledge. Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), 213–238.

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Davies, M. (2008). The corpus of Contemporary American: 450 million words, 1990 present. Retrieved from http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/. Davies, M., & Gardner, D. (2010). A frequency dictionary of contemporary American English. New York, NY: Routeledge. Divsar, H., & Heydari, R. (2017). A corpus-based study of EFL learners’ errors in IELTS essay writing. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 6(3), 143. https:// doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.6n.3p.143 Durrant, P. (2014). Discipline and level specificity in university students’ written vocabulary. Applied Linguistics., 35(3), 328–356. Durrant, P. (2016). To what extent is the academic vocabulary list relevant to university student writing? English for Specific Purposes, 43, 49–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2016.01.00 Eldridge, J. (2008, March 1). "No, there isn’t an ’academic vocabulary,’ but. . ." : A Reader Responds to K. Hyland and P. Tse’s "Is There an ’Academic Vocabulary’?". Retrieved from http://www. jstor.org/stable/40264352. Evans, S., & Morrison, B. (2010). The first term at university: Implications for EAP. ELT Journal, 65(4), 387–397. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccq072 Fulcher, G. (2003). Testing second language speaking. TESL-EJ, 8(1). Gabrielatos, C. (2005). Corpora and language teaching: Just a fling or wedding bells? TESL-EJ, 8(4). Retrieved from http://tesl-ej.org/ej32/a1.html. Gardner, D., & Davies, M. (2013). A new academic vocabulary list. Applied Linguistics, 35(3), 305–327. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amt015 Girgin, U. (2011). Corpus-based activities at lower levels of EFL proficiency: The effectiveness of using concordance lines on grammar learning. (MA thesis, Bilkent University, Ankara). Guillén-Nieto, V., Vargas Sierra, C., Pardiño Juan, M., Martínez Barco, P., & Suárez Cueto, A. (2008). Exploring state-of-the-art software for forensic authorship. Identification. International Journal of English Studies, 8(1):1–28. Hoey, M. (2010). Lexical priming: A new theory of words and language. Routledge. Hyland, K., & Tse, P. (2007). Is there an ‘Academic vocabulary’? TESOL Quarterly, 41(2), 235–253. https://doi.org/10.2307/40264352 Johns, T. (1988). Whence and whither classroom concordancing? In T. Bongaerts, P. de Haan, S. Lobbe., & H. Wekker (Eds.), Computer applications in language learning (pp. 1–27). Juola, P. 2006. Authorship attribution. Foundations and Trends® in Information Retrieval, 1(3), 233–334. Leech, G., Rayson, P., & Wilson, A. (2001). Word frequencies in written and spoken english: based on the british national corpus. Longman. Lewis, M. (1993). the lexical approach. England: LTP. Lewis, M. (1997). Implementing the lexical approach: Putting theory into practice. Language Teaching Publications. Mackey, W. F. (1965). Language Teaching analysis. Longmans. Martínez, I., Beck, S., & Panza, C. (2009). Academic vocabulary in agricultural research Articles: A corpus-based study. English for Specific Purposes, 28(3), 183–198. Miller, N., & Budgell, B. (2008). The language of public health: A corpus-based analysis. Journal of Public Health, 16(5), 369–374. Miller, D. G., & Biber, D. (2015). Evaluating reliability in quantitative vocabulary studies: The influence of corpus design and composition. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics., 20(1), 30–53. Milton J.,& Alexiou T. (2009) Vocabulary Size and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. In B. Richards, M. H. Daller, D. D. Malvern, P. Meara, J. Milton, J. Treffers-Daller (Eds.). Vocabulary studies in first and second language acquisition. Palgrave Macmillan, London. Nation, P., & Waring, R. (1997). Vocabulary size, text coverage and word lists. In N. Schmitt & M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy (pp. 6–19). Cambridge University Press.

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Roche, M. (2018). Ielts vocabulary masterclass 8.5: Master phrasal verbs, essay vocabulary, graph vocabulary and speaking vocabulary. IDM IELTS Vocabulary. Olsson, J. (2009). Word crime: Solving crime through forensic linguistics. Continuum Publishers. Scott, M. (2012). WordSmith Tools Manual, version 6. Liverpool: Lexical Analysis Software Ltd. Simpson-Vlach, R., & Ellis, N. (2010). An academic formulas list: New methods in phraseology research. Applied Linguistics, 31(4), 487–512. Sinclair, J. (2004). How to use corpora in language teaching. John Benjamins. Thorndike, D. L., & Lorge, I. (1944). The teacher’s word book of 30,000 words. Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University. Wang, J., Liang, S., & Ge, G. (2008). Establishment of a medical academic word list. English for Specific Purposes, 27(4), 442–458. Ward, J. (2009). A basic engineering English word list for less proficient foundation engineering undergraduates. English for Specific Purposes, 28(3), 170–182. West, M. (1953). A general service list of English words. London, UK: Longman, Green & Co. What is IELTS? (2019). Retrieved from http://www.ielts.org/. Wyatt, R. (2017). Check your English vocabulary for Ielts. Bloomsbuty Information. Yung, K. W. H., & Fong, N. (2019). Learning EAP at university: Perceptions of high-achieving first-year ESL undergraduates. ELT Journal, 73(3), 306–315. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccz019

Colin Michell is a faculty member at the Higher Colleges of Technology, Fujairah, UAE. He teaches in the General Studies department. He has been in the EFL/ESL industry since 1996, and has taught in Ukraine, South Africa, and has now been in the United Arab Emirates for 11 years. His academic interests include TESOL, corpus-linguistics, sociolinguistics, testing, and forensic linguistics. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in Education through the University of Exeter. He is an avid martial artist, and enjoys doing cryptic crosswords.

Chapter 24

How Technical Writing Fits a General Studies Program Erik Thornquist

Abstract Technical writing is sometimes thought of as an ESP genre only connected to professional communication, one at odds with the academic writing that students learn in a general studies program. In truth, knowledge of technical writing is for more than just the IT professional. This chapter proposes that all students take technical writing. Its components connect to the needs of all writers. Students learn the basics: that writing is transactional, to write to various audiences and purposes, and they review grammar in context as well as basic rules of composition and clear writing. Lessons on information literacy can help all students assess the value of information. Finally, editing is split into two stages, one for content and the other for grammar. In the end, the components of a technical writing course leave students well-prepared for the real-world demands of a professional setting. Keywords Technical writing · General studies · ESP · Curriculum development

Introduction When Aristotle spoke of getting things down to the elements that cannot be reduced, he elucidated the idea of first principles. The first principles idea has guided thinking about function over form and sought out ideas that are indivisible. The idea is often cited as a force to disrupt the industry. Figures no less than Elon Musk, who as of this writing has staked out a singular spot at the crossroads of commerce and technology, claim to have developed his idea for reusable rockets from first principles thinking. This thought process seeks to boil each thing down to its essentials. It is also the basis of technical writing— a skill all students should learn. Technical writing—what I’ll call operation-based thoughts or processes captured in orthographics sans flourish or fanfare—has been in documented use since the fourteenth century. The twentieth century military saw technical writing as a skill. A need for operational language to describe mechanics and processes, in turn, created a need E. Thornquist (B) Abu Dhabi, UAE e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_24

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for people to write in standardized, simplified language. Thus, the job title of ‘technical writer’ was created during World War 2 (O’Hara, n.d.). However, its legitimacy as a discipline in academia was put to the side as academic writing continued to be taught at the secondary and tertiary levels. Acceptance for the discipline began with Freeman (1959) posing the question, ‘technical writing, anyone?’ to make light of its status, suggesting technical writing to academics in the same way a waiter would ask diners if they wanted coffee or dessert after a good meal. He spoke about his field to a room full of people employed in the discipline, yet the question implied its legitimacy remained in doubt. The emerging discipline (Britton, 1965) could be defined by its conservative style, tone, and word order, its objectivity (Blickle & Passe, 1963), its focus on sequential—not associative—thought, and its clearly defined purpose. The distinction (Kapp, 1959) between two types of literature, one imaginative and the other functional, further defines the discipline. For Britton’s part, he refers to imaginative literature as ‘a symphony’ and the new discipline ‘a bugle call’. Acceptance of the bugle call took time. The journal College Composition and Communication only published an article titled ‘Developing Courses in Technical Writing’ in 1973. Elsewhere, while some instructors (Lunsford, 1976; Miller, 1979) sought to establish a place for technical writing in the canon as others (Allen, 1990) purposely resisted defining what technical writing was or could be on the grounds that ‘no definition will adequately describe what we do.’ (p. 69) Demand, however, for the skill has grown—and now the discipline has governance and advanced degrees in its name. The Society for Technical Writing (‘Defining Technical Communication,’ n.d) gives the discipline three clear facets: (1) communicating about technical or specialized topics, such as computer applications, medical procedures, or environmental regulations; (2) communicating by using technology, such as web pages, help files, or social media sites; or (3) providing instructions about how to do something, regardless of how technical the task is

The question is no longer is technical writing a discipline? Its acceptance is widespread; its value is clear. Every accredited technical discipline is required to include this kind of direct instruction in its program of study. Technical writers have a place and make a good living in both industry and academia. A better question to ask is this: can the components of a technical writing course help all students? Further, it is worth asking: should technical writing follow academic writing instruction at the tertiary level? Academic writing itself has four dimensions (Gardner et al, 2018), one that focuses on completed procedural information as well as stance towards the work of others, one that features personal stance (in reflective writing), one that documents possible events and completed events, and one that looks at information density as well as showing empathy for its audience. At the end of this chapter, we will look in brief at whether a technical communication course can conceivably have these same dimensions.

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The Course: Components to Help Any Student The body of this chapter contains multiple aspects, each closely related to the question this chapter addresses. As part of this, we will survey three widely used textbooks written by Lannon and Gulak (2017), Markel and Steiber (2018), and SheehanJohnson (2015)—the last of which being the source textbook for the course discussed in this chapter. This targeted survey of textbooks will allow us to source, compare, and identify some of the key elements in technical communication. We will move on to analyze the curriculum in one current technical communication course, CIT 300 at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates. Wherever applicable, the chapter will note which elements of the course are global and which elements are local. More specifically, we will note which elements of the course have been inserted to aid the local student population. In addition, some tweaks will be recommended to adjust the course for discipline-specific situations. For any course, students are the audience; thus, knowing the background of our students helps to understand their needs and shape the content of our course. Since our university focuses on a specific population, it is instructive to provide the academic (reading and writing) background of these students. This population consists of native-born Emirati students, aged 19–23, male and female, who were polled before the most recent course (summer of 2020) began. The poll was voluntary, anonymous, and self-reported. 41 of 48 students completed the questionnaire. Many questions sought to pinpoint previous exposure to and experience with various types of technical texts. Among these students, 68.3% claimed they had written at least five reports before; however, the vast majority of this, it turns out, was academic in nature. Only a third of the group reported writing some kind of technical document—either a proposal, recommendation report, or instructions—before coming to the course. This is a desired outcome for the course, as the vast majority came into the course with little or no technical writing experience. Only three had reported composing more than one type of technical document on the list. Nearly half came to the course fresh, with 43.9% stating they had never written any kind of technical document before. It is also important to note that all claimed to have written academic paragraphs, essays, and academic research papers in undergraduate courses and elsewhere. The aim of the technical communication course is to help students communicate effectively in a professional capacity. With that in mind, I will walk through the basic aspects of the CIT 300 course, its scope, and the arrangement of its major writing assignments. To save time, the course has interlocking assignments as well as smaller activities that target discipline-specific aspects connected to IT. These smaller, focussed activities work in two main ways: they indoctrinate students to concepts and terminology which will be featured in later courses and provide an opportunity to use targeted professional language in an authentic context. Before entry, students are expected to be able to produce effective standard communication, and for our course, reinforcing standard spoken and written English is a course outcome as well.

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The scope of CIT 300 is limited by more than just discipline. The course focuses on results-oriented writing. The ZU learning outcome for the course states that program graduates will be able to express themselves effectively and efficiently in both English and Arabic while using the correct IT terms for each language (the language-related learning outcome for our course). In short, the writing in the course—as does all technical communication—seeks to engage the audience and get them to do something in response. To answer the question behind this chapter, we will look at whether the global aspects of the course could extend to the entire student population—and whether those local aspects—the parts of the course which explicitly link topic and vocabulary to information technology—could also be altered to meet needs of other disciplines. There are several ways in which a solid technical communication course develops the overall proficiency of student writing. The scenarios, of course, will relate to current issues in the IT field. Within this narrowed scope, however, students learn: (1) all writing is transactional; (2) to identify the audience and their needs; (3) to have a clear purpose; (4) key grammar—such as hedging, conditionals, and situationals— in context; (5) basic rules on good writing; (6) information literacy; (7) editing for content and usage. In the following section, we address each in turn and state how a general studies’ student could benefit from this knowledge. First of all, all writing is set to a specific scenario. Our course contains no freewriting, journaling, or discovery pieces; there is no ‘writing for writing’s sake.’ If there is a narrative (perhaps one used as a ‘grabber’ in a presentation), that narrative is designed to serve a larger purpose. All three of the aforementioned textbooks use scenario-based activities as well. Having said this, our scenarios stem from realworld issues in IT. Authenticity is key. Our scenarios in the spring 2020 course centred around data security. Our summer 2020 course featured issues related to end-to-end encryption and third-party apps within social media platforms. At the same time, there is nothing stopping, say, an architectural class from basing assignments on issues within the field. We do have students write reflectively; however, these prompt-driven pieces act to help students self-assess their own learning through activities and assignments. The purpose is usually to examine what was learned, assess what worked, and what could be done differently in the future. This kind of reflection is designed to reinforce learned concepts, foster self-improvement, and allow for future goal setting. The scenario-based approach also saves time. Because all assignments in a given course are linked, students get to take a relatively deep dive into a concept over the course of a semester. Initial research on the concept can be the foundation for several assignments and become core knowledge on the topic once the student leaves the course. Along with this, students must learn—and somewhat master—disciplinespecific language related to the topic in order to communicate a concept effectively, whether spoken or written. Any writing in a professional discipline does not exist for itself: it is transactional (Fulwiler, 1982). Transactional writing aims to inform, persuade, or instruct an audience in clear, conventional, concise prose. The reason the writing exists gives it meaning. It is not an academic essay written to generate ideas and discussion as,

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say, a political science student would in a position paper. Nor is writing a matter of kaizen, a pathway that enables students to continuously learn grammar and diction and improve their mastery of each as they write. Rather, technical writing is a sort of return to first principles, one where the written word, simplified, exists in a particular setting and in a particular form for a particular purpose. Writing here is neither personal nor for a grade; it is ultimately as authentic as we can make it within the boundaries of a classroom. For example, our summer 2020 course had students first reviewing the basics of end-to-end encryption. The first assignment was to write a memo in response to a memo from the CEO, persuading him to reconsider a plan to abandon all Facebook-related apps in favour of those with end-to-end encryption. Later, students in groups created a proposal of apps with end-to-end encryption, comparing three and then proposing one to an external audience. Finally, the groups presented their proposed app in an online presentation. Typical writing assignments are feasibility reports rather than position essays, proposals rather than narratives— and in each case, the audience has its own needs and demands. The rubric in an academic setting is based on performance to an academic standard, while the only ‘rubric” in a professional setting is reality. Was the proposal accepted? How was the e-mail received? Next, a good technical writing course will teach a second essential of professional prose: to focus on a proposed audience and how to connect with them. In their textbook, Lannon and Gurak (p. 16) emphasize the “need to identify precisely who will be reading the document and understand how that particular audience will use your material.” Markel and Steiber (p. 38) call technical writing “one of the most challenging activities you will have to engage in as a professional,” in part from having to construct an audience. Yet this skill is also essential, as all students should learn to construct an audience and define their needs, values, and attitudes before writing. Further, students will have to define that audience (not just say, as many students do, ‘my audience is the teacher’) in a way akin to a professional. Some audiences will be easy to target; others may be unclear or poorly defined. In each case, a student who pens a technical document must be a problem solver, one apt at locating an audience and then zeroing in on what they need. This knowledge cannot come in a vacuum. To be effective, a good technical writer must research an audience’s background by asking the kind of questions that Lannon and Gurak (p. 17) provide: • • • • • • • • •

Who is the main audience for this document? Who else is likely to read it? What is your relationship with the audience? Are multiple types of relationships involved? What information does this audience need? How familiar might the audience be with technical details? Do these readers have varying levels of expertise? What culture or cultures does your audience represent? How might cultural differences shape readers’ expectations and interpretations?

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These answers will help any general studies student shape any piece of professional writing. Rather than assume an audience, a writer must target one, know what he or she will communicate to that audience, frame the information in a way that fits the audience’s background, and connect with their needs. Thus, the audience must be examined closely before writing. (two online examples of this kind of audience assessment are linked in Appendix 1). At the same time, a writer’s audience is potentially more than just your primary reader. Unintended readers will read to judge certain aspects of a document as well as the credibility of the person who writes it. These readers (called secondary readers, tertiary readers, and gatekeepers in our course) must also be considered when approaching a piece of technical communication. In our course, we learn the basics of writing as they relate to four different audiences: general/nonspecialist, expert, technical, and managerial/executive (see Appendix 2). Being able to write for these different audiences—not just for an audience of your classmates or your instructor—is vital in the modern workplace... and not taught elsewhere in academia. Each type of audience looks for and expects certain things. These expectations can be broken down into four areas: content, organization, style and tone, and layout. To summarize, certain types of information must be there for each type of reader. Further, the information is usually arranged in a certain way, phrased in a particular way, and set on the page to meet the needs of each type of reader. This kind of professional knowledge is not defined in academic writing. It is clearly defined in a standard technical communication course and also something a general studies student will need to know. Along with constructing an audience, a professional writer should know the purpose of any piece of writing. This, also, is a key component of our course. Here, our sample textbooks diverge a bit. Lannon and Gurak emphasize three purposes: to instruct, to inform, and to persuade. Markel and Steiber state three slightly different purposes: to understand a concept, to adopt a belief, or to carry out a task. Our writers are non-native speakers with little to no technical writing experience; thus, we err on the side of specificity. Students in our course write for five purposes: to inform, to persuade, to confirm, to request, and to deliver bad news. We emphasize positive framing within the course; that is, even negative news must be framed towards generative outcomes. The government of the country frames things in a similar fashion; in line with this, our course seeks to follow the communicative directives of the nation. Note these first three tenets of our course are global. In some form, they apply to any technical communication course around the world. The next two, however, have been added to the course to address patterns of deficiency in local student writing. Two clear ways to pinpoint patterns are to study general differences in L1 and L2 communication and to note specific error patterns in authentic student communication. We have done both to localize certain grammatical aspects of the course. Some hallmarks of Arabic writing—beginning sentences with coordinating conjunctions such as and or so—will be seen as either too informal, ungrammatical, or both in professional writing. This is a persistent issue. An informal tally of student writing in the fall of 2017 found that every report of the 22 examined had five or more examples of this kind of error. Commas in Arabic are also used differently than

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in English; thus, punctuation must be addressed as part of the course. At the same time, our goal is to keep instruction on grammar as simple as possible. This makes the course accessible to all, maintains a low threshold of linguistic competence, and keeps the focus on discipline-specific communication. Grammar must be taught. Nearly all students who have learned grammar have not mastered it. At the same time, this is not a remedial English course but a course in the discipline. Thus, all grammar must be taught in a discipline-specific context. Students are taught the general structure for simple, compound (sentences with two clauses connected by coordinating conjunctions), and complex (sentences with a dependent clause, an independent clause, and a subordinating conjunction) sentences. Via linguistic analysis, we have noticed three other issues stemming from misplaced commas: (a) commas placed after a coordinating conjunction instead of before; (b) commas put after the first clause in an embedded clause without need; (c) commas omitted in prepositional phrases to begin the sentence. These three issues are addressed via direct instruction as well. In response to all aforementioned issues, we teach useful grammar in context. These short exercises review grammar in no more than fifteen minutes, provide prompts related to IT or the students’ own lives, then ask them to produce sentences on a Google Doc or via an online whiteboard. Some prompts are personal to elicit certain clauses (for example: the subordinate conjunctions when for situations, if for conditions, and after/before to indicate sequencing). Other prompts ask students to read an IT-related article and capture a speaker’s attitude on a given topic. During the spring 2020 semester, students read various opinions on the impact of the IoT and systems engineering, then stated a single speaker’s opinion on a Google Doc before giving their own opinion on the same topic. For instance, students are first taught how to express a condition or situation in a proper and grammatical way. Later, they are shown further conjunctions that fit the pattern they have studied. For some, this will be a review; for others, this will expand their linguistic repertoire. The same contextual grammar is emphasized in editing as well, which we will go into near the end of this chapter. Another localized component focuses on the ‘flow’ of clear and concise writing. Putting together ideas clearly is at the core of not just technical writing but composition in general. A concise list of people who have weighed in the elements of interesting prose could fill this chapter with a list of names far more prominent than the author of this chapter. Yet relatively few have sought to bring compositional basics and metrics together to define what makes a text readable. The book Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace (Williams, 2006) provides first a list of guidelines, then a slim text full of practical examples—later versions of these guidelines are later simplified even further (Williams & Bizup, 2015). These guidelines correspond well with other linguistic analyses developed in connection with the U.S. military, such as the one in the Gunning-Fog Index. Average sentence length is one factor; complexity of and familiarity with vocabulary are two others (Gunning, 1952). Later, the Fleisch-Kincaid Reading Ease formula tweaked the algorithm to add more weight to polysyllabic words, as did other linguists (Klare et al., 1969). Both metrics aim to aid the writer in penning readable prose. Indeed, for technical (and any professional)

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writing, readability is essential I have tried to incorporate some of these basics into our course. With regard to readability, the class establishes six guidelines for clear communication. Those guidelines are as follows: (1) use the active voice by making the actor the subject of your sentence whenever possible; (2) dependent clauses (started by subordinate clauses such as when or if ) come first—but at a maximum of eight words; (3) know which noun or noun phrase connects to the sentence that comes before and after; (4) at the discourse level, sentences can either move in parallel (same topic, different comment) or parallel (step 1–step 2 or general-to-specific); (5) just as every sentence has its topic and comment, each paragraph has its topic sentence(s) and discussion; (6) add a summative sentence to clarify the main point of long or complex paragraphs. Note that when used in tandem, items 1 and 2 act to follow another maxim of clear writing (Williams, 2006)—the actor and action stay close together in the sentence. These rules are derived from both linguistic metrics and compositional theory. Many technical writers including Tebeaux (1980) argue for the first guideline— that active voice should be used more frequently, and that a writer looking to be understood should start sentences with a clause (#2 above) rather than ending with one. The third guideline acts to ensure cohesion. To copyeditors and proofreaders, this is an old proofreading rule; for our course, it helps to ensure that topics connect, one that also helps our ELL students while editing (Connor, 1984). The fourth guideline makes sure that the composition moves in a way that is acceptable to native English speakers (Swan & Smith, 2013). The fifth and sixth guidelines are there to provide a hierarchy of information within the paragraph and to help the reader discern the key point of a paragraph (Williams, 2006) that may be long or touch on a number of topics. Writing clean prose is the essence of any technical writing course. However, the writing goes hand-in-hand with the ideas they illuminate—those ideas must stand up to scrutiny. Thus, any course must also focus on information literacy. In a pre-Internet or dial-up era, facts rested with a traditional print media, which had a more formal vetting process. Now, in an era where information is everywhere, a writer can find facts with ease. Thus, determining the relevance of a given fact or set of facts is of heightened importance. Let’s take a look at our three textbooks, each of which presents a system for writers to figure out whether the information is credible. Lannon and Gurak have no less than eleven guidelines. They ask writers to examine everything from the publisher to the domain type to website sponsor to the author’s own credentials and assertions. Markel and Steiber list five items to check—authorship, publisher, knowledge of the literature, accuracy and verifiability of the information, and timeliness. For his part, Johnson-Sheehan breaks down information in many ways. The textbooks give the pros and cons of electronic versus print versus empirical sources. It also provides a primer on the scientific method and developing a research question. However, for informational literacy, its instruction lacked specificity, which is why the work of Blakeslee (2004) is incorporated into the course. She focuses on five methods of checking whether a source is credible: currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and

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purpose. Each category offers a series of questions; this protocol helps technical writing students—and any student—verify the strength of a piece of information. This twenty-first century skill is certainly one that any general studies student should take into their future workplace. Last, of all, students must have strategies to edit their own writing effectively. Realizing our students are all second language students, I separate editing for content and editing for grammar. For content, we have students apply the six guidelines of good writing above, this time to ensure cohesion and coherence. To decide what arguments to make and which information to include is up to them; however, the six rules will help them arrange the information in an accessible—and readable—way. Once editing for content has finished, a structured protocol walks them through editing for grammar. Students in our course have a variety of backgrounds with the language; thus, we focus on issues that are essentials of technical writing or areas where L1–L2 interference causes problems in understanding. A study of our course in 2017 found the following patterns of error: (a) comma usage in simple, compound, and complex sentences; (b) comma usage in sentence-initial phrases; (c) subject–verb agreement, particularly in sentences with embedded clauses or long noun phrases; (d) article usage; (e) capitalization in titles, headings, and subject lines. These accounted for 80 to 90% of edits; just as important, each kind of edit is teachable in a relatively short length of time. Past students have remarked how the editing helped them in future courses and—later—the workplace. A well-executed technical writing course can do this for any student in any profession. This technical communication course also meets many of the dimensions of academic writing. Each major assignment has students writing about completed procedural information, both as a group and individually. Personal stance is covered, as students reflect on the experience they had while putting together a given assignment. Writing in the course also has students writing about possible events and completed events, and both information density and showing empathy are important parts of technical communication as it relates to both audience and purpose. There is much to explore in this area in the future.

Other Considerations It is clear that all students gain from taking a technical communication course. What else might we add to this course to help students with their future professions? For one, I would add teaching strategies for narrative. We live in a story-driven era where, as Sam Altman (Altman, 2019) says, ‘all great careers, to some degree, become sales jobs.’ A narrative rooted in truth and connected to your audience is needed to sell even the best of ideas. To find key facts, to meet your audience, to define your purpose—all of these items are important in crafting a message that meets the moment. In good writing, though, both style and arrangement revolve around more than just ways to make the ideas readable. These ideas also must connect with an audience that the writer must construct; thus, writers must know how to make a credible argument I

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would argue a credible—and not specious—narrative is just as crucial as selecting the correct information and writing it in a clear and concise style. Teaching narrative structure helps students make that credible case. There is another objection commonly raised in technical communication: a lack of narrative writing. This differs from the idea directly above. While narrative structure gives us tools to craft a story, narrative writing is inherently subjective, a piece of writing uniquely personal in nature. I would argue against teaching this beyond reviewing personal experience for the sake of deeper personal learning, as our course does. One staple of academic writing is the personal essay—a telling of a story with the slant of a subjective experience. Is this important? Yes. At the same time, the difference between technical and academic writing has to do with the nature of the writing itself. Narrative writing is personal in nature. It is a reflection, a journal entry, a piece of writing unencumbered by any need other than to express oneself. However, technical communication is more narrowed and focussed on scope. Yes, a writer may get a chance to express his/herself, but that expression is there to serve a larger professional purpose, a purpose situated in a particular way, to a targeted audience, and for a particular purpose. Just writing is not enough; professional communication demands—and cannot be separated from—the discipline-specific items mentioned above. Last, of all, we need to teach a range of graphics and layout in a way that none of the three textbooks can. Technical writing is increasingly a visual medium. To show multi-faceted situations, there are multi-faceted graphics that have become standard in professional communication. To address visuals, I incorporate a multitude of applications and websites into the course, a quick primer on layout, and the basics of colour theory in order to make our reports, proposals, and manuals more appealing to the eye. CIT 300 certainly needs more instruction in this area, some of which will be implemented during the next semester.

Appendices Appendix 1: Audience Profiles One online example of an audience profile can be found here: https://www.tu-che mnitz.de/phil/english/sections/linguist/independent/kursmaterialien/TechComm/ aud_plan.html A second example of an audience profile can be found here: https://www.prismnet. com/~hcexres/itcm/planners/aud_plan.html

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Appendix 2: Strategies for Different Types of Readers

Content (meaning)

General

Expert

Technical

Manager

+ Topics that relate to their daily lives + Lots of background, usually in summary form rather than detail + Practical information rather than theory + Definitions of key terms + Anecdotes & other human-interest information

+ Both theory and practical applications of theory + Detailed background information + Statement of objectives, scope, limitations + Research methods outlines in sufficient detail for replication + Conclusions drawn from data + References to previous experimentation, research, or publications in the field

+ Only enough theoretical information to give some background and to help with troubleshooting + Often general description of equipment, parts, operation principles, maintenance + Often emphasis on mechanical operation + Emphasis on detail, but less than for expert

+ Simple & concise background info + Recommendations, criteria, discussion of alternatives + Statistics on costs, personnel, facilities, markets, possible competition + Non-essential data and information in an appendix

Organization + Narrative (a (arrangement story) of ideas) + Chronological (time order) + Least to most complex + Most interesting to least interesting + General to specific

+ Conclusions + Sequential and (step by step) or recommendations chronological are at the (time order) end—specific to general (or general-to-specific to general) + Typical scientific report form

+ Important information (conclusions, recommendations, summaries) at the beginning

(continued)

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(continued) General

Expert

Technical

Manager

Style / Tone (level of language & how it makes them feel)

+ Informal, readable + Plain language: few technical terms / no jargon + Active Voice + Analogies (this is like that) + Shorter sentences and paragraphs + 5th to 9th grade reading level + Verbal explanations of data rather than formulae or equations + Tone: down-to-earth

+ Formal, objective + Standard terms, abbreviations, formulae, equations may be used; verbal explanations may accompany them, but they, too, may be highly technical + Longer and more complex sentences and longer paragraphs + Tone: respectful, focussed on evidence

+ Active voice + Imperative mood, if instructing how to operate something + Standard terms and abbreviations may be used, although some definitions may be necessary + Formulae and equations should be limited; verbal explanations should always accompany them + Short sentences and paragraphs + Tone: Respectful and straightforward

+ Formal but not stuffy; readable + Plain language—technical terms and jargon clearly explained + Active voice + Verbal explanations of data rather than formulae or equations + Shorter sentences and paragraphs than for expert + Overall, similar to general audience, but perhaps at a little higher level + Tone: respectful

Layout (how it looks on the page)

+ Simple graphics + Lots of white space + Eye-catching layout

+ Tables, line graphs, complex charts, photos + Headings, but not as much white space as for other audiences

+ Illustrations, photos, blow-up diagrams + Charts, graphs, and photographs are detailed, but not as complex as for expert + Carefully labelled drawings + Lots of headings, white space, numbered steps, colour, graphic techniques (boxes, lines)

+ Pie charts, bar graphs, simple line graphs, tables + Headings & white space used to promote easy access

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References Allen, J. (1990). The case against defining technical writing. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 4(2), 68–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/105065199000400204 Altman, S. (2019, January 25). How to be successful. Retrieved July 12, 2020, from https://blog. samaltman.com/how-to-be-successful. Blakeslee, S. (2004). The CRAAP test. Retrieved July 10, 2020, from https://commons.emich.edu/ loexquarterly/vol31/iss3/4. Blickle, M. D., & Passe, M. E. (1963). Readings for technical writers. Ronald Press. Britton, W. E. (1965). What is technical writing? College Composition and Communication, 16(2), 113. https://doi.org/10.2307/354886 Connor, U. (1984). A study of cohesion and coherence in English as a second language students’ writing. Paper in Linguistics, 17(3), 301–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351818409389208 Defining Technical Communication. (n.d.). Retrieved July 3, 2020, from https://www.stc.org/aboutstc/defining-technical-communication/. Developing Courses in Technical Writing. (1973). College Composition and Communication, 24(3), 312. https://doi.org/10.2307/356867. Freedman, M. (1959). Technical writing, anyone? College Composition and Communication, 10(1), 53. https://doi.org/10.2307/355885 Fulwiler, T. (1982). Writing: An act of cognition. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 1982(12), 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1002/tl.37219821204 Gardner, S., Nesi, H., & Biber, D. (2018). Discipline, level, genre: Integrating situational perspectives in a new MD analysis of university student writing. Applied Linguistics, 40(4), 646–674. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amy005 Gunning, R. (1952). The technique of clear writing. New York, NY: McGraw- Hill Book. Johnson-Sheehan, R. (2015). Technical communication today (2nd ed.). Pearson. Kapp, R. O. (1959). The presentation of technical information; based on four public lectures given at University College, London. Macmillan. Klare, G. R., Rowe, P. P., John, M. G., & Stolurow, L. M. (1969). Automation of the Flesch reading ease readability formula, with various options. Reading Research Quarterly, 4(4), 550. https:// doi.org/10.2307/747070 Lannon, J. M., & Gurak, L. J. (2017). Technical communication. Pearson. Lunsford, A. A. (1976). Classical rhetoric and technical writing. College Composition and Communication, 27(3), 289. https://doi.org/10.2307/357056 Markel, M., & Selber, S. A. (2018). Technical communication. Bedford/St. Martin’s. Miller, C. R. (1979). A humanistic rationale for technical writing. College English, 40(6), 610. https://doi.org/10.2307/375964 O’Hara, F. M. (n.d.). A brief history of technical communication. Retrieved July 10, 2019, from https://narentc.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/history-of-technical-communication-2.pdf. Swan, M., & Smith, B. (2013). Learner English: A teacher’s guide to interference and other problems. Cambridge University Press. Tebeaux, E. (1980). What makes bad technical writing bad? A historical analysis. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, PC-23(2), 71–76. https://doi.org/10.1109/tpc.1980.6501852. Williams, J. M. (2006). Style: Ten lessons in clarity and grace. New York, NY: Pearson Longman. Williams, J. M., & Bizup, J. (2015). Style: The basics of clarity and grace. Pearson.

Erik Thornquist is a Senior Instructor and teaches Technical Communication and Ethics in IT at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. He has taught in Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Taiwan. He has written book chapters on best practices in intensive reading & gaze-controlled reading support, and presented on such topics as the effects of mobile learning, using lateral thinking in composition, digital literacies and error correction, and mini-lessons that target grammar in context.

Chapter 25

Practical Applications of Learning-Oriented Assessment (LOA) in the UAE Peter Davidson and Christine Coombe

Abstract While assessment serves many different purposes, traditionally the main aim of assessment has been to measure students’ performance in order to make a judgement about placement, progress, achievement, or proficiency. More recently, however, examination boards, test writers, and teachers have begun to explore ways in which testing can also be used to facilitate learning. In a Learning-Oriented Assessment (LOA) approach, all assessment, both formal and informal, contributes to learning, and assessment is aligned with the curriculum. As noted by Cambridge Assessment English (n.d.), LOA emphasizes that all levels of assessment, (macro and micro) should positively impact on both the effectiveness of learning and the evaluation of learning outcomes. But what does this mean for the classroom teacher, and how does LOA impact on the classroom? The purpose of this chapter is to discuss how assessment can be constructed so as to maximize opportunities for meaningful student learning in the classroom and become an integral part of the learning process. We begin by examining the importance of ‘assessment for learning’ in order to better understand how it laid the foundation for LOA. After defining LOA, we turn to the main focus of this chapter, which is how to implement LOA in the classroom. We outline what teachers in the UAE can do within an LOA framework before, during, and after an assessment, in order to facilitate learning. The final sections of this chapter address some of the criticisms that have been made against LOA, and outline the implications of taking an LOA approach. Particular emphasis is paid to why we recommend that LOA be used in federal government tertiary-level institutions in the UAE. Keywords Learning-oriented assessment · LOA · Classroom assessment

P. Davidson (B) Zayed University, Dubai, UAE e-mail: [email protected] C. Coombe Dubai Men’s College, Dubai, UAE © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_25

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The Precursor to LOA: Assessment of, for, and as Learning Black and Wiliam (1998) published a seminal article that significantly challenged the way that testers and teachers viewed assessment. According to Black and Wiliam (1998), students who engaged in formative assessment on their courses achieved significantly better than students who only took summative assessments on more traditional courses. Consequently, this ground-breaking article lead the way for a number of different research projects on the assessment that sought to determine the impact that different types of assessment had upon learning and ultimately lead to the three distinctions of assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and assessment as learning (Earl, 2003). These three types of assessment can be differentiated according to the purpose of the assessment, the expected outcomes, how results are reported, whether it is a formative or summative assessment, when the assessment takes place, the type of assessment that is used, who is involved in the assessment process, and the type of feedback students receive.

Assessment of Learning (AoL) Earl (2003) made the important distinction between assessment of, for, and as learning. Assessment of Learning (AoL) is assessing students to measure how much they know. The purpose of this type of assessment is to gather evidence on what students have learned during a particular course of study, in order to identify what standards students have reached, and to hold teachers accountable for the maintenance of these standards. The outcome of AoL is ultimately a judgement on what standards have been achieved by the students, and the results are interpreted and written up in a report for administrators, and may also be given to other key stakeholders such as head teachers, board of directors, parents, and government ministries. Results are expressed as a score, a percentage, or a grade, and students are often ranked according to their performance. What is important with AoL is the students’ scores, and ultimately how many students passed, or reached the required standard, and how many did not. AoL is summative (Biggs, 1998), and it takes place at the end of a course in the form of a final exam or an achievement test. It is also very teachercentred, students receive little or no feedback from their peers or their teacher, and very little learning occurs as a result of this type of assessment.

Assessment for Learning (AfL) Assessment for Learning (AfL), on the other hand, is to facilitate learning. Black et al., (2004, p. 10) define AfL as “any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting pupils learning”. In this

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approach, we assess students’ progress on a particular course in order to diagnose their learning needs, and we adapt our teaching accordingly to meet those learning needs. Results of AfL are expressed as descriptive feedback or a description of each student’s performance. With an AfL approach, we use the results of the assessment to inform teaching which can initiate differentiated instruction, personalized learning, and potentially curriculum change. This type of assessment is formative in nature and is implemented continuously throughout the course. A range of assessment measures are employed, such as diagnostic tests, progress tests, task-based tests, performance-based tests, scenario-based tests, projects, and portfolios. AfL necessitates interaction between the teacher whereby the teacher creates the assessment, the students complete the assessment, the teacher identifies the student’s learning needs and gives feedback on the student’s performance, students take on board this feedback which facilitates learning. The holistic nature of AfL is illustrated in the Assessment for Learning Model proposed by Sambell et al. (2012) in Fig. 25.1. Although heavily criticized by Figueras (2005), Tomlinson (2005, p 39) provides a useful list of all the things that a teacher can learn from their students when they take a test, which the teacher can then use to provide their students with useful opportunities for learning: • what the students know and what they do not know (both explicitly and implicitly) about the target language • what the student can and cannot do in the target language • what progress the students are making • what effect the teaching has had on the students • what the students are likely to be able to do with the language in a target context • what the students need to learn • what can be done to help the students learn • what the students know and can do in comparison with other students The Assessment Reform Group (1999) identified ‘The big 5 principles of assessment for learning’, which was hugely influential in changing the way that testing boards, test writers, and teachers thought about assessment: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

The provision of effective feedback to students. The active involvement of students in their own learning. Adjusting teaching to take account of the results of the assessment. Recognition of the profound influence assessment has on the motivation and self-esteem of pupils, both of which are critical influences on learning. The need for students to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve.

Assessment as Learning (AaL) It can be challenging to decipher the tenuous differences between AfL and AaL (Hume & Coll, 2009), and some researchers take the easy option of combining the

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Fig. 25.1 Assessment for learning model (Sambell et al., 2012)

two and using the terms interchangeably. However, it is worth teasing out the subtle differences between these two types of assessment. The major difference is that with an AaL approach, the purpose of the assessment is to not only facilitate learning, but also to engage students as critical assessors and develop themselves as independent learners. As Dann (2002, p. 153), advocates, “assessment is not merely an adjunct to teaching and learning but offers a process through which pupil involvement in assessment can feature as part of learning—that is assessment as learning.” The outcome of AaL is ownership and empowerment as it is the students themselves, not the teacher, that sets their learning goals. The teacher does give descriptive feedback on the performance of their students after they take an assessment, the students then develop their own learning plan. AaL is formative and is implemented continuously during the course, but the focus is very much on the student with student-generated

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Table 25.1 A comparison of assessment of, for, and as learning Assessment of learning

Assessment for learning

Assessment as LEARNING

Purpose

Measure students learning; gather evidence; standards; quality assurance; accountability

Facilitate learning; assess progress and learning needs; inform teaching

Facilitate learning; engage students as critical assessors; develop independent learners

Outcome

Judgement; report

Diagnoses; adapt teaching; differentiation; personalized learning; curriculum change

Ownership; empowerment; Students set their own learning goals

Results

Score; grade; p/f; s/u; comparing; ranking

Feedback; description of performance; score

Feedback; student-developed-learning plan

Type

Summative

Formative

Formative

Timing

End of course

During a course; continuous

During the course; continuous

Mode

Final exam; achievement test

Diagnostic test; progress test; task-based test; performance-based test; scenario-based test; project; portfolio; dynamic assessment

Student-generated tests; Self-assessment; self-monitoring; self-regulation; self-reflection

Involvement

Teacher-centred

Teacher/student-centred; interactive

Student-centred

Feedback

Little or no feedback

Teacher feedback

Teacher feedback; peer feedback

tests, self-assessment, self-monitoring, self-regulation, and self-reflection. So while AaL places importance on promoting student learning in a similar way to AfL, it does so from a very student-centred perspective with student empowerment as the ultimate goal. All three types of assessment are prevalent in the three government tertiary-level institutions in the UAE. Table 25.1 below summarizes the differences between Assessment of, for, and as learning.

Learning-Oriented Assessment Most teachers would accept the fact that one of the main purposes of assessment is to measure students’ performance. More often than not, this measurement comes in the form of an exam at the end of a course, or possibly a test sometime during the course. The LOA framework, however, also recognizes that in addition to measuring

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students’ performance, another important purpose of assessment is to facilitate learning. As noted by Carless (2009, p. 80), “for all assessments whether predominantly summative or formative in function a key aim is to promote productive student learning”. A crucial aspect of the LOA framework is that it aligns assessment with all aspects of the curriculum, including the syllabus, teaching materials, teaching methodology, testing, and teacher training. Cambridge Assessment English (n.d.), note that LOA emphasizes that all levels of assessment, (macro and micro) contribute in some way to both the effectiveness of learning and the evaluation of learning outcomes. In an LOA approach, all assessments, both formal and informal, should augment the learning process and help to facilitate student learning. As Saville (2013) succinctly puts it, LOA is “a concept that prioritizes and locates learning at the heart of every assessment context”. Purpura (2014) notes that “an LOA approach to assessment recognizes the symbiotic relationships among external standards, curriculum, instruction, learning, and assessment, and is concerned with the role that these synergies play in understanding learner performance, engagement, learning processes, and the attainment of learning success.” Similarly, Carroll (2017) proposes that LOA should be viewed as a framework that recognizes the dynamic connection between teaching, learning, and assessment in order to promote learning: Learning-oriented assessment (LOA) is theorized as a development and validation framework for identifying the dynamic, interactive relationships between instruction, learning, and assessment in the classroom … The orientation to learning in LOA prioritizes the use of positive and negative feedback on performance to moderate the relationships between learners and learning processes and the indicators of learning demonstrated by performance. The LOA framework also highlights the inter-relationships between instruction, learning, and assessment to both foster successful learning and guide the development of learning-oriented assessments (p. 28).

The relationship between teaching, learning, and assessment that both Purpura (2014) and Carroll (2017) mention above is also highlighted in the LOA model proposed by Jones and Saville (2016) (see Fig. 25.2). The learning objectives of a particular course inform the task that the teacher develops for their students. While the students engage in the language activity, the teacher observes, analyzes, interprets, and records what it is the students can and cannot do. The learning objectives that the students have achieved are noted in the Record of Achievement. However, more importantly, learning gaps are also identified, and this feedback influences the teacher’s decision-making and they set about modifying learning objectives and adapting their teaching to better meet their students’ needs.

Implementing LOA in the Classroom Jones and Saville (2016), outline the steps in the implementation of LOA (see Fig. 25.3), which is initially informed by stance, language policy, and a theory of action. The implementation of LOA requires the coordination of teacher training,

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Fig. 25.2 The classroom within an LOA model (Jones & Saville, 2016, p. 85)

Fig. 25.3 Steps in LOA implementation (Jones & Saville, 2016, p. 117)

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the curriculum, materials development, assessment, and the use of technology to identify learning gaps in order to build capacity. After monitoring progress and providing feedback to bring about further improvements, the impact of the project is then evaluated. Given that LOA has the potential to create numerous rich learning opportunities for students, the question that is often overlooked by researchers is, how can this actually be achieved in practice? In other words, how can we maximize the learning opportunities from an assessment for our students. In this section, we highlight what teachers can do to realize the full learning potential of LOA in their classrooms before, during, and after an assessment.

Before the Assessment Timing of Assessment Tasks Before the assessment, you need to consider the timing of assessment tasks and ask yourself how it might impact on learning. A summative assessment that is implemented at the end of the course, for example, is unlikely to promote any deep or sustained learning. Students often cram for summative assessments, which only results in surface learning. It is unlikely a teacher will see their students again after a summative assessment, so they will not be in a position to give them any feedback. Even if the teacher could give feedback on the summative assessment, the students are more likely to be only interested in the grade they got, rather than attending to any feedback they received. In order to facilitate learning, therefore, it is much better to use formative, ongoing, continuous assessment.

Number of Assessment Tasks The number of assessments that a teacher implements can also significantly affect how much students learn. In order to maximize learning opportunities within an LOA framework, it is better to have a number of smaller low-stakes assessments during a course, rather than having one big high-stakes examination at the end of the course. This has the additional advantage of placing less weighting on a single assessment which in turn reduces test anxiety.

Choice of Assessment Tasks The choice of the assessment task is also crucial. Some types of assessment and some test task types lend themselves to facilitating assessment more than others. The cline in Fig. 25.4 below is an attempt to differentiate the extent to which different types of assessment, and different test task types, facilitate learning. As can be seen on the left side of the cline, very little learning takes place when a placement test

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Fig. 25.4 The extent to which types of assessment and test task types facilitate learning

or final exam is implemented. Test items such as a cloze test, multiple-choice questions (MCQs), True/False questions (T/F), and matching questions also do not lend themselves to facilitating learning. Some learning may occur from a mid-term exam if students are permitted to see their completed exam and the teacher goes over the answers with them, but short answers questions (SAQs) and even long answer questions (LAQs) are of limited value when it comes to expediting student learning. As we move along the cline, the use of portfolios, essays, progress tests, and research projects all produce some learning, but not significant amounts. At the far right of the cline are the types of assessment that are most likely to facilitate learning, and these include diagnostics tests, dynamic assessment (Hidri, 2014; Poehner & Paolo, 2016), task-based assessment (Norris, 2016), performance-based assessment (Bachman, 2002; Wigglesworth, 2008), scenario-based assessment (Carroll, 2017), and authentic assessment (Davidson & Coombe, 2010).

Use of Technology Computerized assessment has huge potential to facilitate learning within an LOA framework, a point which is emphasized by Jones and Saville (2016). This is mainly due to the fact that when students take a computerized test, it generates a lot of useful data which teachers can use to inform their teaching. On a computerized test of grammar, for example, it is possible to tag test items that measure the same grammatical point, for example, the present perfect. In this way, the teacher is able to see their student’s performance on different grammatical points, not just the test as a whole. So their students might do well on the grammar test overall and achieve an average score of 86%, but the teacher would also be able to see that most students got most of the questions related to the present perfect incorrect, so they would likely decide to revise their teaching and reteach a lesson on the present perfect.

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Transparency There are a number of other things a teacher can do before an assessment to facilitate learning. An obvious strategy is to announce the test date to students and allow them time to study and revise for the test. Another strategy is to ask students if they want 20–30 min to revise before they begin a test. Students are usually grateful for this revision time and spend it fervently reviewing their notes and discussing key points with classmates. In order to enhance learning before an assessment, teachers need to be transparent about the assessment, telling their students when tests will take place, what areas the test will cover, the types of test questions that will be on the test, and the weighting of the individual test items. Teachers can go even further than this in order to promote learning. For example, if they show students parts of the test, or even the whole test, the day before they are scheduled to take it, students will be highly motivated to study and learn the material that will enable them to answer questions on that test. Another strategy that teachers can use to motivate their students to study before a test is to let students take the test home with them one or two days before the test.

Involve Students Within an LOA framework, it is essential to involve students in the decision-making process of the assessment, e.g. when an assessment will take place, what areas of the curriculum the assessment will cover, how long the test will be, how many questions there will be, what assessment task types will be used, the design of the rubric that will be used to score the test, and the weighting given to the individual test items and to the assessment overall. As (Smith, 2009, p. 26) notes, “When students become partners in the assessment process, tests become vehicles for learning.” Therefore, getting students to help write tests, generate answers keys, and mark their own tests all create opportunities for learning. Smith (2009) outlines how she promotes learning in her classes by occasionally getting her students to help create a classroom test. She gets students to individually review their notes and highlight points that they think should appear on the test. As a class, they then brainstorm a list of what points the test should cover. Smith (2009) then briefly informs her students about the basics of test design, and they are then put into groups and each group is told to write around eight test items using a variety of test task types. Each group presents its eight test items to the class. According to Smith (2009), it is at this point that a lot of learning takes place. This is because when the group presents their test items to the whole class, other students in the class let them know when they do not know the answer to a particular question. At that moment, the group teaches the students what they need to know to answer the question, or the teacher steps in and reteaches the material in a different way. The teacher then creates the final version of the test, which the students then take.

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During the Assessment Adjust the Test Environment Conditions Students can also learn while they are actually taking an assessment, but this will require some adjustment to the environmental test conditions. An assessment where students are sitting silently in rows taking an exam is unlikely to promote any form of learning. Assessment tasks that require students to sit in groups and learn from each other will more likely foster learning. Students should also be given a generous amount of time to complete the assessment if learning is to occur, rather than forcing students to rush through a test. Giving students access to additional resources and equipment such as computers, the internet, online dictionaries, course materials, and the course textbook while completing an assessment will also provide multiple opportunities to engage in learning. ‘Open book’ tests provide a wealth of learning opportunities for students because they are highly motivated to read in order to answer the questions. Allowing students to ask questions about the test while they are doing it, such as the meaning of words, also promotes learning. Providing a glossary of terms on a reading test will also provide opportunities for students to learn new vocabulary.

Pair and Group Assessment From time to time, we recommend using pair assessment and group assessment on a low-stakes classroom test, where a pair or a group of students are given one test to complete so that they can learn from each other during the test. We have, on occasion, given the whole class just one test to complete. Even on a low-stakes whole class test, that is only worth 1 or 2% of the overall course grade, the amount of disagreement, lively discussion, animated debate, and ultimate learning that takes place is obvious to see. Research on the amount of learning that takes place during pair, group, or whole class assessment is scarce, but from our classroom observations, we would predict that the learning gains are quite substantial. Tomlinson (2005, p. 45), suggests asking the following five questions at the end of a test, which are actually awarded marks, as a way of promoting learning through reflection: • What do you think you have done well in this test? (4 marks) • What problems have you had doing this test? (4 marks) • What are you going to do to help yourself overcome some of these problems? (4 marks) • What have you learnt whilst doing this test? (4 marks) • What are you going to do to help yourself to learn more from this test? (4 marks)

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After the Assessment Provide Diagnostic Feedback Finally, there are numerous learning opportunities to be exploited even after the assessment has taken place. One obvious thing to do is once the teacher has marked the test, is to give it back to the students and to go over the answers with them. While some students are only interested in receiving their scores, other students will want to learn where they went wrong and how they can improve on the next test. Providing students with detailed diagnostic feedback and then directing them to additional learning resources is very likely to produce significant learning gains.

Get Students to Write the Answer Key and Rate Their Own Assessments Other techniques which can be used to promote learning after students have taken a test is to get the students to write the answer key for the test and to get students to mark their own tests. Smith (2009) explains that after marking a classroom test herself and recording the students’ scores, she then gets her students to take the test again in groups, where a significant amount of learning takes place. While in these groups, she gets her students to generate an answer key, which they then use to mark the group test. She then averages the score she gave, and the score the student got on the group test, to calculate the students actual final score. As Smith (2009, p. 30) notes, “Testing activities can become learning activities when students are informed partners in the assessment processes”.

Let Students Redo the Assessment One of the most effective ways to facilitate learning after a test is to allow students to redo the test. When exploited the right way, letting students redo a test can be an opportunity for students to make huge learning gains. For example, if many students in your class have failed a test, the opportunity to repeat that test will act as huge motivation to revise and study for that test. Furthermore, the teacher can identify areas of the test that the students did poorly on and reteach that material. No doubt students will pay attention during those lessons where the teacher is reteaching material that will be on a test that they are able to retake. This technique can be utilized when teaching writing. For example, get students to write an essay very early on in the course, before you have done any teaching, and grade the essay using a red pen on the essay criteria. Invariably, students will score poorly on the essay, scoring around 40–50%. When you hand back the essays to your students, they will likely ask you if they can rewrite their essays. You can then ask them if it would be helpful if you taught them some key writing strategies such as writing thesis statements and topic sentences, organization, in-texts citations, and referencing, After

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teaching these points, allow them to rewrite their essays and remark them using the same rating criteria that you used previously, but this time use a green pen. When the students’ scores increase from 40–50% to 80–90%, it is readily apparent that significant learning gains have taken place.

Analyze Test Path Data Another useful bit of information that teachers can look at when their students take a computerized test is test path data. This data gives the teacher valuable information on which questions the students answered first, which questions they skipped and went back to later, how long they took to answer a question, and if they changed their answers to a question. This test path data is useful because it tells us more than whether the students got the answer correct or not. It tells us something about how confident, or unconfident, they are about certain questions on the test. So, for example, the test results might indicate that the students performed reasonably well on the prepositions part of your grammar test, averaging 83%. But when you analyze the test path data, you noticed that most students skipped the questions on prepositions and came back to them later, and many students spent much longer on these questions than other parts of the test, and some students changed their answers to these questions multiple times. All of this indicates that, even though they might have ended up choosing the right answer in the end, the students did not demonstrate a lot of confidence in answering these questions, and this lack of conviction would result in the teacher teaching another lesson on prepositions.

Personalize Learning Perhaps one of the most powerful ways that computerized testing can enhance student learning is that students can get instant feedback on their test performance, and this feedback can be used to personalize and individualize their learning. So rather than having thirty students in a class, all with different knowledge, skills, competencies, and learning needs, all following the same curriculum in the same lock-step fashion, students could do the final exam on the first day of the course, identify their individual learning needs, and be given their own personalized course that caters to their specific learning needs. Immediately after taking the final exam, students could get extensive descriptive feedback on what they can and cannot do, be provided with links to relevant teaching material to meet their individual and unique learning needs. This test-teach-test method (Boundjema, 2014) has massive potential for blended learning, online learning, hybrid learning, and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses).

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Criticisms of LOA Negative Backwash It is widely accepted that assessment does have a backwash effect, significantly impacting on teaching and learning, and it also has major consequences beyond the classroom (Taylor, 2005). Some teachers complain that testing gets in the way of teaching and that it has a negative washback effect. As noted by Taylor (2005, p. 154), “Negative washback is said to occur when a test’s content or format is based on a narrow definition of language ability, and so constrains the teaching/learning context. Furthermore, Knight (1995, p. 11), contends that “The assessment of student learning has often been seen as a harmful and tiresome necessity. Tiresome, because of the amount of work it imposed upon learners and tutors and because it seemed to get in the way of worthwhile learning; harmful because it seemed to encourage cramming, superficiality and conformity.” However, it is important to recognize that washback can also be positive. An LOA approach seeks to stimulate a positive backwash effect. As noted by Biggs (1999): While backwash is almost invariably seen as negative … learning for the test is only bad learning if the test is bad. Students’ learning may also be as good as the assessment tasks they are given, in which case the backwash becomes positive. The basic principle of good assessment, then, is to ensure that the assessment is aligned to the curriculum … Backwash works positively when the assessment tasks are deliberately and firmly referenced to learning standards contained in the curriculum. In preparing for the assessments, students will then be learning the curriculum (p. 141).

Too Much Testing Some teachers complain that there is already too much assessment and that an LOA approach will just add more assessment to a curriculum that is already loaded with a lot of tests, quizzes, and assignments and take valuable time away from teaching. However, the issue is not so much that there is too much testing, but rather that there has been too much bad testing (Ebel & Frisbie, 1991). Assessment can be highly motivating for many students. Students take tests seriously and spend many hours studying and revising them. Some students even like tests and view them as a way to demonstrate their knowledge. As noted above, assessment can have a positive washback effect and facilitate learning if it is focussed on learning outcomes and based on the curriculum of a particular course if it occurs continuously throughout a course, and if the type of assessment implemented and the test task types are appropriate. Within an LOA framework, the distinction between teaching and testing often becomes blurred, and as noted in the framework for LOA in Fig. 25.5 (Carless, 2007), assessment tasks become learning tasks. This point is echoed by Messick (1996, p. 1), who maintained that “there should be little if any difference between

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Fig. 25.5 A framework for LOA (Carless, 2009)

activities involved in learning the language and activities involved in the test” and that “the move from learning exercises to test exercises should be seamless.”

Teaching to the Test Another concern that teachers in the UAE have expressed about LOA is that it is seen as ‘teaching to the test’, which they regard as a negative thing that should be avoided in the classroom. However, teaching to the test is not necessarily a bad thing if the test specifications of the test are based on the curriculum of the course, and the type of test task used is one that is more likely to facilitate learning. In this instance, teaching to the test is likely to have positive outcomes. Negative attitudes towards teaching to the test are more likely to concern the practice of a teacher basing their teaching solely on the tests, and focussing primarily on teaching test-taking strategies and the overuse of practice tests in the classroom. As has been mentioned previously, within an LOA framework, the divisions between teaching, learning, and assessment become blurred as classroom activities become assessment, and assessment becomes classroom activities that provide students with opportunities to learn. In other words, in LOA, the idea of teaching to the test becomes a moot point.

Ineffectiveness of Feedback A potent criticism of LOA is that it relies heavily upon students receiving feedback from their teachers or their peers, and the efficacy of this feedback has often been called into question (Gebril & Brown, 2020). For example, Shao (2015) maintains that teachers giving feedback on students writing is a waste of time, and Truscott

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(1999) even notoriously claimed that it can actually be harmful for students. However, Davidson (2020) argues that giving feedback can be effective, but its effectiveness depends upon a number of variables such as how the feedback is given, when it is given, whether or not students are ready to use the feedback they receive in a meaningful way, and the quality and quantity of the feedback provided. Davidson (2020), provides a number of recommendations on how to make feedback more effective for students. He recommends that employing a combination of self, peer, and teacher feedback, will serve to increase the likelihood that the feedback the students receive will be meaningful and effective. Peer feedback can provide students with valuable information and develops students editing skills which helps them to become better writers (Liu & Hansen, 2002; Rollinson, 2005). Group feedback and class discussions can also be a very useful way for students to receive multiple sources of feedback (Boughey, 1997). Teachers also need to train students on how to give and receive feedback, provide a specific focus for peer feedback, and monitor the feedback carefully. Teachers and students need to focus on giving different types of feedback at different stages of the writing process. For example, early on in the writing process, feedback should focus solely on content and organization, and on subsequent drafts, feedback should focus more on the surface linguistic features. Teachers and peers should focus on the quality of the feedback, not the quantity, focussing their feedback on two or three key issues at one time (Sheen, 2007). In order to be effective, feedback on students’ writing should be reasonably detailed (Ferris & Roberts, 2001), clear and specific, and should balance constructive criticism with praise (Hyland & Hyland, 2001).

Teachers’ Lack of Assessment Literacy A final area of concern regarding LOA is that the vast majority of teachers are not sufficiently assessment literate to meet the assessment demands an LOA approach necessitates. In other words, most teachers do not have the knowledge or skills to write effective assessments, analyze and interpret the results, identify learning gaps, and make the necessary pedagogical changes to improve their students’ learning. However, it should be pointed out that claims that teachers lack assessment literacy are largely anecdotal. Mertler and Campbell (2005) have devised an Assessment Literacy Inventory, but it is not widely used. The fact is, we just do not know for sure how assessment literate most teachers actually are. If teachers are to work within an LOA framework, however, it is likely that they will need additional training on the key concepts of assessment, the design and construction of assessments, and the analysis and interpretation of assessment results. Alderson et al. (2017) also point out that not just teachers, but also policy-makers and decision-takers, need a greater awareness of assessment literacy.

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Implications of LOA There is no doubt that taking an LOA approach requires a paradigm shift in the way we think about, devise, implement, and interpret assessment. With an LOA approach, there is obviously a greater emphasis on assessment ‘for’ learning as ‘of’ learning. As such, with LOA there is a concomitant focus on formative rather than summative assessment. There is also a greater emphasis on diagnostic assessment and on alternative assessment methods. The importance of teacher and peer feedback becomes significantly enhanced in LOA as they are central to the approach. Furthermore, there is a critical need for improved assessment literacy of teachers in order to make the LOA approach function effectively. Teachers inevitably will need to know more about the principles of test design, how to write good tests, how to develop rubrics and rating criteria, and how to interpret test results. In order to ensure reliable rating, an LOA approach needs to highlight the importance of norming or standardizing raters, and the need to monitor the performance of raters. The final implication of LOA is that there is a need for research to determine the impact that it has on teaching and learning, and whether or not it is an effective approach to assessment.

Conclusion Assessment is not just about measuring students’ learning, gathering evidence, making judgements, assigning scores, assuring quality, and maintaining accountability. Assessment also provides learners with significant learning opportunities. As has been demonstrated throughout this chapter, LOA has the potential to unleash a myriad of learning experiences for learners. As noted by Boud (2000 p. 159), “Every act of assessment … has more than one purpose. If we do not pay attention to these multiple purposes we are in danger of inadvertently sabotaging one or more of them”. Assessment provides teachers with an excellent opportunity to facilitate learning, a valuable opportunity that we should not waste. For many years, teachers have been using assessment to diagnose their students’ strengths and weaknesses, and they have been adjusting their curricula and teaching accordingly. Teachers have also been using assessment to motivate students and facilitate learning. It is a real positive that testing organizations such as Cambridge Assessments, Educational Testing Services, and Pearson have begun to recognize the power of assessment to enhance learning. The real potential of LOA is fulfilled when it augments, rather than replaces, traditional summative assessment. As noted by Biggs (1999, p. 160): “The effects of assessment on learning are usually deleterious. This is largely because assessment is treated as a necessary evil, the bad news of teaching and learning, to be conducted at the end of all the good stuff. Students second guess the assessment and make that their syllabus; they will underestimate requirements if the assessment tasks let them. In aligned teaching, on the other hand, the assessment reinforces learning. Assessment

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is the senior in learning and teaching. Get it wrong, and the rest collapses”. However, when you get the assessment right, and when you align teaching, learning, and assessment within an LOA framework, the potential for student learning is unlimited. When assessment is an integral part of the teaching–learning process, it can have a significant positive impact on students’ learning. LOA requires a shift in the way many testers and teachers view assessment. It requires a different set of test conditions and task types than traditional summative assessment, and the adoption of what Tomlinson (2005), refers to as ‘learning validity’, namely the extent to which a test promotes learning. As testers and teachers, we need to develop assessment tasks and adapt environmental testing conditions in order to provide our students with multiple opportunities to learn from assessments.

References Alderson, C. J., Brunfaut, T., & Harding, L. (2017). Bridging assessment and learning: A view from second and foreign language assessment. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice, 24(3), 379–387. Assessment Reform Group. (1999). Assessment for Learning: Beyond the Black Box. University of Cambridge. Bachman, L. (2002). Some reflections on task-based language performance assessment. Language Testing., 19(4), 453–476. Biggs, J. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning: A role for summative assessment? Assessment in Education, 5(1), 103–110. Biggs, J. (1999). Teaching for Quality Learning at University. Society for Research into Higher Education. Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., & Wiliam, D. (2004). Working inside the black box: Assessment for learning in the classroom. Phi Delta Kappan, 86, 8–21. Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education, 5(1), 7–74. Boundjema, F. (2014). TTT technique for ESL learning. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/ innovative14/test-teachtest-technique-for-esl-classes Boud, D. (2000). Sustainable assessment: Rethinking assessment for the learning society. Studies in Continuing Education, 22(2), 151–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/713695728 Boughey, C. (1997). Learning to write by writing to learn: A group-work approach. ELT Journal, 51(2), 126–134. Cambridge Assessment English (n.d.). Retrieved on 17 Ocotber, 2019, from: https://www.cambri dgeenglish.org/research-and-validation/fitness-for-purpose/loa/ Carless, D. (2007). Learning-oriented assessment: Conceptual basis and practical implications. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 44(1), 57–66. Carless, D. (2009). Learning-oriented assessment: Principles, practice and a project. In L.H. Meyer, S. Davidson, H. Anderson, R. Fletcher, P.M. Johnston & M. Rees (Eds.), Tertiary Assessment and Higher Education Student Outcomes: Policy, Practice and Research (pp. 79–90). Wellington, New Zealand: Ako Aotearoa. Carroll, B.A. (2017). A Learning-oriented assessment perspective on scenario-based assessment. Teachers College, Columbia University Working Papers in Applied Linguistics & TESOL, 17(2), 28–35. Dann, R. (2002). Promoting assessment as learning: Improving the learning process. Routledge.

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Davidson, P. (2020). New perspectives on giving feedback on students’ writing. In W. Zoghbor, S. Al Alami, & T. Alexiou. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 2nd Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching (ALLT) Conference: Engaging in Change: New Perspectives of Teaching and Learning (pp. 48–62). Dubai: Zayed University Press. Davidson, P. & Coombe, C. (2010). Setting real standards using authentic assessment in an EAP context. In Mader, J & Urkun, Z. (Eds.). Proceedings of the IATEFL Testing, Evaluation and Assessment SIG Conference: Establishing and Maintaining Standards (pp. 16–21). Canterbury: IATEFL. Davidson, P., & Mandalios, J. (2009). Assessment for learning. In C. Coombe, P. Davidson, & D. Lloyd. (Eds.), Fundamentals of Language Assessment (pp. 47–52). Dubai: TESOL Arabia. Ebel, R. L., & Frisbie, D. A. (1991). Essentials of educational measurement (5th ed.). Prentice Hall. Earl, L.M. (2003). Assessment as learning: Using classroom assessment to maximize student learning. Thousand Oaks, CA. : Corwin Press. Ferris, D. R., & Roberts, B. (2001). Error feedback in L2 writing classes: How explicit does it need to be? Journal of Second Language Writing, 10(3), 161–184. Figueras, N. (2005). Testing, testing, everywhere, and not a while to think. ELT Journal, 59(1), 47–54. Gebril, A. & Brown, GTL. (2020). Quality of feedback in TESOL: A learning-oriented assessment perspective. In J. de Martinez Agudo (Ed.). Quality in TESOL and teacher education: From a results culture towards a quality culture (pp. xx-xx). London: Routledge. Hidri, S. (2014). Developing and evaluating a dynamic assessment of listening comprehension in an EFL context. Language Testing in Asia, 4(4), 2–19. Hume, A., & Coll, R. K. (2009). Assessment of learning, for learning, and as learning: New Zealand case studies. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice, 16(3), 269–290. https:// doi.org/10.1080/09695940903319661 Hyland, F., & Hyland, K. (2001). Sugaring the pill: Praise and criticism in written feedback. Journal of Second Language Writing, 10(3), 185–212. Jones, N., & Saville, N. (2016). Learning oriented assessment: A systemic approach: Studies in language testing 45. Cambridge University Press. Knight, P. (Ed.). (1995). Assessment for learning in higher education. Kogan Page. Liu, J., & Hansen, J. G. (2002). Peer response in second language writing classrooms. University of Michigan Press. Mertler, C.A., & Campbell, C. (2005). Measuring teachers’ knowledge and application of classroom assessment concepts: Development of the “Assessment Literacy Inventory”. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Montreal: April 11–15. Messick, S. (1996). Validity and Washback in language testing. research report. Educational Testing Service. Norris, J. (2016). Current Uses for task-based language assessment. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 36, 230–244. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190516000027 Poehner, M. E., & Paolo, I. (2016). Dynamic assessment in the language classroom. In D. Tsagari & J. Baneerjee (Eds.), Handbook of second language assessment (pp. 275–290). De Gruyter Inc. Purpura, J. E. (2014). What is LOA? Retrieved on 12/12/2017 from http://www.tc.columbia.edu/tcc risls/what-is-loa/ Rollinson, P. (2005). Using peer feedback in the ESL writing class. ELT Journal, 59(1), 23–30. Sambell, K., McDowell, L., & Montgomery, C. (2012). Assessment for learning in higher education. Routledge. Saville, N. (2013). The CFR and Learning Oriented Assessment (LOA). Paper given at the CFR Conference, Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Shao, X. (2015). On written corrective feedback in L2 writing. English Language Teaching, 8(3), 155–168. Sheen, Y. (2007). The effect of focused written feedback and language aptitude on ESL learner’s articles. TESOL Quarterly, 41(2), 255–283. Smith, K. (2009). From test taker to test makers. Educational Leadership, November, 26–30.

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Tomlinson, B. (2005). Testing to learn: A personal view of language testing. ELT Journal, 59(1), 39–46. Taylor, L. (2005). Key concepts in ELT: Washback and impact. ELT Journal, 59(2), 154–155. Truscott, J. (1999). The case for “The case against grammar correction in the L2 writing classes”: A response to Ferris. Journal of Second Language Writing, 8(2), 111–122. Wigglesworth, G. (2008). Task and performance based assessment. In E Shohamy & N. H. Hornberger (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education (2nd ed., Vol. 7): Language Testing and Assessment (pp. 111–122). Springer, Boston, MA.

Peter Davidson teaches Business Communication and Technical Writing at Zayed University in Dubai, having previously taught in New Zealand, Japan, the UK and Turkey. He recently co-edited a number of books including: Language Assessment in the Middle East and North Africa: Theory, Practice and Future Trends (2017, TESOL Arabia); Perspectives on Student Leadership (2014, TESOL Arabia); and The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Assessment. (2012, Cambridge University Press). He was recently made a Fellow of the HEA. Christine Coombe has a Ph.D in Foreign/Second Language Education from The Ohio State University. She is currently an Associate Professor of General Studies at Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai Men’s Campus. Christine has over 50 books in various topics in TESOL/ELT. Dr Coombe serves as the editor of the SCOPUS-indexed Q1 Brief Reports section of the Asia TEFL Journal (2016 to present). Christine has lived and worked in the Gulf for the past 28 years. She served on the TESOL Board of Directors as Convention Chair for Tampa 2006. Christine served as TESOL President (2011–2012). Christine’s recent honors include the British Council’s International Assessment Award (2013), being named to TESOL’s 50@50 which “recognizes professionals who have made significant contributions to the TESOL profession within the past 50 years;” and receiving the 2018 James E. Alatis Award which recognizes exemplary service to TESOL. Her most recent honor was being named to the US Department of State’s 30@30 English language specialists in 2021. This list recognizes English Language Specialists who have made an impact on the teaching and training of English language teachers around the world in the last 30 years.

Chapter 26

English Language Learning Teacher Preparation Program Curriculum Renewal Through TESOL Standards Sadiq Midraj and Jessica Midraj

Abstract This study describes the processes used by faculty in a teacher education unit to align their English Language Learning (ELL) program with TESOL standards. The alignment was required to support the Unit’s accreditation application from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). The accreditation process followed, the resulting curriculum changes, the program’s curriculum successes and challenges, and the impact of the accreditation process are analyzed and shared. The faculty utilized a systematic review process to identify the ELL curriculum’s strengths and deficiencies based on the alignment to TESOL standards. This led to restructuring the program to meet TESOL indicators and providing better support for teacher candidates to achieve the TESOL standards and gain the knowledge, skills, and disposition necessary for future ELL teachers. Keywords Accreditation · CAEP · Curriculum renewal · English language learning (ELL) · TESOL standards · UAE

Introduction Accreditation has become increasingly sought after by international universities and their academic programs for several reasons: program improvement, transparency, ranking, and recruitment. Unlike Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) standards (ABET, n.d.), there are no internationally agreed-upon teacher education standards that describe the quality of teacher education programs and the level of students’ achievement to gain a teacher education degree. Therefore, numerous teacher education quality assurance organizations exist. The organizations’ general objectives are to review, recognize, assess, certify, and accredit teacher education units and their academic programs. These organizations assure the public and S. Midraj (B) Zayed University, Columbus, OH 43202, USA J. Midraj Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_26

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stakeholders that accredited teacher education institutions or programs provide the appropriate resources and support for effective teacher preparation, learning opportunities, and assessment as deemed essential by the respective accrediting body. Zayed University’s College of Education, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was the first teacher education college in the Middle East to apply for National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) accreditation for the teacher education unit and the English language learning (ELL) teacher preparation program. During the accreditation process, NCATE merged with the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) to form the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), which ultimately granted accreditation. Therefore, CAEP and NCATE are used interchangeably throughout this study that analyzes the accreditation process followed by faculty, the subsequent curriculum changes, the curricular successes and challenges, and the overall impact of the accreditation process on the program.

The Context Zayed University (ZU) is one of the three federal government-funded educational institutions in the UAE. The University, founded for UAE national women in 1998, has expanded its mission and now serves male and female Emirati and international students. It has two main campuses—one in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi. The two campuses offer similar programs and serve students from all emirates representing both urban and rural contexts (National Media Council, 2009, 2010). ZU, accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, was established with Western-university standards in mind. The university’s vision statement focuses on academic quality, “Zayed University will be the leading university in the United Arab Emirates and recognized globally for its participation in educational and cultural achievements and enrichment of economic and social development.“ (Zayed University, 2015). It is an English-medium university with a general education curriculum, similar to that of a liberal arts college, in the first two years of the degree programs. ZU awards undergraduate and graduate degrees from six colleges: College of Business, College of Communication and Media Sciences, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Natural and Health Sciences, College of Education, and College of Technological Innovation (Zayed University, 2020). The federal and the local governments in UAE neither requested nor precluded the College’s application for accreditation. Nevertheless, the COE was keen on attaining international accreditation. The senior management deliberated between pursuing international recognition from the Center for Quality Assurance in International Education (CQAIE) like other teacher education units in the region (CQAIE, 2008; King Saud University, 2012; Qatar University, 2008; UAEU, 2018), or seek accreditation from Pearson (Pearson, 2020); or NCATE/CAEP which was undergoing a merger and still using NCATE standards (CAEP, 2020). The senior management weighed the options and finally opted to seek accreditation from NCATE/CAEP which was ultimately granted.

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The Purpose of the Research The purpose of this case study is to examine and analyze the impact of the process of ELL Subject Program Accreditation (SPA) in the teacher education college on two campuses in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study explains how the accreditation team revisited the program coursework learning outcomes (LOs) to align with the accrediting body’s standards, sheds light on the changes that the team made in the curriculum, and discusses the overall impact the process had on the department.

The Research Questions The study explored the following descriptive questions: 1. 2.

What were the processes that the team of reviewers followed to align the ELL program curriculum with the TESOL Subject Program Accreditation standards? What were the strengths, the challenges, and the impact of the review of the ELL program?

Background The ELL program review process in the College of Education (CoE) was guided by CAEP/NCATE accreditation standards and the TESOL SPA standards. CAEP/NCATE standards for accreditation encompassed two significant components: candidate performance and unit capacity. The candidate performance standards included candidate knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions; the assessment system; and the unit evaluation. The unit capacity standards consisted of field experiences and clinical practice; diversity; faculty qualifications, performance, and development; and unit governance and resources (NCATE/CAEP, 2012a, 2008). CAEP reviews teacher education units for accreditation, but it relies on Specialized Professional Associations (SPAs) to review individual teacher education programs for national recognition. TESOL International Association (TESOL) was the SPA that collaborated with CAEP/ NCATE to review the ELL program. TESOL reviewed the English language teaching teacher education program against five domains: Language; Culture; Planning and Implementation; Assessment; and Professionalism. TESOL defined each of the domains and provided performance indicators for each domain with a rubric describing three proficiency levels to measure candidates’ performance on each indicator (TESOL, 2010, 2019). Higher education academics have had mixed views over the usefulness of accreditation. Opponents believe that accreditation is inappropriate, invalid, and costly (Romanowski & Alkhateeb, 2020; Coupland, 2011; Johnson et al., 2005; National

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Council on Teacher Quality, 2009). On the other hand, supporters contend that accreditation creates better teacher programs and, ultimately, better teaching and learning (NCATE, 2012b; Phillips et al., 2002; Wood, 2006). Also, CAEP accreditation of programs outside the United States is driven by achieving the stamp of quality and the positive impact (Eldridge & Dada, 2016). NCATE/CAEP maintains that their standards are research and data-driven, applicable, and adaptable to education units worldwide as they are aligned with learning theories and systematic assessments. The standards require that education units provide evidence that they continuously focus on program improvement through the units’ conceptual frameworks. Research shows that graduates of accredited education units pass the Educational Testing Service (ETS) subject matter and pedagogy examinations at a higher rate than graduates of colleges of education that did not pass accreditation and those colleges that did not seek accreditation (NCATE, 2012b). Just preparing to meet accreditation and recognition standards does not create better teacher education programs, but the changes the faculty implement as a result of their reflection on what they do well and what they need to improve to create better teacher education programs (Phillips et al., 2002). The school of thought that opposes accreditation maintains that good teaching is unique, like pieces of artwork that cannot be standardized. Therefore, due to the many variables that impact contextual relevance, teaching standards cannot be universal, and thus the standards may not be appropriate for all contexts. In addition, CAEP/NCATE reviewers may not be the most suitable to review teacher education units and address contextual issues that affect the quality of teaching and learning in an environment that they are not familiar with (Romanowski & Alkhateeb, 2020; Coupland, 2011; Johnson et al., 2005; National Council on Teacher Quality, 2009). The National Council on Teacher Quality in the United States upholds that “no solid evidence exists that shows that nationally accredited teacher preparation programs produce better teachers than unaccredited programs” (National Council on Teacher Quality, 2009 cited in Coupland, 2011, p. 213). Moreover, according to Coupland (2011), many research universities refrained from accreditation because they found the process costly, time-consuming, and not appropriate to their context. In large universities, teacher preparation programs are sources of income. Thus, the accreditation cost appears viable. However, for small liberal arts colleges, the cost can be crushing, and reassigning a faculty to manage and maintain the accreditation is financially unbearable. For example, when the Michigan State Board of Education mandated national accreditation for teacher preparation programs in Michigan, two small liberal arts colleges, Kalamazoo College and Hillsdale College could not bear the cost. The senior management of both colleges decided to close the teacher preparation programs due to the high cost of accreditation and maintaining accreditation in their programs. Wood (2006), attempting to demystify accreditation, maintains that preparing for accreditation is essential and described a three-stage process to help institutions achieve success. The three stages included arranging for long- and short-term planning and preparations, collecting the required evidence and documents, and planning for the accreditation visit. The first stage involves choosing a coordinator; forming

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an accreditation team; reviewing the institution’s mission and the Unit’s conceptual framework; developing a budget; creating a master calendar; involving faculty and consultant advisory board members; understanding accreditation standards and terms; establishing an assessment committee, and attending accreditation sessions. The second stage requires the institution to have human and IT resources, a calendar of events, and preparing for the preliminary site visit. The third stage includes editing, submitting the self-study reports, and developing plans for the mock visit and the actual site visit activities (Wood, 2006). In sum, if finance is not a significant concern, it might be a wise investment for a program to seek accreditation. The CoE decided to invest in accreditation, which led to a thorough review of the Teacher education Unit and alignment of its ELL program with TESOL standards. The CoE ELL program was the first in the Middle East to seek accreditation from CAEP/TESOL, and this was the first case for CAEP/TESOL International to review an ELL program outside the US and Puerto Rico.

Methodology This qualitative descriptive case study analyzed the ELL program accreditation process through a complete participant review of events and outcomes. In this study, reality rests in the perception of the researcher; therefore, Patton (2002) stressed that the researcher separates the description from personal interpretations. This case study took place in a natural setting—the ELL program on two campuses. The researcher’s resources included meeting notes, emails, meeting minutes, and documents related to the accreditation. Accordingly, the researcher, who, at the time of the review, was the ELL Program Lead, captured and reflected on the ELL program’s review process, the strengths and challenges of the program discovered from the review process, and the overall impact of the review process on the program.

Findings The following section reviews the findings of the research questions, namely the accreditation process, the strengths and challenges identified, and the impact on the program. Research Question 1: What were the processes that the team of reviewers followed to align the ELL program curriculum with the TESOL Subject Program Accreditation standards? The ELL program’s review process and the preparation to meet the TESOL SPA requirements for accreditation involved the following seven steps: 1.

Professional development: building awareness and knowledge of accreditation, processes, and requirements

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2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

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Planning for accreditation and SPA recognition Curriculum crosswalk: alignment of relevant standards and learning outcomes (LOs) with the program coursework Modifying and approving the changes in the ELL program Writing and submitting the ESL SPA report Feedback from the ESL SPA report and reflections Writing and submitting the rejoinder ESL SPA report

1-Professional development: Building awareness and knowledge of accreditation, processes, and requirements. The Unit held workshops, meetings, discussion groups, and brought external educational consultants to spread awareness of the accreditation process and requirements before and throughout the entire process. Documentation of the TESOL standards and indicators, TESOL rubrics, sample unit and program review reports, tasks, templates for the curriculum crosswalk, templates for rubrics, and syllabi reviews were disseminated to the team members via shared folders. Moreover, the team members were notified when new documents were added or modifications were made via email and through scheduled meetings. 2-Planning for Accreditation and SPAs Recognition. CAEP and TESOL provided booklets and sample reports. Still, they included what was considered jargon to faculty members who did not have previous accreditation experience. The booklets lacked guidance for short and long-term planning for the accreditation process. However, external consultants contributed to the planning. At the beginning of the process, the COE Dean assigned one Accreditation Coordinator, an Accreditation Administrative Officer, three SPA Leaders, the Associate Dean as the Floater Administrator, the Assessment Committee, the Field Experience Committee, and a team of faculty members for each of the accreditation standards. The Accreditation Coordinator had work reassignment that ranged from a quarter to full-time reassignment (depending on the semester). The Accreditation Coordinator was charged with compiling the accreditation files and reports, editing the working reports on the standards, identifying missing or incomplete information in the reports, reviewing all links and hyperlinks to the exhibits, and supervising the work of the full-time Accreditation Administrative Officer, who was tasked with assisting the Accreditation Coordinator in all accreditation-related tasks in addition to creating a website for reports and exhibits. The ESL SPA Leader collaborated with faculty on reviewing the ELL program curriculum and used the ESL SPA template to develop the SPA report. The SPA Leader had a quarter workload reassignment to spearhead steps 2 to 7 which focussed on attaining the TESOL recognition. In the middle of the process, the College Dean designated the ELL Lead Faculty with a quarter workload reassignment and charged the ELL program team with the ELL curriculum and assessment review and revision, recruitment of candidates, alignment of the ELL program with the Ministry of Education, and the Educational Councils’ standards and TESOL standards. Also, the ELL Lead Faculty contributed to continuous program improvement during the process.

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To maintain consistency among the Unit programs, the Dean formed the Unit Assessment Committee with the lead faculty of the Unit programs and the Unit administrators as members and designated the Accreditation Coordinator to chair the committee. The Coordinator, ESL SPA Leader, the ELL Lead Faculty, and the ELL team members made recommendations to the Dean on the procedures and tasks required to complete the curriculum review. The Dean approved recommendations, made changes, provided feedback, and was actively involved in all changes in the ELL program and the assessment systems. 3-Curriculum crosswalk. The ELL curriculum crosswalk was a crucial process used to align the learning outcomes of the ELL program coursework with the COE major learning outcomes (MALOs), ZU’s learning outcomes (ZULOs), and the TESOL standards and indicators. The team members were assigned specific courses to conduct the curriculum crosswalk. Then, the team members paired up to develop a comprehensive curriculum map and identify gaps and excessive overlaps in the program coursework to meet internal and external TESOL standards. The results from the crosswalk were compiled and discussed at the team level. 4-Modifying and approving the changes in the ELL program. Utilizing information from the individual analysis, curriculum crosswalk, and alignment, the ELL team collectively conducted a comprehensive review and analysis of the ELL program LOs, coursework topics, sequence of courses, and assessments with the TESOL standards in mind. The analysis resulted in making recommendations to modify the program and courses to better align to the TESOL standards. Keeping an open and collegial discourse about areas of contention was paramount, especially during this stage. After lengthy discussions, agreements, disagreements, and consultations with external academics, who sometimes functioned as ombudspersons that took place over several months, the team members endorsed a set of changes in the program. The changes were submitted to the CoE Academic Affairs Committee, the University Academic Affairs Committee, and the Provost’s Council for approval. 5-Writing and submitting the ESL SPA report. The ESL SPA Leader and the college Dean prepared and submitted the ESL SPA report, which involved filling out specific data for each question and attaching specified items. The items included charts that identify the faculty responsible for professional coursework, three scholarly publications for each faculty (or faculty leadership or service experiences for faculty who did not have scholarly publications), clinical supervisors, and faculty who teach methods courses. Moreover, the inclusion of six main assessments in the ESL SPA report was mandatory as evidence of meeting the TESOL standards. Since the ELL program did not have a licensure assessment, the first assessment included was a content-based assessment. The rest included assessments of content knowledge in English as a second language, candidate ability to plan instruction, student teaching, candidate impact on student learning, and a philosophy of teaching that reflects candidates’ understanding of and commitment to the critical issues related to culturally and linguistically diverse students (CAEP, 2020). 6-Feedback from the ESL SPA Team of Reviewers. The TESOL SPA reviewers communicated what they considered strengths and areas they might need to improve in the ELL program. The ELL program was ‘nationally recognized’ with conditions

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that needed to be addressed within 18 months for the program to become fully recognized. 7-Writing and submitting the rejoinder ESL SPA report. The ELL team reviewed the areas of concern, considered ways to respond adequately, and constructed the rejoinder draft. The draft was reviewed by the ESL SPA Leader and the college Dean who submitted the final version of the rejoinder to TESOL. Research Question 2: What were the strengths, challenges, and impact of the review of the ELL program? Prior to submission for accreditation, the teamwork in the preparation and review of the ELL program was a major strength as ELL faculty joined together with a common purpose and set guidelines. The faculty review allowed us to flip the identified challenges into strengths. During this process, the ELL program self-identified improvement areas through a thorough analysis of the program LOs, coursework topics, a sequence of courses, and assessments following TESOL standards. Data was collected through the curriculum crosswalk and alignment. The ELL team analyzed the knowledge and the skills present and missing in the program and based on the analysis of the UAE students’ needs and TESOL standards; the team shifted the focus of the program from language arts to ESL. Accordingly, modifications to the program included dropping three literature courses from the ELL program’s 8-semester study plan to make room for adding three courses that support the candidates’ learning of academic English and content, professional, pragmatic, and pedagogical knowledge. Besides, changes were made in some courses to support the candidates’ academic English, professional knowledge, and inter and intracultural competence in using English. The process necessitated developing new assessment instruments to assess candidates’ competence against the TESOL standards and indicators. After lengthy discussions that took place over several months, the team members unanimously endorsed a set of changes in the program. Therefore, as a result of the review, the team redesigned the curriculum, integrated the required LOs, and eliminated duplication and excessive overlap between courses to optimize candidates’ learning. The ELL team reformed the curriculum to meet the ESL SPA requirements, the College and University’s internal academic requirements, and stakeholders’ standards. The changes were submitted to the CoE Academic Affairs Committee, the University Academic Affairs Committee, and the Provost’s Council for approval. The revised program was submitted to CAEP for formal review. The feedback from the TESOL SPA’s formal review communicated what they considered strengths and challenges in the ELL program. The strengths that they shared included the integration of graded levels (Practicum 1, 2, 3, and Internship) of field experiences into the program courses. In other words, each one of the field experiences was tied to a specific course or courses. Another positive attribute was that changes in the program were data-driven from different assessments, including formative, summative, and candidates’ self-assessments. Using IELTS, an external academic language assessment mandated for employment by the local government, was one of the strengths that contributed to assessing the 1st TESOL domain, language. Candidates must have an IELTS score of 5 to enter the program and were expected to score 6.5 in their final year of the major. However, one of the challenges

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mentioned was that the assessment rubrics needed to be more specific to TESOL indicators for every achievement level. In addition, the program needed to provide more evidence on how the TESOL culture and professionalism domains were addressed in the program per TESOL standards. It is important to note that one size might not fit all. Academics from the United States (US) crafted TESOL standards to meet the needs of candidates teaching in ESL programs in the US, home to TESOL. TESOL standards of 2010 and 2018 did utilize non-US academics as reviewers. TESOL maintains that the TESOL culture domain’s focus is on the culture/s of the target language, the US culture/s, and knowledge of the language learners’ cultures is a vehicle to assist in the acculturation of immigrants (2018; 2010). Therefore, according to the TESOL review team, the assessment instruments did not provide evidence for acculturation or intercultural language competence. The ELL team needed to revisit the assessment instruments to provide clearer evidence demonstrating the development of intercultural competencies. One of the differences between ESL teacher education programs in the US and the UAE is that many US teacher candidates have to take standardized assessments that may include a Major Comprehensive Test, Major Field Test, State Test, or Praxis I and Praxis II Tests to be licensed to teach. Most of the tests above are aligned with TESOL standards. Candidates did not have to take specific standardized national or internationally recognized content-based assessments. However, this has changed recently as the UAE Ministry of Education has recently started a licensure program for teachers in the UAE (The UAE Ministry of Education, 2018). The external accreditation requirements might likely have contributed to the development of teacher licensing in the UAE. The program submitted the candidates’ grades from various assessments. Grades on tests and assessment rubrics were aligned with TESOL standards per the ESL SPA sample reports that were posted on the CAEP site. The alignment of assessment items in the sample reports included multiple indicators and even domains. For example, in the sample reports that CAEP posted in their online library, a rubric indicator was aligned with more than one TESOL indicator and domain. However, we were asked to provide more specificity which might be related to the program not having external assessment results that were aligned with TESOL standards. Nevertheless, the ELL team revisited the assessment plans, the assessment rubrics, and the LOs for every course and aligned them with specific TESOL standards and indicators to respond to the SPA team’s request. Rubrics were fleshed out with descriptors that show four levels of achievement. In addition, the TESOL domains and indicators were number-coded and added to every criterion in every rubric. The ESL SPA reviewers asked for more evidence to show that the program addressed the professionalism domain. The TESOL indicators of the professional domain include ELL advocacy and application of knowledge of school and governmental policies and regulations that impact ELLs’ rights (TESOL, 2010, 2018). To address this issue, despite the contextual differences between the US and the UAE, the ELL team disaggregated the standards and indicators in the assessment rubrics to show which criteria specifically addressed the professionalism indicators. The assessment rubrics and results of the teacher work samples required providing evidence

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for meeting the professionalism domain. Moreover, extracurricular activities were listed as professional opportunities for the teacher candidates to attend local conferences, give workshops, and co-present papers with their peers or instructors at local functions and conferences. The Unit’s budget covered registration fees and provided faculty-chaperoned transportation for candidates to participate in professional development functions. Furthermore, instructors, the Unit’s administration, the University, or local community organizations contributed to planning for the candidates’ attendance and participation in field trips, voluntary campaigns, celebrations, and guest lectures, to name a few. The effectiveness of these professional opportunities was assessed systematically. In addition, certain professional activities were considered part of specific courses and assessed within the course assessment plans.

Discussion and Analysis Several positives emerged from the review process. For instance, replacing three literature courses from the ELL program’s 8-semester study plan with new courses on developing materials, teaching methods, and linguistics for teachers was needed and justified because English is not the native language of the UAE students. Candidates needed more practical applications of English. Moreover, another productive outcome was a well-developed curriculum map that helped to cover essential topics, curb overlap, add underrepresented concepts in the program coursework, and systematically assess the program LOs. Another positive outcome was that during the realignment process, all the assessment rubrics in the program were revisited. The process provided the necessary mechanism to assess whether the ELL program’s LOs were aligned with the TESOL standards. An important lesson learned was that all the learning outcomes (MALOS, ZULOS, and TESOL) should be aligned with specific indicators. The assessment plans and assessment rubrics should specify the levels of achievement for each indicator. Another advantage of the review was that we were able to weave aspects of the professionalism domain into assignments in multiple courses and extracurricular activities so that the learning of essential concepts is reinforced and builds on candidates’ prior knowledge. However, there are areas of the accreditation process that might need to be reconsidered for their applicability. According to the TESOL review team from the US, the assessment instruments did not provide evidence for acculturation and not enough evidence for intercultural language competence. The review could be perceived as what Romanowski and AlKhateeb ironically described as McDonaldizing TESOL teacher education standards in non-US ELL programs (2020). In other words, what may apply to ELL teacher candidates in the US may not apply to ELL teacher candidates in the UAE. TESOL might be more or less specific to the US culture(s). However, the focus of the CoE’s ELL program was on the intracultural Emiratization competence in addition to intercultural competence, the English language, and the guest-expatriates’ cultures. Students should learn the intracultural competence and recognize the differences in their own native cultures (Kim, 2020; Rathje, 2007;

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Selmeski, 2007) in addition to learning cross-cultural competence and being able to identify differences between their cultures and other cultures as they communicate daily with expatriates and groups who represent a variety of cultures. There are vast differences in the various cultures, languages, lifestyles, and in socio-economic statuses represented in the UAE. These differences are not less significant than the differences between the native and the target language cultures. Each language speaks a different social reality (Sapir, 1929). UAE teacher candidates are not native English speakers, but bilinguals (Arabic–English) whom the program moulds to be able to function effectively in multi-social realities within their country. This might be different from monolinguals and bilinguals who do not live in their native culture. Moreover, a bilingual speaker’s social reality is different from the monolingual’s (Warner & Dupuy, 2018). As such, the socio-cultural context indicators should consider the multi-social realities in the ELL programs in the UAE.

Limitations of the Study The study was limited to the ELL program, although the process might be similar for other programs in teacher education units outside the US. The researcher was part of the internal ELL review team. However, the study attempted to distinguish between the description of the review process, the feedback from the ESL SPA reviewers, and the discussion and analysis. The ELL faculty members were not surveyed and interviewed in this study. They were expatriates who did their jobs and kept their professional loyalty as Al Bandary (2005) reported in a similar context. The cost of the ELL program recognition and accreditation was not one of the research questions.

Conclusions and Recommendations The ELL program team followed a systematic process to review and align the program with TESOL standards. The mission of the institution and the conceptual framework guided the curriculum and assessment plans. The Unit had adequate resources to run and support the program. The review process contributed to numerous positive changes in the program. Assembling the curriculum crosswalk, in particular, contributed to providing evidence that the ELL coursework covered the required topics per TESOL standards. The faculty members became more aware of what they were doing well and what they needed to improve. In addition to addressing TESOL standards, the team considered the Emirati teachers’ specific needs that may not have been expressed directly or contextually in the TESOL standards, such as reinforcing the candidates’ intracultural and intercultural competencies. Other challenges included the need for more detailed planning and external standardized assessments such as the teacher licensing assessments. The review process consolidated the use of learning outcomes and performance-based assessments, contributing to the content

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validity of the assessments. Moreover, using the assessment data to understand candidates’ learning assisted faculty in analyzing their students’ achievements and assisted the program in driving new changes. The ELL program candidates did not take a comprehensive test that is part of the overall assessment system. One recommendation is to create a ‘comprehensive assessment’ that assesses the major curricular learning outcomes of the ELL program that the teacher candidates complete during their last semester. Beyond the ELL program, the UAE and other countries in the region should consider creating a non-profit educational assessment organization that is sustainable and self-sufficient through their assessment services to provide external standardized assessments that meet the K-16 assessment needs. The curriculum should be subject to continuous improvement. Systematic and data-driven reform should guide the ongoing improvement process. The stamp of accreditation/recognition is not the end of the reform journey. The ELL curriculum needs periodic systematic review and reform that meets the new teacher candidates’ needs and interests, meets the competitive job market requirements, and addresses the national strategic goals. The TESOL standards provided a framework for the preparation of highly qualified teachers. The framework can only be effective when implemented with an eye on the contextual relevance by qualified faculty who have a shared vision to advance the UAE’s national interests in a globally competitive economy.

References ABET. (n.d.). Setting the standard worldwide. Retrieved from https://www.abet.org/accreditation/. Al Bandary, M. (2005). Meeting the challenges: The development of quality assurance in Oman’s colleges of education. Higher Education, 50(2), 181–195. Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). (2020). Council for the Accreditation of Educator Programs. Retrieved from http://www.ncate.org/. Coupland, D. (2011). The cost of accreditation: Hillsdale ends its teacher certification program. Academic Questions, 24, 209–221. CQAIE. (2008). The center for quality assurance in international global activity. Retrieved from http://cqaie.org.phtemp.com/assisting.htm. Eldridge, D., & Dada, R. (2016). Teacher Education accreditation across international borders: Can the local go global? In N. M. Michelli, R. Dada, D. Eldridge, R. M. Tamim, & K. Karp (Eds.), Teacher quality and teacher education quality: Accreditation from a global perspective (pp. 19–39). Routledge. Johnson, D., Johnson, B., Farenga, S., & Ness, D. (2005). Trivializing teacher education: The accreditation squeeze. Rowman & Littlefield. Kim, D. (2020). Learning language, learning culture: teaching language to the whole student. ECNU Review of Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/2096531120936693. King Saud University (KSU). (2012). Full CQAIE accreditation for college of education. Retrieved from https://news.ksu.edu.sa/en/node/102504. National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). (2008). Professional standards for the accreditation of teacher preparation institutions. Retrieved from http://www.ncate.org/Lin kClick.aspx?fileticket=nX43fwKc4Ak%3D&tabid=669.

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National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). (2012a). Unit standards in effect 2008. Retrieved from http://www.ncate.org/Standards/NCATEUnitStandards/UnitStand ardsinEffect2008/tabid/476/Default.aspx. National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). (2012b). What makes a teacher effective? Retrieved from http://www.ncate.org/public/researchreports/teacherpreparat ionresearch/whatmakesateachereffective/tabid/361/default.aspx. National Council on Teacher Quality, (NCTQ). (2009). State teacher policy yearbook: Michigan. Retrieved from http://www.nctq.org/stpy09/reports/stpy_michigan.pdf. National Media Council. (2009). UAE 2009. Trident Press Ltd. National Media Council. (2010). UAE 2010. Trident Press Ltd. Patton, M. (2002). Qualitative research & evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Sage Publications. Pearson. (2020). Progress to university. Retrieved from https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/sup port/Services/progress-to-university/universities.html. Phillips, C., Docheff, D., Sawicki, T., & Crawford, S. (2002). Does preparation for NCATE accreditation really create better teachers? Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 73(7), 14–15. Qatar University. (2008). International recognition in teacher education. Retrieved from https:// www.qu.edu.qa/static_file/qu/About/documents/accreditation-ced-irte-manual-en.pdf. Rathje, S. (2007). Intercultural competence: The status and future of a controversial concept. Journal for Language and Intercultural Communication, 7(4), 254–266. Romanowski, M., & Alkhateeb, H. (2020). The McDonaldization of CAEP accreditation and teacher education programs abroad. Teaching and Teacher Education, 90. Retrieved from https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.tate.2020.103028. Sapir, E. (1929). The status of linguistics as a science. Language, 5, 207–214. Selmeski, B. (2007). Military Cross-cultural Competence: Core Concepts and Individual Development. Kingston: Royal Military College of Canada Centre for Security, Armed Forces, & Society. TESOL. (2010). TESOL/NCATE standards for the recognition of initial TESOL programs in P–12 ESL teacher education. Alexandria, Virginia. TESOL. (2019). Standards for initial TESOL pre-K–12 teacher preparation programs. Retrieved from https://www.tesol.org/docs/default-source/books/2018-tesol-teacher-prep-standards-final. pdf?sfvrsn=23f3ffdc_6. The UAE Ministry of Education. (2018). Teacher Licensing System. Retrieved from https://tls.moe. gov.ae/#!/faq. United Arab Emirates University (UAEU). (2018). Master of education program. Retrieved from https://cedu.uaeu.ac.ae/en/master_of_education_program/. Warner, C., & Dupuy, B. (2018). Moving toward multiliteracies in foreign language teaching: Past and present perspectives ... and beyond. Foreign Language Annals, 51(1), 116–128. http://dx.doi. org.zulib.idm.oclc.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12316 Wood, A. (2006). Demystifying accreditation: Action plans for a national or regional accreditation. Innovative Higher Education, 31(1), 43–62. Zayed University. (2015). Vision & mission. Retrieved from https://www.zu.ac.ae/main/en/careers/ working/vision.aspx. Zayed University. (2020). Colleges. Retrieved from https://www.zu.ac.ae/main/en/colleges/index. aspx.

Sadiq Midraj teaches in the graduate and undergraduate teacher education programs. Until recently, he served as Quality Assurance Coordinator and ELL Program Lead, and he worked as the Director of the Center for Professional Development. His research interests include teachereducation, mobile learning applications, quality assurance, and assessment.

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Jessica Midraj teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the English Department at Khalifa University and has extensive experience as an instructor, mentor, teacher-trainer, researcher, and administrator. Her research interests include quality assurance, student and teacher self-efficacy, language issues in STEM education, and curriculum and assessment.

Chapter 27

The Journey of Task-Based Learning and TPACK in Higher Education in the UAE Nadine Jaafarawi

Abstract Online educational tools are shaping the education of today. Research has shown that students respond to the language they speak. Nowadays, the use of tablets, phones, and other forms of media is prevailing in real-time practices as well as in a typical student’s life. Therefore, educators are encouraged to use online educational tools in their classrooms to produce a desired output in learning and to support technology, pedagogy, and content. In this study, the author will highlight the teaching methodology (Task-based teaching and learning) she uses in her ESL classroom in the UAE, using TPACK and three online educational tools. Moreover, the purpose of this study is to shed light on the importance of task-based learning in the context of online education and manifest the different phases and online tools utilized in a typical ESL classroom. Also discussed in this chapter is a methodological framework for implementing TBLT and a pedagogical and theoretical framework (TPACK). Later, the author will share her input on how she used TBLT in her classrooms, with emphasis on the online educational tools she used (mainly Padlet, Plickers, and Think-Pair-Share). This chapter also discusses unique challenges teachers and instructors face when implementing TBLT in its online form and propose solutions for how these can be overcome to maximize language learning. Keywords Task-based learning and teaching · Online educational tools · TPACK · ESL

Introduction Utilizing task-based methodology in the classroom is fundamentally different from the traditional concept of in-class face-to-face interaction. In a traditional classroom, the definition of interaction is usually unidirectional, with an occasional interaction on the part of the students. However, the times of learning and teaching are evolving N. Jaafarawi (B) Abu Dhabi, UAE e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_27

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into more complex terms, where technology and interactive activities are being incorporated into the teaching process. Moreover, online and task-based teaching can be cognitively demanding on teachers because they have to be prepared, constantly innovative, and tech-savvy in most cases. This chapter serves as a guide for teachers and instructors in higher education to properly comprehend the benefits of online educational tools and implement taskbased learning, mainly in its online form. To begin with, a brief review of TBLT fundamentals is included, moving on to the task-based methodology framework to train teachers how to teach via modern educational online tools. Moreover, another pedagogical model is introduced called TPACK that revolves around the intersection of the benefits of content, pedagogy, and technology.

Review of TBLT Fundamentals in an Online Context TBLT in communicative language teaching (ESL) According to Moore (2018), task-based language teaching is an approach to language learning and teaching proliferating in the realm of second language learning acquisition research. It originally stemmed from the communicative approach to language teaching, also referred to as CLT. In general, and according to Moore, TBLT fosters tasks as the core pillars for setting learning objectives in the classroom. Tasks also function as units under construction and are subject to pedagogical analysis on the part of educators in higher education. Task-based learning can also be referred to as ‘learning by doing’, having been “informed by analyses of real-world tasks, and the design, staging, and implementation of related pedagogic tasks” (Moore, 2018, p. 1). Task-based language teaching utilizes tasks as the sole unit of analysis for syllabus design. Therefore, an instructor designs his or her lesson plan according to the objectives of the lesson and in the form of custom-made tasks to suit the needs of the students (Moore, 2018). In this chapter, TBLT will be defined and analyzed, and its effectiveness will be communicated with respect to the in-class operations of the author of this paper. Furthermore, and after setting the tasks, the author will integrate the use of online educational tools in the instruction process. Moore (2018) emphasizes the emergence of the term ‘task’ after considerable research that regards it as a communication tool in language learning. In short, tasks are not only effective in teaching and getting the message through to a group of students, but they also serve as purposeful activities that encourage intricate interaction. In similar literature, East (2012) concluded that task-based language teaching (TBLT) is being considered as an innovation in schools, especially in New Zealand, where a study he proposed (similar to this one) encourages educators to make TBLT work in classrooms. East (2012) used stories that emerged from a series of interviews with curriculum implementers and leaders to shed light on the importance of utilizing task-based learning in a typical classroom.

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According to Andon and Eckert (2009), implementing TBLT is necessary and is regarded as a leading strategy of language pedagogy. He also emphasizes the importance of considering TBLT in the scope of educational research, to form a great role in shaping best practices in classrooms. Han (2018), in the most recent research attempts on TBLT, recognized task-based language as an increasingly pedagogical function because of its unique characteristics in developing learners’ functional competence. In defining the fundamentals of TBLT, we can conclude that this approach provides opportunities for students to engage in the authentic use of the target language. Through these tasks, the main context and focus for learning will be two primary objectives of the instructor. Therefore, the instructor will be encouraging language use similar to how students learn languages in real-time contexts and scenarios. This definition of task-based learning was proposed by Douglas and Kim in 2014. These authors emphasized that students learn the language and develop their skills as they complete in-class tasks and activities. Willis (2012) defined tasks as “activities where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome” (p. 23). According to Willis (2012), and as an example to support the latter statement, a role-play that includes a team of students arguing a case study to solve a problem is a perfect activity with purpose and maximum learning potential. In other words, and in discussing language, Willis’s definition suggests a natural use of English (had English been the L2 in the classroom). Willis claims that tasks should be pedagogical tasks that involve learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language. Therefore, the instructor is advised to use online educational tools to aid in language learning. As cited in Douglas and Kim (2014), Long and Crookes (1992) emphasize activities individuals do in the ‘real world’ as tasks motivate a need to exchange information or give an opinion. Furthermore, tasks help students reach their full potential in learning a language through using their own language resources. In this study, the author highlights the role of interactive learning that manifests through tasks given to students with the aid of online educational tools. Almost all the literature on taskbased teaching emphasizes interaction and negotiating meaning. Long and Crookes (1992) also stress the importance of TBLT and its benefits. As part of this study, the next section will detail the benefits of TBLT and its application through the use of equally beneficial online educational tools. According to Nunan (2004), as cited in Douglas and Kim (2014), TBLT is beneficial because students learn language by communicating interactively while immersed in meaningful and purposeful tasks. Nunan also considers TBLT a relevant approach to students’ needs and interests, especially since they will feel motivated when encountering familiar tasks and materials. After all, today’s generation favours learning through online exercises and applications over rote learning. Moreover, TBLT stimulates language learning and skills development essential for completing tasks which the students may come across outside the classroom. Ellis (2009) as cited in Douglas and Kim (2014) stated that the benefits of TBLT include students focussing on the meaning of the message behind the activity and thus acquiring the language skills as a consequence. Contrary to traditional teaching, specific language

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items are not imposed on students, they are free of language control. Students are taught to master language use in its ‘real-life’ context. Students utilize the language they are learning rather than practice specific language items that might not serve them in day-to-day activities in their future. Willis (2012), in addition, describes a typical task sequence as a process for language focus and emphasis on meaning. In short, TBLT encourages input from students to the teacher about how the learning environment should evolve. The students define the tasks and not vice versa. Accordingly, TBLT is considered an active and efficient approach to language learning and teaching (Larsen-Freeman and Anderson, 2011, as cited in Douglas & Kim, 2014). In a typical TBLT classroom, students are also motivated and more confident in handling information they are exposed to. Online Educational Tools The modern classroom of today requires not only a competent instructor, but it also requires adequate media to capture the interest and attention of students. In this chapter, the author will highlight the significance of online educational tools in a classroom that utilizes TBLT as the main approach to teaching. This transition to active learning approaches has rendered learners more engaged in the process of learning. Hence, instructors need to find suitable tools to help ensure the success of the learning process. Learners are no longer expected to take the information in passively; they are required to show more purpose in knowing how to use the information in their future careers. Furthermore, constant reassessment of educational tools is essential to unveil innovation and reform in teaching and learning (Irby & Wilkerson, 2003). The resources and tools available for teachers and instructors range from technology-driven solutions to strategies for ensuring more interactive learning opportunities. Moreover, several new tools focus on learning outside the classroom, which no longer restricts learning to a traditional context (Issenberg et al., 2005). According to Vozenilek et al. (2004), technology-based learning solutions allow learners to determine their own educational path and aids in the identification of individual competencies. In other words, upon getting exposed to updated technologies in education, students get motivated to learn and feel empowered to serve their society. Such educational tools include discussion boards, blogs, interactive exercises, simulations, visualization software, and multimedia software that encourage students to manage their own learning preferences. In order to emphasize the importance of online educational tools and applications, Mayer (2010) mentions three primary instructional goals in any learning environment which need to be addressed regardless of the type of teaching. First, unnecessary processing of information attained by the learner must be minimized. Second, essential acquisition of information must be managed appropriately. Lastly, generative and meaningful learning is critical in all learning situations. Furthermore, and according to Mayer (2014), simulated learning environments with multimedia must be translated properly and designed accordingly in order to ensure the success of the activities implemented in the classroom. In the light of the above, new tools in education are developed, used, and assessed to constantly meet the needs of students in learning. Therefore, educators should be

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aware of not using these tools without understanding their relevance to the scope of recent literature and research in applied educational theory and understanding. The learning environment is better understood with the consideration of both innovative tools and recent literature on teaching approaches. In this chapter, two tools will be discussed that will keep the educator aligned with innovation in terms of thinking outside the box. The tools are discussed in a practical framework, setting guidelines on how these tools can be utilized in a TBLT approach to teaching and learning. The author will construct a roadmap, manifesting the purpose of the tools, provide instructions on how to use them, and suggest limitations and recommendations for teacher reference. Sample Online Educational Tools ‘Plickers’ It is an online software that functions as a classroom response system. It is also free to implement. It allows instructors and teachers to collect real-time formative and summative assessment data. In this study, the author will use this technology as a form of testing student understanding, using this as part of classroom TBLT assessment. According to Chang and Gurvitch (2018), Plickers allows teachers to use response polling within the classroom by handing a student a card and then using a hand-held device (such as a phone or tablet) to scan the cards. As a result of this activity, students have their responses automatically collected and saved on the company website. Teachers can use this data in multiple ways. Moreover, and according to Chang and Gurvitch (2018), the use of Plickers gives all students the opportunity to fully engage in the learning experience. In this study, the author will utilize it in her TBLT of her ESL classrooms. ‘Think-Pair-Share’ (TPS) According to Kaddoura (2013), this teaching–learning strategy functions in three phases. ‘Think’ is an activity that lets the teacher stimulate the students’ thinking with questions, prompts, or observations. The students are expected to think about the questions provided by the teacher. The second part of the activity is ‘Pair’. This is implemented by pairing students up with a partner or a desk-mate to come up with the best answers to the questions. After students talk in pairs, they ‘Share’ the output with the rest of the class. This activity will be the highlight of the TBLT in the author’s ESL classroom because it fosters collaboration, critical thinking, and motivation in student learning. ‘Padlet’ According to Dunbar (2017), this easy-to-use application is used to engage students in discussions and interactions within the classroom. With this application, teachers try to engage students through interactions and responses. Furthermore, Padlet is a tool that allows quick responses as students post information on their electronic devices. This process permits quick sharing of student responses allowing the class

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Fig. 27.1 Example of students’ work on Padlet

to know what other students were thinking. It’s like a living, breathing webpage, as shown in Fig. 27.1.

Task-Based Methodology Framework and TPACK TBLT Learning Framework via Online Educational Tools In this section, the author explains the importance of TBLT in terms of providing a framework suitable for the modern classroom. The framework will be set according to research done by Willis. According to his research in 2012, during the pre-task, the teachers explore the topic with the class, highlight useful information, help the students understand task instructions, and prepare for the activity. Following the pre-task phase, the task cycle is then divided into task implementation, planning, and reporting. During the task phase, the students do the task, either individually, in pairs, or in groups— meanwhile, the teacher monitors their performance. During this phase, the students are exposed to online educational tools that suit instructional design and learning objectives. During the task cycle, the students are given planning time, and they prepare to report to the whole class (orally or in writing). In this phase, interaction with online applications is optimal. Students plan their presentations based on their decisions about and discovery of the material, and they reflect on how they did the task. Learning at this stage is magnified—according to Willis (2012). During the reporting stage in the task cycle, students (individually, in pairs, or in groups) present their reports to the class, or exchange written reports. Furthermore, teachers at this

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point aid students to compare results and reach a consensus on the most adequate answer or scenario. In teaching ESL or teaching any other subject, the focus on language or core information is crucial. In this stage, the students analyze and practice their proficiency in attaining the learning objectives. The teacher has an aim, and at this stage, teachers more explicitly focus on form by guiding students in explaining and/or discussing specific features in the task, the text, or any other form of input. Moreover, the teacher practices new instructional material and patterns occurring in the data, either during or after the analysis. Students can repeat the task with different partners, and this is predictably attainable with the utilization of online educational tools. This task-based methodology plan suggested by Willis helps teachers maximize student performance and comprehension of information. In general, the nature of task-based learning condones a form of memory challenge, followed by a modified repetition of the task and then a reflection. This plan should optimize the learning experience, setting an interesting learning environment for students. TPACK: Theoretical Model According to Jaafarawi and Afshan (2019), the notion of disruptive classroom technologies has been eminent and evolving since the rise of globalization along with the application of information and communication technologies. Furthermore, current contemporary learning environments should also reflect those changes. However, student achievement is not clearly reflected upon using educational technology. Therefore, an actionable framework is needed with emphasis on pedagogical principles, strategies, and the ways teachers can develop their practices using educational technology. It is also crucial to monitor the impact of educational technology on student social and academic success. Consequently, this will not only affect student learning outcomes, but it will also prepare students for social and professional success in this digital age (Jaafarawi & Afshan, 2019). In this chapter, the TPACK framework will show the main components of teachers’ knowledge. According to Mishra and Koehler (2011), this model is the interaction of three primary forms of knowledge: Content, Pedagogy, and Technology. The TPACK model goes beyond defining or emphasizing the kinds of knowledge; it projects the intersection of the overlapping bodies of knowledge (Fig. 27.2). In this sense, effective technology integration using designed pedagogy in specific subject matter requires “developing sensitivity to the dynamic, transactional relationship between these components of knowledge situated in unique contexts” (Mishra & Koehler, 2011, p. 1017). Apart from this definition, TPACK is the core of effective teaching using technology. It requires an understanding of the use of technology, the utilization of pedagogical techniques, and the construction of existing knowledge (Mishra & Koehler, 2011). In short, the process of teaching successfully using technology is a complex one. According to Mishra and Koehler (2011), this process involves creating, maintaining, and re-establishing a dynamic equilibrium among all the TPACK elements. The plan

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Fig. 27.2 TPACK model

used by the author in this study will promote the use of online educational technology, project content of ESL, and illustrate the benefits of TBLT as the pedagogy implemented. Sample Task-Based Methodology Plan The author implements TBLT in teaching a communicative language (mainly ESL— English as a second language). She fosters the use of pre-determined tasks to set her educational goals in her classroom. Then the author designs activities using online educational tools to aid in the learning process. She also shares her reflections on each task, in order to guide instructors on how to implement TBLT in their classrooms, using their designed learning criteria for their communicative courses. The author used three online educational tools that she found highly efficient in her instruction. The tools used were: Padlet, Think-Pair-Share, and Plickers. Distinctive Implementation of Online Educational tools Using TBLT This section is dedicated to the practical use of online educational tools in a typical classroom in the UAE which focuses on teaching argumentation for students learning a second language. The author will share her insights on the efficiency of online tools in a TBLT environment. In planning and designing the course, the curriculum and course syllabi were already set. However, the author was given the flexibility to design her own lessons within the department. The task-based approach was utilized, focussing on the content through entertaining tasks and not just through mere instruction. The author wanted to insert activities that involve real communication that is

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essential for language learning and in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks to promote learning (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). After designing the pre-phase part of the activity, which is focussed on activating the students’ prior knowledge of the topic discussed by presenting intriguing statistics on the topic, the students were put into groups where they had specific tasks to complete. They were also required to fill out a four-column chart: the claim, evidence, counterargument, and refutation. In the post-phase, the students presented their work to their classmates. When looking back for evidence of impact, it was observed that inhibited students were actively contributing, showing interest, intrigue, motivation, and enthusiasm towards both the topic and activity. In addition, when the students were exposed to intriguing statistics that highlighted the controversy within the topic, this made them more attentive and focussed. When reflecting on this experience the author realized that while reading the articles, students spent time on collecting evidence which was time-consuming; therefore, in redesigning the activity, the author also underlined the main evidence in the articles to make things faster for students while tracking the main ideas. In designing the lesson, the author’s intention was to integrate technology into the learning. However, in redesigning the lessons, the author followed the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework which is a framework for teacher knowledge (Mishra & Koehler, 2011) that aids in achieving effective technology integration. Moreover, the planned lessons were designed in a way to enhance the students’ collaborative learning skills through using educational technologies. Among these online tools is TPS (Think-Pair-Share). This tool includes activities designed to help achieve the learning outcomes of the course (individually, pairing, and group work). In this framework, the students were encouraged to start by working individually to create one counterargument of a given topic. The purpose behind working individually is to initiate the ‘think’ aspect of this learning strategy. Then, the students were expected to pair up to agree upon two counterarguments, to discuss and share ideas with their classmates to reach a unified answer. This step in the activity helps maximize participation. Finally, the students entered the third step to work in groups to compile and discuss their final counterarguments along with the rebuttals. The use of technology allowed the students to be more attentive and engaged in comprehending and analyzing the reading material. To reflect on this, the author realized that with diverse inputs from the different group members, the students were motivated to interact and engage with the activity. Furthermore, this technologically advanced approach to learning and interacting in the classroom allowed inhibited students to participate and show initiative at times. To reflect upon the drawbacks of this technology (TPS), students got confused when the instructor (author) didn’t explain the instructions clearly before they started the sessions. In addition, the timing of each session should be thought through before setting it up because with the progress of the sessions more output was needed. One challenge also observed was the depiction of the right tool for the right task which encouraged the author to read more to better understand the content, the teaching, the technology chosen, and the complexity of applying these three activities in a dynamic classroom context.

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Teaching today’s technologically savvy students requires an instructor to possess twenty-first century knowledge, strategies, and skills (Barkley, 2009). That is why the use of technology in activating the student’s prior knowledge about an argumentative topic and to engage and motivate all learners was crucial at this point. Among the tools used in the classroom was ‘Padlet’. An activity was designed using a ‘Padlet’ to support instruction which asked students to post their opinions on a controversial topic in a way to encourage real-time, whole-class participation and collaboration. After compiling all posts, the students were asked to categorize the ideas, creating titles and subtitles through technology. It was noticed that this process fostered bringing diverse views closer together, allowing the students to reach a consensus on certain matters and organize their thoughts. Moreover, what influenced the author to use this informal approach was its ability to meet the needs of diverse learners. With the use of this efficient visual aid, it was noticed that the students were motivated and eager to try new learning technologies. The author also aimed at exploring this approach to allow students to post their diverse ideas and compare them to future annotated academic articles. They were intrigued to find that their views were contingent on published authors. This process enabled the author to gather a variety of student feedback easily, offering flexibility during the lesson and allowing the instructor to integrate adequate technology into education. The author also found it easier to create interest in students through presenting a new technology that targets diverse learners in the same classroom. However, the major drawback was the loss of control of the classroom when the students produced unrelated words to the topic discussed. In future Padlet activities, it is highly recommended to redesign this activity to make students’ answers more focussed and controlled. Another tool used by the author is Plickers. This online educational tool/application was utilized in an in-class activity, teaching students APA formatting in writing research papers. The Plickers application was used as one way to assess students’ understanding of APA (American Psychological Association) style formatting. The author chose this tool because the intent was to depict rapid identification of student progress (Kent, 2019). The author identifies Plickers as an instant check for understanding and a tool to help identify students who require additional support or may be experiencing challenges. In the in-class activity, the author assigned each student a unique coded paper card and asked students to use it to answer the questions projected on the smartboard. To reflect on this, the author realized the students’ eagerness to participate. Every time the author scanned their answers and revealed the correct one, they were eager to read and answer the next question. Moreover, the students were committed to using their codes and nothing else. This motivated them to choose the correct answer all by themselves. One particular strength was that Plickers allowed the author to cater to diverse student needs for she can use this technology and allow students to rethink and change their answers. Another strength that Plickers manifested was the ability to engage even the shyest students in classroom activities, allowing those reluctant to respond in normal classroom discussions to contribute anonymously (if desired) while engaging with content, classmates, and the instructor interactively. The sole apparent drawback was the over-excitement of

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some students portrayed through changing their answers upon seeing their friends’ answers.

Recommendations Since technology helps to make learning visible and accessible, this renders it more valuable for educators. Furthermore, the presence of tasks and technology can be integrated into the language curriculum. Overall, there is no best way to integrate technology into a curriculum. They are the integration efforts that should be creative and designed specifically for the classroom and its contexts (Loehler and Mishra, 2009, as cited in Ford, 2018). In addition, teachers should be aware of the implications the integration brings about for the construction of knowledge as well as for any kind of learning (which of course includes language learning). Moreover, it is important for the teacher to be as tech-savvy as her students, but what is more important is to choose the right tool for the right task. It is essential that the teacher addresses the importance of attending to learner’s digital literacies. Although most young learners are relatively computer and multimedia literate, their skills may vary greatly across settings and populations. Additionally, teachers may trust textbooks to offer the necessary material and, as a result, they might stop worrying about their specific language program or learners. Technical and linguistic complexity of the task should go hand in hand. It is suggested that content designers and teachers select effective instruments for teaching and include more motivating practices in the coursebook and curriculum. Moreover, doing tasks in groups can improve not only the learner’s language skills and subskills, but also their social interactions. Engaging in tasks also improves the teacher’s experience with technology-based instruments. These recommendations bring forth the evolution of online learning that we are experiencing at the moment, keeping in mind that an effective online classroom experience is just as important as a traditional classroom. In other words, technology serves teaching and not the other way around.

References Andon, N., & Eckert, J. (2009). Chacun à son gout. Task-based L2 pedagogy from the teacher’s point of view. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 19, 286–310. Barkley, E. F. (2009). Student engagement techniques: A handbook for college faculty. Jossey-Bass. Chang, L., & Gurvitch, R. (2018). Using Plickers as an assessment tool in health and physical education settings. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 89(2), 19–25. https://doi. org/10.1080/07303084.2017.1404510 Douglas, S. R., & Kim, M. (2014). Task-based language teaching and English for academic purposes: An investigation into instructor perceptions and practice in the Canadian context. TESL Canada Journal/Revue TESL du Canada, 31(8).

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Dunbar, L. (2017). Using Padlet to increase student interaction with music concepts. General Music Today, 30(3), 26–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/1048371316687076 East, M. (2012). Task-based language teaching from the teacher’s perspective. John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0175 Ford, J. (2018). Digital Technologies: Igniting or hindering curiosity in mathematics? Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom, 23(4), 27–32. Han, Z. (2018). Task-based learning in task-based teaching: Training teachers of Chinese as a foreign language. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 38, 162–186. https://doi.org/10.1017/ S026719051800003X Irby, D. M., & Wilkerson, L. (2003). Educational innovations in academic medicine and environmental trends. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 18, 370–376. Issenberg, S. B., McGaghie, W. C., Petrusa, E. R., Lee Gordon, D., & Scalese, R. J. (2005). Features and uses of high-fidelity medical simulations that lead to effective learning: A BEME systematic review. Medical Teacher, 27, 10–28. Jaafarawi, N., & Afshan, P. (2019). Book review: Disruptive classroom technologies: A framework for innovation in education (Sonny Magana, 2017, California: Corwin, Sage Publications). Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, 15(2). Kaddoura, M. (2013). Think pair share: A teaching learning strategy to enhance students’ critical thinking. Educational Research Quarterly, 36(4), 3–24. Kent, D. (2019). Plickers and the pedagogical practicality of fast formative assessment. Teaching English with Technology, 19(3), 90–104. Long, M., & Crookes, G. (1992). Three approaches to task-based syllabus design. TESOL Quarterly, 26(1), 27–56. Mayer, R. E. (2010). Applying the science of learning to medical education. Medical Education, 44, 543–549. Mayer, R. E. (2014). The cambridge handbook of multimedia learning. Cambridge University Press. Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. (2011). What is technological pedagogical and content knowledge? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education., 9(1), 3–15. Moore, P. J. (2018). Task-based language teaching (TBLT). In J. I. Liontas (Ed.) TESOL encyclopedia of English language teaching. New Jersey: Wiley. Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching. Cambridge University Press. Vozenilek, J., Huff, J. S., Reznek, M., & Gordon, J. A. (2004). See one, do one, teach one: Advanced technology in medical education. Academic Emergency Medicine, 11, 1149–1154. Willis, J. (2012). A framework for task-based learning. Intrinsic Books E-Books: http://www.intrin sicbooks.co.uk/title_by_title/framework.html.

Nadine Jaafarawi is a PhD holder in Applied Linguistics. She is a researcher and has several publications in the field of Applied Linguistics & Early Childhood Education. She has presented in several conferences, especially the IATEFL conference in Manchester 2015. Her future research interests stem from her goal of developing teaching methodologies and approaches that will enhance students’ literacy skills. She joined Zayed University in Spring 2018 as an Assistant Professor. She teaches courses that involve research methodologies and English in the profession. Nadine looks forward to developing new ideas for events, management of clubs, and working with professional and helpful colleagues in collaborative projects.

Chapter 28

Teacher Training in Inclusive Education: Project Collaboration Between Al Jalila Foundation—Ta’alouf Program and Zayed University Beth Wiens, Suha Karaki, and Laila Mohebi Abstract The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a pioneer in the area of recognizing the needs of People of Determination (POD) and its population in terms of education and implementing initiatives with wide-sweeping impact and benefits. The Al Jalila Foundation’s Ta’alouf Teachers’ Training Program is an annual initiative that selects 70 teachers nationwide to participate in a training program for Inclusive Education and best practice. This training program includes five components: training sessions, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), school-wide initiatives, mentoring, and a self-reflective portfolio for the assessment of participating teachers. In this chapter, we will briefly describe the history of inclusive education and policies in the UAE and then describe the Al Jalila Foundation—Ta’alouf Program. Keywords UAE · Al Jalila foundation · Ta’alouf · People of determination (POD) · Mentoring · His highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum · Portfolio · Professional learning communities (PLCs) · Initiative

Introduction Governments and educators around the world recognize the obligation to respond to the needs of learners, regardless of their context and culture. As education grows and evolves, our understanding of disabilities, whether sensory or intellectual, is also growing. We are getting better at recognizing learning disabilities and knowing how to help the learners that have them. The purpose of this chapter is to showcase one particular initiative by the UAE government and non-profit organization to institute a culture of inclusive education and practice nationwide through a training program, the Ta’laouf Program, for parents and teachers of children with intellectual and physical disabilities.

B. Wiens (B) · S. Karaki · L. Mohebi Dubai, UAE © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_28

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Inclusive Education in the UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE) began recognizing the rights of students with SEND (Special Education Needs and Disabilities) in 1979. From its formation in 1971, the UAE has been aware of the need for policies and has gone through extensive development at all levels. One of these developments was individuals with special needs and their right to live and be productive citizens (UAE Government Portal [a], 2021). In the late 1970s, the constitution of the UAE, in Article 14, discussed their fundamental right for “social equality, fairness, safety and security for all citizens” (Alahbabi, 2009, p. 42). This was the responsibility of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education. Following this article, several laws were enacted regarding the disabled and their rights. However, 1979 was a pivotal year for education in the UAE as it marked the start of separate special education classes within public schools (Alahbabi, 2009). In 2006, the Ministry of Education (MOE) reinforced this commitment by stipulating Federal Law no. 2, which came after the country ratified the UNCRPD (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1980) and ensured equal academic opportunities for students with Special Education Needs and Disabilities or SEND (Alghawi, 2007; Gaad, 2019; MOE 2019; MOSA, 2006; Suliman, 2000). In 2010, the School for All initiative was launched to discuss inclusion requirements in schools such as staff professional development, equity, support teams, and awareness, in addition to curriculum, environment, and assessment adaptations (Alborno & Gaad, 2014; MOE 2010). In order to make inclusion effective, the emirate of Dubai and its educational regulatory body, Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), presented schools with an inclusive education policy (KHDA, 2017) and a supplementary guide (KHDA, 2019). These documents postulate the required measures and processes, including the prerequisite curriculum differentiation, that educators in Dubai can follow to effectively implement the rulers’ and the government’s high-quality inclusive education vision (Usman, 2019). At the same time, these documents were presented, the term People of Determination (POD) was introduced and henceforth used to refer to people with disabilities in the UAE. This term was adopted to highlight learners’ abilities rather than disabilities (Gaad, 2019).

The Ta’alouf Program The non-profit organization Al Jalila Foundation (AJF) was founded by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on April 1, 2013, as part of the ‘Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives’. The mandate and mission of the Foundation is to “promote the UAE as a center of excellence for medical research and education,” (Press Release, 1 April 2013).

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The Ta’alouf Program is one part of the Al Jalila Foundation outreach. The word ta’alouf in Arabic means harmony or togetherness. This program was started in 2013 to support children of determination and consists of a two-pronged approach, targeting both parents and educators in facilitating learning and opportunities for children of determination. The first prong of the Ta’alouf Program is the Parents Training Program. This initiative is fully sponsored and funded by the Al Jalila Foundation, and was launched in September 2013 (Al Jalila Foundation, 2013). The total number of graduated parents/caretakers is now nearly 1100. For the last cohort, Cohort 22, training was delivered in November 2020. From this cohort, 212 parents/caretakers graduated from the training program. The original Parents Training Program started with 12 training sessions, but over time, it has changed to become more practical and is now delivered over five days. The training includes the “legal rights of child and adolescent people of determination” and “the rights of people of determination and their protection from sexual harassment”. It encompasses: • learning about the various intellectual disabilities • the difference between behaviour and sensory problems • developing communication and language skills for children with intellectual disabilities • organizing a home environment for children with intellectual disabilities, and • preparing education content and educational aid for children with intellectual disabilities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic (ZHOFPOD, 2020). This is an important part of the total support offered to children of determination in the UAE. Parents must work directly with the teachers of their children, and this training is crucial to offer the best possible learning opportunities for these children. The second prong of the Ta’alouf Program and the main focus of this chapter is the Teachers’ Training Program. This is an extensive training program with the objective of “increasing teachers’ awareness of inclusive education and promote their skills and knowledge of strategies to better support children with special need in their schools,” (Project Outline, 2013). The aim of the program was to give teacher training at the lower primary level. The Teachers’ Training Program consists of five components: teacher training sessions, mentoring, a self-reflective portfolio (to assess the effectiveness of the training), participation in a Professional Learning Community (PLC), and schoolwide initiatives. These five components complement each other to give comprehensive training to teachers in inclusive education in the UAE. In this program, 70 teachers and principals across the country from the public and private schools, take a course in learning how to support students of determination. This course runs over several months of the academic year and is delivered jointly through the Al Jalila Foundation (AJF) and Zayed University’s College of Education. Teachers whose schools are participating in this training program have several obligations to fulfil in order to be credited for participating in the program. The first part is attendance at the training sessions. The second obligation is for the teachers

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to keep a portfolio with assignments for each module of the training. The content of these portfolios is evaluated to determine if the training has been effective. The third obligation for the teachers is to participate in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). These groups facilitate the participants in generating vision and mission statements, and brainstorming ideas to find solutions for the particular challenges they face in their schools. One of the aims of the PLCs is to come up with a School Initiative for their school. This initiative is the fifth component of the Ta’alouf Teachers’ Training Program. The School Initiative is a collaborative project or event that is carried out by the school like an Autism Awareness Day, Buddy System or Parents’ Support Day. The school must provide evidence that this project has been carried out.

Project Outline ZU/Al Jalila Foundation collaborative project: Based on the vision expressed by Al Jalila Foundation, the expertise of the faculty of Zayed University, College of Education, and the focus group data, it is anticipated that by the end of the professional development training period, teacher-participants will be able to: (1)

(2)

(3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

Develop an awareness of their own attitudes and concerns about inclusion and those of the school community members with whom they work and make necessary adjustments; Demonstrate increased knowledge and awareness about inclusion and special needs, specifically, methods of identifying various special needs and effective strategies for working in inclusive classrooms; Identify what kind of supports are needed for inclusive classrooms and how to acquire them; Recognize the kinds of policies and procedures at the school level that effectively address identification and inclusion of special needs of students; Formulate plans and strategies for meeting the special needs of students; Develop an inclusive classroom environment that is effective for everyone; Develop effective, student-centred, collaborative partnerships that support student learning in their inclusive classrooms.

The program comprises six instructional sessions with practical application portfolio activities interspersed among the sessions in off-weeks. Portfolios are submitted both at a relatively early stage for written feedback and at the end of the program for formal marking. Additionally, professional learning communities (PLCs) are introduced and conducted between instructional sessions three and five via meetings arranged by neighbourhood. Each PLC group meets three times in total with meetings facilitated by ZU faculty. The final program element encompasses three hours of mentoring per participant with a ZU faculty member.

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Teacher Training In the first part of the program, teachers are given a series of workshops on inclusive education, including training to work with the different areas of special needs. These training sessions include instruction in the many areas of inclusive education. These include learning how to identify and work with students with: • • • • • •

learning difficulties, giftedness, attention problems (ADHD), physical disabilities (like motor control issues), sensory disabilities (like deafness or blindness), and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Logistics of the Training Traditionally, the training has been delivered via six instructional sessions over the course of a five-month period, from November to March. Participants have to attend at least five of the training sessions in order to receive credit for program completion. These sessions have been delivered by Professor Anna Ferreira, the Project Lead. A translator delivers the sessions simultaneously in Arabic for the Arabic speakers. According to Dr. Anna Ferreira, this particular aspect of the training has its own set of challenges. The accuracy and quality of the translation can sometimes be influenced by the translator’s understanding of concepts in inclusive education. Those with a background in education help to mitigate the negative effects of not getting the training in the teachers’ native languages. (Dr. Anna Ferreira, personal interview, May 2021). Having in-person training sessions is important for networking and motivation, as well as giving the participating teachers a chance to ask questions throughout the training. However, in-person training poses other challenges because of the geographical distance of some of the participating schools. It takes coordination and commitment from these schools to allow several teachers to attend the sessions while their schools still have regular classes going on. That being said, the onset of the pandemic has changed the delivery of the program. For the last two cohorts, the training has had to be switched to online training, just as education all over the world has had to move online. This has had both benefits and drawbacks for the participating teachers. In some ways, it has become easier. The training does not involve travelling great distances to participate. Thus, the time taken to travel for the training was eliminated. Training could be delivered online (that could be recorded easily for those who missed it to view later). A teaching platform, Edmodo, was utilized to deliver and store program materials as well as communicate to all the participating teachers regarding the training and schedule of the program delivery and deadlines for portfolio assignments.

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However, there were challenges due to the fact that teachers were isolated—not just from their students, but from each other. Teachers faced difficulty in using the training to work with their students of determination virtually. A lot of responsibility is given to the parents in these cases. Teaching virtually is a challenge in any case, but more difficult when done in isolation from other teachers. In addition, participating teachers had to familiarize themselves with a variety of new learning platforms and programs depending on which platforms their mentors used with them.

Portfolios The portfolios are the assessment instrument used to evaluate the effectiveness of the training. According to Pülschen and Pülschen (2015), “…it is critical for teachers to engage in self-reflection and be open to receiving feedback for achieving collaborative competence. While feedback promotes skill development and competency, selfreflection enables teachers to identify areas of strengths and improvement required for personal growth.” (p. 3). Participating teachers are required to create entries based on the practical application of what they have learned in the training sessions (See Appendices A and B, Portfolio Framework 1 and 2.) These entries are based on the training the teachers receive and require participants to use the strategies presented with their SEND students. One issue that teachers face is that they may not have a student with a particular need or disability in their classes. The portfolio entries have been modified (since online training began in 2020) to accommodate such situations. Participants can also speculate on SEND students they may have had previously in other grades to say how they could have applied what they have learned in the training to those particular students. In the end, the process of completing the portfolio enables participants to self-reflect and implement the strategies they learn to create an inclusive classroom for their own students of determination.

Mentoring As previously mentioned, participating teachers are required to keep a self-reflective portfolio of the training sessions and document their use of identification and learned strategies with the students of determination they are presently teaching (or have taught in the past). As support for the participating teachers, they are assigned a mentor from the faculty at Zayed University. The faculty members participating in the mentoring program do not necessarily have training in inclusive education, but they mentor and assist the teachers in completing their portfolio entries throughout the training sessions.

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Immediately before the training starts for the academic year, faculty are recruited and oriented (if they are new to mentoring) regarding the background and responsibilities of the role. The rubrics for evaluating the portfolios and general discussion of what happens throughout the mentoring period are presented in Fig. 28.1: First Submission Rubric, and Fig. 28.2: Final Submission Rubric). Mentors are assigned to faculty with the same language requirement (either English or Arabic) from the same school. The number of mentees assigned to each faculty member is determined by the coordinator and can range from three to ten or more.

Fig. 28.1 First Submission Rubric

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Fig. 28.2 Final Portfolio Rubric

Each mentor is given a contact list of the teachers they have been assigned to mentor. After the first training session, they contact each one to introduce themselves and to familiarize the teachers with the particular platforms and modes of communication they will be using in the mentoring process. It also includes setting up meeting times and reiterating deadlines given to them regarding the submission of the portfolio or portfolio entries.

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Mentors are required to report mentoring activities via a tracking sheet (see Fig. 28.3). Mentors have separate tracking sheets for teachers from different schools. On these sheets, they record the name of the teacher, the time, date, and duration of the meeting, the aim of the meeting, and any comments. The Al Jalila Foundation requires weekly reports, however, mentoring usually takes place irregularly depending on the training and the due dates of the portfolio entries. Teachers are only required to submit the portfolio twice. The first submission is to check if they have completed the portfolio correctly. In reality, many mentors receive the portfolios and the completed entries after each training session for feedback. The final portfolio submission is for the completed portfolio for assessment at the end of the training program. Each participating teacher is given three hours of mentoring. In reality, this might be more depending on the needs of the particular teacher. While this mentoring was originally intended to be delivered in person,ss the various modes of delivering the mentoring can include (but are not limited to) virtual meetings (like via Zoom) or phone conferencing. How the actual mentoring takes place is up to the mentor, but

Fig. 28.3 Tracking sheet

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the goal is to give the participating teachers guidance in several areas, including time management, as well as the format and content of the required portfolio. Different platforms may be used in the mentoring process. The primary mode of communication with participants for the training sessions was the Edmodo platform, which may have been used by some mentors. Some of the other learning platforms or applications which have been utilized by mentors are: • What’s App (groups) for communicating general information to each group of mentees, document sharing, etc. • Google docs (to set mentoring times) • Google classroom (to share documents) • Showbie (for submission and feedback of portfolios and portfolio entries) as well as document sharing, • Schoology (for documents sharing), and • Email (for communication and portfolio submission) and document sharing. Mentors help keep the participants on track (time management), set goals, build their confidence, and give them a safe space in which to consider their teaching practice. They also can provide participants with practical resources, techniques to differentiate learning, and make appropriate accommodations and curricular modifications. They might also provide videos modelling the presented teaching strategies and techniques to have a more inclusive classroom, show activities that promote positive behaviour, and give them informative links regarding assistive technology and other sources (Ewen, 2020). In addition, some mentors have arranged for their mentees to attend events organized by the Zayed University Student Accessibility Services Office, including all-day conference events on Learning Difficulties (e.g. disorders that affect cognitive processes, attention control, organizational skills, and memory), and Ear Care Awareness (for deafness). These optional events may also include the introduction of different assistive technologies or the use of existing technologies to help teachers create a more accessible classroom environment.

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and the School Initiative The objective for the PLCs in the Ta’alouf Program is to bring educators together so that they can brainstorm ideas for their particular issues and challenges related to their SEND children and their context and share best practices. Specialists conduct these sessions to support those participating teachers and educators in sharing thoughts and ideas to help them create vision and mission statements collectively as well as encourage collaboration for the School Initiatives. Serving as leaders in the PLCs allowed both principals and teachers to better address the challenges they faced. The initiatives they created also served the community by creating awareness and better support networks for the schools.

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These PLC meetings were originally designed to introduce participants to Professional Learning Communities and help them to understand how they can be used as a support and problem-solving tools. Faculty are assisted in setting up their own PLCs where they generate conversations about what they believe about inclusive education and children of determination. They are encouraged to set reachable goals and model a PLC problem-solving session by talking about the benefits and next steps in light of the Ta’alouf professional development program, as well as analyzing their own commitment to continue these meetings (Ewen, 2020). As the program progresses, faculty from different schools discuss what they are learning in the instructional sessions and the specific problems they face in their own schools. They are encouraged to collaborate to solve these issues. The sessions for the PLCs are introduced and conducted between the instructional sessions three and five through meetings arranged by the project coordinator. One outcome of the PLC is the organization of the School Initiatives, which is the final component of the program. Although it is unrelated to the individual participant portfolio, it is a requirement of the participating schools (where the participants came from). It is an event organized and presented by the school in which information, education, and awareness for one area in inclusive education is shared. The success of the PLCs has been varied. It can be negatively affected by the number of participating schools, their disparate nature, and the geographical distribution as well as variable facility and translation standards provided by the host schools. Another factor contributing to less success of the PLCs was the conflict of examination schedules for participating teachers.

Challenges of the Program A number of issues have arisen during the many years of the program. One of the biggest challenges since the beginning of the pandemic has been, of course, moving all the training online. But even before the pandemic began, there were issues of distance. Getting so many teachers together from different schools and from so many different geographical areas was a challenge. In addition to logistical issues with training, the implementation of the training has had to change. Many teachers are no longer in an actual classroom but must deliver their classes online. This has many challenges in itself, but it may be particularly difficult for teachers to identify and implement strategies for the SEND students. Some portfolio entries have had to change to reflect hypothetical situations rather than real ones. The demands of the portfolio are quite high, so this is difficult for teachers. Another issue is that of language. While Arabic is the official language, the UAE is home to nationals from 200 different countries (UAE Government Portal [b], 2021), and English is unofficially the lingua franca for those nationals who do not speak Arabic. While the training is delivered in Arabic and English, many teachers

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must do the training in a second language. The Al Jalila Foundation provides Arabic translators and requires bilingual mentors for teachers that need them. A further issue of the program is the reluctance of participating teachers to share their experiences in the PLC sessions. Whatever the situation, there is a fear of what is being shared might be used to judge or evaluate teachers and thereby affect their employment.

Conclusion The Al Jalila Foundation—Zayed University’s Collaboration for the Ta’alouf Program has been pivotal in realizing the objectives of the UAE in making education inclusive for all. Since the training began, nearly 500 teachers have completed the program (Ewen, 2020). The UAE is a unique educational and cultural environment. It hosts hundreds of private and public schools. The country shows its commitment to ensuring the education and opportunities of its people of determination. This training program has increased the awareness and professional development of hundreds of teachers and educators over the years in the area of inclusive education. In times like these, when more and more special needs students are being identified, education needs to respond with the ability of its teachers to give our children the best education and opportunities for success in the modern world.

Appendix A: Portfolio Training Sessions 1–2 AL JALILA FOUNDATION & ZAYED UNIVERSITY (COLLEGE OF EDUCATION) TA’ALOUF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS (INCLUSIVE AND SPECIAL EDUCATION) WELCOME We welcome you to this unique in-service csourse that will equip you with the knowledge and practical skills to become a more inclusive teacher. We sincerely hope that you will enjoy the course and that it will make a real difference in your daily practice. OUTCOMES After completion of this course you will be able to demonstrate:

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• an understanding of policies regarding the provisioning for students of determination in the UAE, including the Philosophy and Vision for Special Education in the UAE. • understanding, knowledge, and skills concerned with selected specific needs that teachers may encounter in class, such as students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Intellectual Disabilities, Specific Learning Disabilities, Physical and healthrelated disability (including attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity), visual and hearing impairment, behavioural challenges and Gifted and Talented Students; • understanding, knowledge, and skills concerned with inclusion in a whole-school environment, including basic guidelines for the School Leadership; and • understanding, knowledge, and skills to provide basic parental support. ABOUT THIS COURSE The course consists of four parts, namely: • Six training sessions: the training sessions are conducted by Dr. Anna Ferreira (4 h each and 24 h in total). • Mentoring: you have the privilege of meeting with a member of the faculty from Zayed University for three hours in total. Your mentor will contact you and arrange to meet with you. The mentors are there to support you and answer your questions. • Professional Learning Communities (PLCs): you will be part of a PLC, led by Ms. Suha Karaki. We hope that the PLCs will keep on meeting long after this course had been completed! • Assessment: you will develop a Portfolio to demonstrate your learning in this course. More information on the Portfolio is provided in the next section. ASSESSMENT Assessment for this course is based on the Portfolio that you develop. This Portfolio will be submitted for general feedback near the beginning of the course; and again, after the last training session. Your Portfolio will be a collection of tasks set out in this guide. You will do your own, individual work on the Portfolio. Even when you discuss this with your colleagues, it is not possible for two teachers to hand it the same Portfolio. You cannot get any ‘wrong’ answers in the Portfolio. Most of the work in the Portfolio will ask you to focus on students in your class. Sometimes you will not have a student with a specific disability or other special needs. If this is the case, you may do any of the following: • Did you have such a child in the past few years? Then write about him/her. • Is there a child like this in a colleague’s class? Can you use him/her as your case study? • If this does not work, think what you would do if you did have such a child in your class. Be creative!

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It is important to work consistently throughout the course. Complete your portfolio entries after each training session. IMPORTANT: Make regular backups of your work, and store it in a safe place away from your computer. Your portfolios will be submitted to your mentors, and they will tell you how to do it. For submission dates, please see the Schedule that you have received. PLAGIARISM Plagiarism is an act of passing off the thoughts, writings or ideas of another person as your own. When you copy and paste information from the Internet and submit it as your own work, you are guilty of plagiarism. The same is true when you rewrite material from any source, even from your colleagues. Plagiarism is the main reason why a few teachers in the past have not received their certificate for this course, so please be careful! THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF YOUR PORTFOLIO. PORTFOLIO 1 SESSION 1—INCLUSIVE EDUCATION 1.

PERSONAL DATA AND EXPECTATIONS Use the first page of your portfolio to tell us who you are. Give us your full name and what school you are from. Please make sure that you spell the names exactly the same as it is on the registration forms for the Al Jalila Foundation. Also, enter your contact details. Now enter a picture, a photo or a drawing that symbolizes the way you see professional growth. Choose a symbol that means something to you as a teacher, and as a person. This can be anything … a huge tree with roots growing deeper, a road that leads to new discovery … or anything else that ‘talks’ to you. In one paragraph, tell us something about yourself. Why did you become a teacher / what do you like about your job / what do you find especially difficult in your job? State what your expectations are regarding this course (you may make a list of three expectations). What do you want to know and what do you want to be able to do at the end of the course? Case study As we continue, you will study the situation in your own school. The purpose of your Case Study is to guide you in thinking about the real situation in your school—and in your own classroom. Please understand that there are no right or wrong answers. You only need to reflect on (think carefully about) each of these questions. Perhaps you can discuss it with a colleague. Then just sit down and describe what is happening in your class or in your school.

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FACTORS FOR SUCCESSFUL INCLUSION: STEP 1 OF THE CASE STUDY You are asked to act as an advisor for a new Minister of Education in the UAE. He/she asks you to identify the three main areas of concern for applying Federal Law 29/2006 in your school. What would you tell the minister? In order to write about this, you should carefully reflect on the situation in your school. • List THREE key concerns that you would like to bring to the Minister’s attention, and the advice that you would give to the minister. Very briefly explain why you have selected each of these concerns. • Remember to stay in your school. • Be creative!

3.

FACTORS FOR SUCCESS—PRACTICAL APPLICATION

4.

A young principal wants to develop a sustainable, quality program for increased inclusive education in a primary school in the UAE. He/she comes to you for advice. Based on international research findings, what would you tell this principal? Where should s/he start? What factors should be taken into consideration? What factors may negatively influence this program? What can be done pro-actively about such negative factors? FOCUS QUESTION What was the most interesting idea that you have discovered in the first Training Session? Write a brief paragraph in which you discuss this idea and tell us why it is important to you.

PORTFOLIO 2 5.

CASE STUDY (CONTINUED)

6.

In the previous entry, you described the general situation in your school. In this entry, you will study the situation for gifted students in your school. Does your school have an official policy concerning giftedness? Have any members of staff received specific training to support gifted students? What structures are in place to identify gifted children? Is the school aware of the plans of the MoE (Ministry of Education) regarding gifted students? Do you ever talk about giftedness in your school? Do your colleagues understand the difference between a gifted student and an A-student? Please write 200–250 words (or more!) in which you describe your school’s provision for gifted students. SUPPORTING GIFTED AND TALENTED STUDENTS • Carefully study the notes that you have received on gifted and talented students. • Identify ONE of the ‘best’ (possibly gifted) students in your class. • In one paragraph, describe this student. What special characteristics do you see? What makes him/her special? What does s/he struggle with?

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• Study the section on Identification of Giftedness in your handout. Do you note these characteristics in ‘your’ student? Would you say that the student you have identified is gifted or bright? Explain your answer by referring to specific characteristics that are mentioned here. • Make a copy of the Questionnaire for Identifying Gifted Children. Complete it with ‘your’ child in mind. How many points does this child receive on the questionnaire? More importantly, can you see whether the child shows characteristics of giftedness? Please explain. (Please add the completed questionnaire to the end of this section of the Portfolio). • What would be the best way to support the student that you have identified? Select at least ONE new strategy that we have discussed to support this student. • For one week, IMPLEMENT this strategy in your day-to-day lesson planning and teaching. In one paragraph, describe what happened when you did this. 7.

FOCUS QUESTION What was the most interesting idea that you have discovered in the training session on giftedness? Write a brief paragraph in which you discuss the idea and tell us why it is important to you.

LEARNING DISABILITIES 8.

CASE STUDY (CONTINUED) We continue with the case study, by looking at THREE important aspects: (a) (b) (c)

9.

How does your school identify students with learning disabilities? How does your school support students with learning disabilities? What should your school include in a policy for the use of assistive technology?

Please write one short paragraph on (a), (b), and (c) above. ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY We have discussed the use of various types of assistive technology for students with learning disabilities. Please take some time to play around with the following types of technology: • Pocket calculator (how can you use it in class?) • Let the technology do the reading: text-to-speech applications (On Apple: go to System Preferences/Dictation and Speech/choose your settings. For other computers, click ‘search’ and type ‘ease of access’. This will take you to the same kinds of software. • Voice recognition and typing software – Look at apps like Dragon (http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Natura llySpeaking-Premium-13-0-English/dp/B00LX4BYV6 (www.ncld.org/ students-disabilties/assistive-technology-education)

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• Let your computer speak Arabic (http://sourceforge.net/projects/arabic-esp eak/)

10.

Identify a student in your class who may benefit from using assistive technology. Experiment with this student using one of the assistive technological applications. Please describe what you have done, and what happened. Did the student benefit? What problems did you encounter? What worked well? FOCUS QUESTION What was the most interesting idea that you have discovered in the training session on learning disabilities? Write a brief paragraph in which you discuss this idea and tell us why it is important to you.

Appendix B: Portfolio Training Sessions 3–6

VERY IMPORTANT Portfolio Entries are to be completed after each Training session • • • •

Entries for Portfolio 3 to be completed after Training Session 3 Entries for Portfolio 4 to be completed after Training Session 4 Entries for Portfolio 5 to be completed after Training Session 5 Entries for Portfolio 6 to be completed after Training Session 6

You have already completed and submitted the Entries for Training Sessions 1 and 2 for feedback from your mentor (as Portfolio 1 and Portfolio 2) Please compile all the Entries in one document—no need for separate documents Please number the Entries clearly, to correspond with the numbering of the questions you are answering For your final submission, you must compile all your entries (for Sessions 1–6) as one Document and submit it to your mentor on 15 April 2021 SESSION 3 Portfolio Entries to be completed after Training Session 3. • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) • Physical Disabilities ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER (ADHD) 11.

THE SUPPORT OF STUDENTS WITH ADHD IN YOUR CLASS Select TWO new strategies from the list of ideas in your Handout for the classroom support of students with ADHD. Use the selected strategies every day for one week in

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one of your classes. Please tell us what happened. First explain what strategy you chose, describe how you used it, then describe the way the students in your class reacted. PHYSICAL DISABILITIES 12.

UNDERSTANDING PHYSICAL DISABILITIES DO EITHER (a) OR (b) below.

(a)

(b)

Do you currently have a student with a physical disability in your class/school OR did you have such a student in the previous years? Please tell us something about this student, and the ways he or she behaves in class. What are the most difficult challenges to meet with regard to this student? Based on what you learned, please write down at least one idea on how to overcome this challenge. What do you think, would be an important challenge when accommodating a child with a physical disability in your school and in your class? Please explain. Based on what you learned, please write down at least one idea on how to overcome this challenge.

SESSION 4 Portfolio Entries to be completed after Training Session 4. • Intellectual disability • Impairment of hearing or sight 13.

THE SUPPORT OF STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY IN YOUR CLASS DO EITHER (a) OR (b) below. (a)

(b)

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Do you currently have a student with an intellectual disability in your class/school OR did you have such a student in the previous years? Please tell us something about this student, and the ways he or she behaves in class. What are the most difficult challenges to meet with regard to this student? Based on what you learned, please write down at least one idea on how to overcome this challenge. What do you think, would be an important challenge when accommodating a student with an intellectual disability in your school and in your class? Please explain. Based on what you learned, please write down at least one idea on how to overcome this challenge.

UNDERSTANDING SENSORY DISABILITIES DO EITHER (a) OR (b). (a)

Do you currently have a student with either a hearing or visual impairment in your class/school OR did you have such a student in the previous years? Please tell us something about this student and the ways he or she behaves in class. What are the most difficult challenges to meet with regard to this student? Based on what you learned, please write down at least one idea on how to overcome this challenge.

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What do you think, would be the greatest obstacle in accommodating a child with a sensory disability in your school and in your class? Please explain. Based on what you learned, please write down at least one idea on how to overcome this challenge.

SESSION 5 Portfolio Entries to be completed after Training Session 5. • Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) 15.

UTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD) DO EITHER (a) OR (b). (a)

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Do you currently have a student on the Autistic Spectrum in your class/school OR did you have such a student in the previous years? Please tell us something about this student and the ways he or she behaves in class. What are the most difficult challenges to meet with regard to this student? Based on what you learned, please write down at least one idea on how to overcome this challenge. What do you think, would be an important challenge in accommodating a child on the Autistic Spectrum in your school and in your class? Based on what you learned, please write down at least one idea on how to overcome this challenge.

SESSION 6 Portfolio Entries to be completed after Training Session 6. • Positive student behaviour • General support 16.

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Based on what you have learned in the last training session, select at least TWO new ideas on what you can do in your class to improve student behaviour. Use the selected strategies every day for one week in one of your classes. Please tell us what happened. First explain what strategies you chose, describe how you used it, then describe the way the students in your class reacted. FINAL QUESTION Return to the picture or image that you used in your first entry, to show your personal image for professional development. Is this image still true after what you have learned in this course? In one short paragraph, please explain in what way (if any) this course had changed your thinking.

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References Al Jalila Foundation (2013, April 13). HH Sheikh Mohammed launches Al Jalila Foundation. [Press Release]. Retrieved 5 March, 2021, from: https://www.aljalilafoundation.ae/hh-sheikhmohammed-launches-al-jalila-foundation/. Alahbabi, A. (2009). K-12 special and general education teacher’s attitudes toward the inclusion of students with special needs in general education classes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). International Journal of Special Education, 24(2), 42–54. Alborno, N., & Gaad, E. (2014). Index for inclusion: A framework for school review in the United Arab Emirates. British Journal of Special Education, 41(3), 231–248. Alghawi, M. A. (2007). Bridging the gap between theory and practice of inclusion in the United Arab Emirates. M.Ed. Dissertation. The British University in Dubai. Ewen, M. (2020). Al Jalila Foundation—Zayed University Ta’alouf Inclusion Special Education Teacher Training Programme, Cohort 6 Final Report. Ferreira, A. (2021, May 5). Personal Interview. [Personal Interview]. Gaad, E. (2019). Educating learners with special needs and disabilities in the UAE: Reform and innovation. In K. Gallagher (Ed.), Education in the United Arab Emirates: Innovation and transformation (pp. 147–159). Springer. Knowledge and Human Development Authority (2017). Dubai inclusive education policy framework. Retrieved 5 February, 2020, from https://www.khda.gov.ae/cms/webparts/texteditor/doc uments/Education_Policy_En.pdf. Knowledge and Human Development Authority (2019). Implementing inclusive education: a guide for schools [online]. Retrieved 15 February, 2020, from https://www.khda.gov.ae/Areas/Admini stration/Content/FileUploads/Publication/Documents/English/20190123084554_SENDPOLIC YSCHOOLS_EN.pdf. Ministry of Education (2010). School for all: general rules for the provision of special education programs and services (public & private Schools). Retrieved May February, 2020, from https:// www.moe.gov.ae/English/SiteDocuments/Rules/SNrulesEn.pdf. Ministry of Education (2019). Education for people of determination [online]. Retrieved 1 May, 2020, from https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/education/education-for-people-withspecial-needs. Ministry of Social Affairs (2006). UAE Federal Law 29/2006 [online]. Retrieved 2 May, 2020, from https://www.mocd.gov.ae/en/about-mocd/laws-and-legislations.aspx. Project Outline (2013). Al Jalila Foundation—Ta’alouf Project and Zayed University Collaboration. Pülschen S., & Pülschen, D. (2015). Preparation for teacher collaboration in inclusive classrooms— stress reduction for special education students via acceptance and commitment training: A controlled study. Journal of Molecular Psychiatry, 3, 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/S40303-0150015-3. Suliman, O. M. (2000). A descriptive study of the educational system of the United Arab Emirates. Ed.D. Dissertation. University of Southern California. UAE Government Portal (a) (2021). The Official Guide to Living, Working, Visiting and Investing in the UAE, About the UAE, Fact Sheet. Retrieved 9 March, 2021, from https://u.ae/en/aboutthe-uae/fact-sheet. UAE Government Portal (b) (2021). Inclusive education for people of determination.. Retrieved 5 March, 2021, from https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/education/education-for-peoplewith-special-needs/inclusive-education-for-people-of-determination. Usman, F. (2019). From disabling concepts to enabling policies: rethinking inclusion of students with special needs in Dubai’s private schools. Ph.D. Thesis. University of Calgary. Zayed Higher Organization for People of Determination. (2020). Zayed Higher Organization and “Al Jalila” Organize a new cycle of the “Ta’alouf” Training Program. (27 November). Retrieved March 5, 2021, from https://zho.gov.ae/en/MediaCenter/news/Pages/2701102020.aspx.

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Beth Wiens received her MA in Linguistics from the University of Kansas. She has worked in three of the UAE Government Federal (and semi-federal) tertiary institutions as an English language teacher and assessment specialist for nearly 30 years. She worked in UAE University, the University of Sharjah, and now teaches at Zayed University. She is currently teaching in the Language Studies Department in Zayed University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences. She presents widely on teacher assessment literacy and is currently pursuing teacher training in inclusive educational practices and instructional design. Suha Karaki received her MA in Education (TESOL) and her BA in Communication Arts (Journalism) from the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon and is currently doing her PhD in Special Education and Inclusion at the British University in Dubai, with research focus on positive education and students with special educational needs and disabilities. Suha is bilingual in Arabic and English and has over nineteen years of experience in the fields of education, public relations, Arabic, translation and journalism. She is currently working as a Senior Instructor at the College of Education - Zayed University, Dubai. Laila Mohebi received her PhD in Education program from the British University in Dubai in 2018. In 2019, she started her academic career as assistant professor in College of Education at Zayed University. Prior to joining Zayed University, Laila held senior positions with GEMS Education, Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), Ministry of Education and Hamdan bin Mohammed Smart University. Her research interests are teacher education, teacher candidate feedback after teaching, early childhood education and TPACK (technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge).

Chapter 29

Innovations in English Language Teaching and General Studies Education Christine Coombe and Lana Hiasat

Abstract Over the past three decades there have been many changes in the way English language education is designed and delivered around the world. In English language teaching and learning, innovation can be seen as a new teaching methodology, pedagogical theory, methodological approach, teaching or assessment technique, learning or instructional tool. When these are implemented, they can lead to better student learning and engagement. The focus of this chapter is on the study of innovation in English language teaching and learning environments at the tertiary level in the United Arab Emirates. The innovative activities in this chapter draw on classroom, administrative, and learning experiences from one of the three federallyfunded tertiary institutions in the UAE—the Higher Colleges of Technology. This chapter begins with the establishment of a definition of innovation and reflects on what it means to be innovative in General Studies education and English language teaching. What follows is a description of the current status of innovation in English language and General Studies education in the region and then looks at innovations that are currently being implemented. The chapter concludes with future innovations on the educational horizon. Keywords Innovation · English language teaching · General Studies education · Gamification blended learning

Definition of Innovation in Education In educational environments around the world, the goal of everyone nowadays is to include innovation in their teaching and learning environments as they want their

C. Coombe (B) · L. Hiasat Dubai Men’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai, UAE e-mail: [email protected] L. Hiasat e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1_29

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students to be engaged and present in their own learning. A basic definition of innovation for many simply means doing what is best for students, to pique their curiosity about learning and find ways to keep students interested in and engaged in classroom activities (Coombe et al., 2019). Others believe that innovation is related to the tools and skills that are required for students to be deemed effective and efficient twentyfirst Century learners. A more traditional definition of innovation and how it applies to education has been put forward by the Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (2018, p. 1): The practice of effective and meaningful teaching can benefit immensely when educators thoughtfully experiment and apply new or different pedagogical approaches, technologies, curricular enhancements, course design and organization, and assessments.

In more simplistic terms, innovation is also defined as “the process of making changes to something established by introducing something new” (O’Sullivan & Dooley, 2009, p. 3). Innovation is about helping organizations and businesses grow. As far as a business is concerned, “growth is often measured in terms of turnover and profit, but can also occur in knowledge, in human experience, and in efficiency and quality. It is these latter concepts that relate innovation to education” (Coombe et al., 2019, p. 2). In education today, experts are of the opinion that the term ‘innovation’ is an overused one (Alexander, 2017; Darasawang, Reinders & Waters, 2015; O’Brien, 2013) or simply a buzzword that implies a big breakthrough. In their volume introduction to Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching: The Case of the Middle East and North Africa, Coombe et al., (2019, p. 3) reveal that “at its core, however, is that innovation is the pairing of tried and tested ideas to yield new results”. They describe two famous non-educational examples of this idea which are the invention of the car and Apple technology. In the former, factories and cars were already in existence. Henry Ford had the insight and innovative idea to combine the two. In the latter example, Steve Jobs ignited a technological revolution by combining easyto-use mobile phone technology with intuitive software (Alexander, 2017). So, with this in mind, to innovate is to look beyond what we are currently doing and develop a fresh, new, novel idea that helps us to do our job in a new way (Coombe et al., 2019). Whatever definition you have of innovation, it most probably is associated with positive words like change, something new or novel, and/or something beneficial or successful (Coombe et al., 2019).

Educational Innovation For a person, a country, and mankind, in general, to move forward in life, innovation is critically important and required. Innovation in education is particularly important because education plays a crucial role in creating a sustainable future (Serdyukov, 2017). Serdyukov (2017) noted that the need for educational innovation has become

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serious as “it is widely believed that countries’ social and economic wellbeing will depend to an ever-greater extent on the quality of their citizens’ education and the emergence of a so-called ‘knowledge society’ (p. 5). In addition, according to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, “the pressure to increase equity and improve educational outcomes for students is growing around the world” (Vieluf et al., 2012, p. 3), which in turn increases the need for and the pressure on institutions to innovate. Innovation in education is generally understood as “the successful introduction of a new thing or method” (Brewer & Tierney, 2012, p. 5). To this end, Brewer and Tierney (2012) have set out a three-phase innovation plan for education which has three elements: “an idea, its implementation, and the outcome that results from the execution of the idea and produces a change” (p. 5).

Key Elements for Educational Innovation Paniagua (2018) has identified three important elements in encouraging innovations in teaching. The first element is the belief that the social aspect of learning and the empathetic nature of learning is a common principle that underpins educational innovative practice. This means that teachers should pay attention to and spend some of their time and resources so that learners are able to interact and experiment. The role of the teacher is central to this process and so is the stakeholders’ need to perceive teachers as the promoters of positive interactions as well as the individuals who foster more interactive and caring relationships with students (Coombe et al., 2019). The second key element as noted by Paniagua (2018) deals with teachers and their teaching practices. It is important that teachers reflect on their teaching in order to identify and better align their creative, intuitive, and personal attributes with innovative pedagogies. Having the necessary organizational structures in place so that teachers integrate, rather than assimilate, new practices into their teacher tool kit is the third key element. Another important area that can be used to promote educational innovation is that of technology, in particular, the use of gamification. The widespread accessibility of the internet and smartphone technology, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Gulf countries has made it possible to deliver student-centred learning in a systematic and even innovative way (Coombe et al., 2019). These four key elements reveal how important it is to have the requisite continuous professional development programs to facilitate teachers in developing the knowledge and skills needed to be innovative practitioners and promotors of innovation in their classrooms.

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The Educational Context English Language Teaching in the UAE The Arabian Peninsula, and especially the Gulf area, consists of countries whose economies have depended on the production of oil for the last 5 decades. The countries that comprise the Gulf are Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the UAE. All have previously been ex-colonies of the British Empire, with the exception of Saudi Arabia. Due to the presence of the British in their countries in the early days, the English language has played an important role in their educational systems. The Gulf countries have invested a lot in education and have funded many of their citizens on study abroad programs at well-known universities in various Anglophone countries. Governments have also invested in the development of education, especially that of English language education domestically, as English is a lingua franca and the language of business. There is a large population of expatriate teachers who have been living and working in the Gulf for many years, not all of them native speakers of English. Expatriate teachers have been very much in demand due to a large number of English medium universities and lack of local citizens who decide to take up teaching jobs at any level (Coombe et al., 2019). Most university-level education in the Gulf is funded by the government and offered free of charge for all nationals of these countries. University-level classrooms are highly technological environments, whereby campuses are wireless and both teachers and students are provided with laptops and ipads for use in the classroom. English language teachers are trained and encouraged to exploit as much technology in the classroom as possible. The classrooms themselves are fully equipped with projectors and/or smartboards. Courses are now archived and accessed on Learning Management Systems like Moodle and Blackboard among others. The use of educational technology is prevalent in all the educational vision statements of the Gulf countries (Bahrain 2030, KSA Vision 2030, Kuwait Vision 2035, Oman Vision 2040, and UAE 2020/2021) as is the concept of being more innovative in instruction (Coombe et al., 2019, p. 7). Among the many innovations in English language teaching in recent years, the most oft-cited are in the areas of technology, assessment, and pedagogy (Motteram, 2013). In a volume co-edited by Alshahrani and Ally (2017) on transforming education in the Gulf region, the chapters focus on emerging learning technologies and innovations in pedagogy for the twenty-first century. Some of the research-based topics included in this volume are technology and mobile-enhanced learning, blended learning, the flipped classroom, the use of social media in the classroom as well as smart classrooms. Assessment is another area of innovation in the region, particularly in test development, implementation, and benchmarking the performance levels of the educational system. Since 2008, the UAE has participated in many international tests to examine and benchmark the performance levels of its education system. Some of these tests include the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), TIMSS (Trends

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in International Mathematics and Science Study), and PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study). It is important to note because of this participation, the UAE received top ranks in the Arab world in line with the National Agenda which calls for the country to rank among the top 20 in PISA by 2021 (Raising the Standard of Education, 2018).

Institutional Context and the Importance of Innovation In 2015, the UAE government set forth a national ‘UAE Innovation Strategy’ which defined innovation as “the aspiration of individuals, private institutions and governments to achieve development by generating creative ideas and introducing new products, services and operations that improve the overall quality of life.” (UAE National Innovation Strategy, 2015, p. 5). Since the birth of the country in 1971, the United Arab Emirates has constantly been distinguished as a symbol of innovation and creativity. With a firm belief that innovation is the future of human investment, the UAE leadership emphasizes its importance across all sectors through the UAE (Vision, 2021): “Innovation, research, science and technology will form the pillars of a knowledge-based, highly productive and competitive economy, driven by entrepreneurs in a business-friendly environment where public and private sectors form effective partnerships” (UAE National Innovation Strategy, 2015, p. 6). In recent years, the UAE’s efforts have resulted in its top ranking among MENA countries and 36th globally (among 143 countries) in terms of performance in the 2014 Global Innovation Index. In total, the UAE’s investment in innovation is estimated to be 14 billion AED annually, and 7 billion AED allocated for Research and Development (UAE Vision, 2021, 2015, p 6). As far as the education sector is concerned, institutions are encouraged to promote innovation through the introduction of creative teaching methods, as well as designing and developing innovative curricula and classroom activities. At our institution, the Higher Colleges of Technology, Innovation is a key concept within our mission and vision statements with the recent introduction of Innovation Spaces on our campuses and a systemwide Innovation Week. These initiatives were internationally recognized in early 2019 when our institution, the HCT, was awarded the Most Innovative University Award—by Forbes Middle East Higher Education.

Innovative Activities A great deal of innovative teaching, learning, and assessment practices have taken place over the past year at Dubai Men’s College in the UAE. In the next sections, a small sampling of the many innovations is described.

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The English Language and General Studies education program offers courses that all students must take as part of their Bachelor’s degree program within the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates. Students are required to successfully complete 33 credit hours where each subject is 3 credits that include subjects from five curricular areas. They include: (1) English, Arabic, or other Languages (12 credits), (2) Humanities or Arts (3 credits), (3) Information Technology or Mathematics (6 credits), (4) The Natural Sciences (3 credits), and (5) The Social or Behavioural Sciences (9 credits). These course requirements are intended to help students in their preparation for twenty-first century challenges and most importantly the selected courses are aligned with the UAE country’s vision (2021). The approach to innovating teaching and learning in the General Studies division is based on experiential and blended learning where collaborative activities, gamification, and learning by doing activities were developed. Several innovative activities were developed as part of the division’s ongoing use of the newly created Innovation Space at Dubai Men’s College, a dedicated place for innovative activities to occur, across the college. In the next section, the innovative activities of our division are described and discussed. They include: the use of gamification in learning key concepts, the Seminar in the Sands event, Virtual reality discussions, and the Campus of the Future and smart learning.

The Gamification of Learning In today’s digital age, “gamification has become a popular technique to encourage specific behaviors and increase motivation and student engagement” (Huang & Soman, 2013, p. 5). Though most commonly found in marketing, it is now being incorporated in many educational programs worldwide, helping educators find the balance between achieving their curricular aims and catering to their students’ changing needs. According to Huang and Soman (2013), a simple definition of gamification is “the addition of game-like-elements, also called game mechanics, in non-game settings” (p. 13). The elements of gamification were applied in our blended learning approach to English language and General Studies education. Blended learning can best be described as learning that happens inside the classroom and online at different levels of activity blend, program blend, and institutional levels (Bonk & Graham, 2006). Two levels of blending were applied in the teaching and learning within the General Studies Division at Dubai Men’s College. The first blend dealt with the program and course activities. The type of blended learning used for these activities was gamebased using smart mobile phone technology. The second blend had to do with the physical space. The face-to-face element was the physical space of the educational institution; however, the gamification activities did not take place in the traditional classroom setting but rather in our institution’s innovation space.

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Our innovation activities differentiated between what is known as Game-based learning and gamification. The former is using actual games for educational purposes, while the latter focussed on using elements of gaming in education such as the ladder board, competition, badges, and competency-based learning. Gamification has been found to increase student engagement which is generally accepted as being connected to academic success, student retention, learning, and the student experience. To gamify learning, several elements are important such as the use of incentives, planning out-of-class activities, and collaborative learning. The final steps such as adding a time limit, and tracking students’ progress were important steps in the gamification process. The framework for applying gamification that was applied within the General Studies division included four main elements which are described in the next section. 1. Learning Objectives: Choose What Learning Objectives You Want Students to Achieve 2. Multiple Learning style tasks: Design a variety of tasks that require learners to search for information through reading, speaking to others (expert opinion), doing and experiencing something new, taking visual documentation. 3. Time limit: Open the activity for the time frame that meets your goal. If it is an exam review, you would want to have the activity open from the day you introduce it until exam day. Recommendation: allow students to submit answers, if wrong, return the answers and ask them to resubmit. Gaming is about the mastery of skills. If it is for a limited event, then limit or close the activity by a certain hour. 4. Offer Rewards: An essential part of gaming is instant rewards and recognition. Plan rewards based on what you have available. Simple rewards like offering certificates of completion are popular with students as recognition of their achievements. The innovative activities described in the next sections include the use of SEPPO in gamification for two main activities, the Seminar in the Sands event, team competitions, virtual reality discussions, and the Campus of the Future.

SEPPO and Gamification The program that was used to gamify activities was SEPPO (https://seppo.io/en/). Figure 29.1 shows the website homepage of SEPPO. This platform is designed on a new way of learning that is based on the effective use of mobile technology, collaborative tasks, a different learning environment, and fun gamified challenges that are fully online and monitored remotely. This is a licensed software that helps educators once trained to create and run their own games. Faculty were trained to use the software and received an individual license to use the program with their classes.

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Fig. 29.1 SEPPO- a gamification platform (https://seppo.io/en/)

Gamified Activity 1: Gamify Your Campus Using the SEPPO platform of collaborative teams, a set of tasks were created around the campus as an orientation task. Four sections competed against each other. Two teachers monitored the teams’ activities and graded the live submissions. The top three winners received gift vouchers. Figure 29.2 shows an image of this activity.

Gamified Activity 2: The Art of Sustainability The second gamified activity was based off-campus while teachers were monitoring live students’ movement through the tasks. One of the important course requirements that students take in the General Studies Division is an ‘Introduction to Sustainability’

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Fig. 29.2 Gamify your campus

course. Students learn about the three elements of sustainable living, which include economic, social, and the environment. The Dubai Design District often hosts events that are closely related to the topics students learn about in the course. One such event was a gallery entitled ‘The Art of Sustainable Construction by Foster and Partners’. Models of sustainable buildings and projects were displayed. As the game designer, I took pictures of the models and developed a gamified activity using SEPPO. The game was open for five days and the competition was announced for all General Studies students. By completing these game challenges, students learned about sustainable construction from a global perspective. Figure 29.3 illustrates the gamified task that took place at the Dubai Design District.

The Seminar in the Sands The Seminar in the Sands was an applied research seminar in the desert where students and faculty interacted in an informal setting to discuss innovations in areas of food and eating habits. Before the pandemic, students and faculty planned the event and invited all students in the program to attend after classes were over. Students and faculty discussed the main topics that were taught during the semester and shared ideas about eating habits and food culture in their respective cultures. The discussion was in a traditional setting of the Arabic Majlis, however, it focussed on the future of social gatherings even before the pandemic and lockdown had started. The innovative aspect of such an activity was in changing the classroom environment from the formal classroom setting into an informal open desert setting that was familiar to students and allowed them to feel more relaxed, build trust and increase rapport with their teachers. Because teaching faculty come from 12 different nationalities, students had the opportunity to learn many cross-cultural traditions including how a barbeque is

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Fig. 29.3 The art of sustainability

done the American and Iranian style for example, and whether such gatherings and type of food is sustainable and will continue in the future. Building trust and rapport is an important part of a successful educational environment and such events helped create an atmosphere of confidence and a sense of belonging for both students and faculty who come from different cultures. An added rationale for the inclusion of this activity was the fact that students often cite a desire for ‘getting away from the classroom routine and out into the real world’ as a suggested activity in their Student Evaluations of Teaching. Figure 29.4 shows the Seminar in the Sands activities that took place.

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Fig. 29.4 Seminar in the Sands poster

Team Competitions Two competitions were developed to help students prepare for their midterm exams. The content for the competitions was based on the study guides and materials provided for student review. Using their mobile phones, students went to the Innovation Space and first had the choice to form their own teams as they played a Kahoot Challenge (https://kahoot.it/). The teacher displayed the questions and monitored the game. The second collaborative game was run on Quizlet Live. Students entered the Quizlet Live site (https://quizlet.com/features/live) and teams were randomly created. As such, students had to meet new team members and learn quickly to collaborate effectively with new team members. The Kahoot Challenge is shown in Fig. 29.5 and Quizlet Live is displayed in Fig. 29.6. The provision of incentives are an important element of competitive and gamified learning. Therefore, students received awards for the top three winners as announced in the Kahoot Challenge and Quizlet Live. The incentives were based on what the General Studies Division had access to offer. So, it included a gift voucher, a free 3D fabrication course, and a virtual reality simulation session at the Innovation Space. Figure 29.7 shows the gift certificates that were created for this purpose.

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Fig. 29.5 Collaborative team competition using Kahoot Challenge

Fig. 29.6 Collaborative team competition using Quizlet Live

Fig. 29.7 Incentives

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Fig. 29.8 Life on mars virtual reality discussions Padlet QR code

Virtual Reality Discussion Another innovative activity that the students engaged in was a virtual reality discussion. Students watched a virtual reality simulation in the Innovation Space and used the virtual reality goggles. In small groups and based on their majors, they discussed the topic of life on Mars from the sustainable aspect, mathematics, and the country’s vision. The UAE has done tremendous work on space exploration to Mars having sent the Hope Probe to the Mars Orbit in February 2021. This amazing initiative is an important source of pride and inspiration for local Emirati students to understand. Discussion questions were based on the perspective of the class attending: sustainability, mathematics, and life and study skills (Fig. 29.8). Ideas were collected on a Padlet board for display https://padlet.com/lanahiasat2/ r35cdwh3mvf7.

Campus of the Future Competition The final activity described in this chapter took place as part of the students’ Life and Study Skills course. One of the objectives of this course was for students to apply future thinking strategies to create 3D models of what smart learning looks like to them and what a campus of the future should be. Some of the basic tenets of the competition was that students believed that the learning environment of the future should include virtual reality technology, different zones for learning tasks, and the use of technology for how they feel during certain activities. Students discussed how smart gloves that monitor their heart rate as an indication of how they feel could help educators in designing activities that would engage and be less stressful for the student (Fig. 29.9).

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Fig. 29.9 Smart learning

Future Initiatives: Next Steps in Innovative Practice International Collaborations and Fieldtrips The General Studies Division has set a number of future innovative educational initiatives for the coming academic year. Many of these initiatives were conceptualized pre-pandemic. Collaboration among and between teachers and students from other institutions figures prominently on this list. As such, we plan to organize an international exchange of best practice in innovation with a sister institution either in a live format or online depending on pandemic constraints. Our target for this next year is an online teacher-to-teacher exchange whereby faculty from our department travel virtually or in person (Covid constraints permitting) to another institution to share what we do with our students and learn about what their faculty do with their students. We hope that we will eventually be able to organize an international teacher–student collaborative event in the future. Fieldtrips are a type of experiential learning that gets students away from the traditional classroom setting and into a new mode of learning. A review of the literature on fieldtrips reveals that they are one of the most

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beneficial activities teachers can organize for their students as we learn by doing and remember what we have personally experienced (Coombe & Cedro, 2015). Additional advantages associated with student fieldtrips are that students get an educational experience that they never could have had in the classroom. Students also interact with what they are learning thereby enriching and expanding the curriculum. A final and perhaps most important advantage of international fieldtrips is that they help expand students’ horizons and increase their intercultural competence and intelligence (Coombe & Cedro, 2015).

Events that Break the Classroom Routine Due to the success of the Seminar in the Sands, we plan to organize more events that get our students outside the classroom to change their routine and expose them to experiential learning through innovative practice. Field trips to Dubai’s Museum of the Future as well as the Expo 2020 pavilions are planned for students studying in the Life and Future skills course and Sustainability classes. These events will be linked to core General Studies courses and will include innovative tasks and activities as part of their student engagement. A Seminar at Sea is already in the works where we plan to go out on the water for a day! A wish list activity of our department would be a week-long cruise with our students and faculty to serve as chaperones. Of course, this activity would require a lot of administrative and financial support as well as a drastic change in travel post-pandemic.

Interdisciplinary Collaborations A final activity for the coming academic year is two-year interdisciplinary projects on researching our students’ emotional intelligence skills and offering them interventions on how to acquire or increase the skills they are found to be lacking and teacher research literacy education. Elements of gamification and innovation will be built into the intervention phase of this project.

Conclusion It is clear not only from the activities featured in this chapter, but also from the literature cited, that innovation in English language teaching and learning in the UAE is alive and well in the region and is happening in virtually all levels of English language education from primary school to university to adult education sectors. It is the wish of the authors to share their attempts at innovation in the hopes that their activities will add to the knowledge base in the field of innovation in the UAE.

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References Alexander, C. (2017). What Innovation Really Means (And What It Doesn’t). Retrieved from https:// medium.com/the-mission/changing-the-way-we-think-about-innovation-6c6bb5eb4c0d. Alshahrani, K. & Ally, M. (2017). Transforming education in the Gulf Region: Emerging learning technologies and innovative pedagogy for the 21st century. London and New York: Routledge & Taylor & Francis. Bonk, C., & Graham, C. (2006). The handbook of blended learning. Pfeiffer. Brewer, D., & Tierney, W. (2012). Barriers to Innovation in US Education, In R. Wildavsky, A. Kelly, K. Carey, (Eds.), Reinventing higher education: The promise of innovation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. Coombe, C., & Cedro, K. (2015). Organizing and carrying out international educational fieldtrips. Perspectives, 23(3), 25–27. ISSN 1813-1913. Coombe, C., Reinders, H., Littlejohn, A., & Tafazoli, D. (2019). Innovation in language teaching and learning: The case of the middle East and North Africa. In H. Reinders, C. Coombe, A. Littlejohn, & D. Tafazoli (Eds.), Innovation in language teaching and learning: The case of the MENA (pp. 1–18). Palgrave Macmillan. Darasawang, P., Reinders, H., & Waters, A. (2015). Innovation in language teaching and learning: The Thai context. In P. Darasawang, & H. Reinders (Eds.), Innovation in language learning and teaching: The case of Thailand. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Huang, W.H.-Y., & Soman, D. (2013). A practitioner’s guide to Gamification of education. University of Toronto Rotman School of Management. Motteram, G. (2013). Innovation in learning technologies for English language teaching. London, UK: British Council. O’Brien, M. (2013). Innovation: The most important and overused word in America, Retrieved December 2, 2018, from https://www.wired.com/insights/2013/11/innovation-the-most-import ant-and-overused-word-in-america/. O’Sullivan, D., & Dooley, L. (2009). Defining innovation. In Applying innovation (pp. 3–32). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452274898.n1. Paniagua, A. (2018, February 8). Innovation in everyday teaching: No more waiting for Superman, Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2018/ 02/08/innovation-in-everyday-teaching-no-more-waiting-for-superman/. “Raising the Standard of Education”. (2018). Government.ae: The official portal of the UAE government. Retrieved from https://government.ae/en/about-the-uae/leaving-no-one-behind/4qualitye ducation/raising-the-standard-of-education. Serdyukov, P. (2017). Innovation in education: What works, what doesn’t, and what to do about it? Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching and Learning, 10(1), 4–33. Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE). (2018). Ottawa, CA: STLHE. Retrieved from https://www.stlhe.ca/awards/d2l-innovation-award/innovation-in-teaching-andlearning/. UAE National Innovation Strategy. (2015). Prime Ministers Office at the UAE Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, United Arab Emirates. UAE Vision. (2021). Retrieved June 10, 2019, from https://www.vision2021.ae/en. Vieluf, S., Kaplan, D., Klieme, E., & Bayer, S. (2012). Teaching practices and pedagogical innovation: Evidence from TALIS. OECD.

Christine Coombe has a Ph.D in Foreign/Second Language Education from The Ohio State University. She is currently an Associate Professor of General Studies at Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai Men’s Campus. Christine has over 50 books in various topics in TESOL/ELT. Dr Coombe serves as the editor of the SCOPUS-indexed Q1 Brief Reports section of the Asia TEFL Journal (2016 to present). Christine has lived and worked in the Gulf for the past 28 years.

29 Innovations in English Language Teaching and General Studies Education

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She served on the TESOL Board of Directors as Convention Chair for Tampa 2006. Christine served as TESOL President (2011–2012). Christine’s recent honors include the British Council’s International Assessment Award (2013), being named to TESOL’s 50@50 which “recognizes professionals who have made significant contributions to the TESOL profession within the past 50 years;” and receiving the 2018 James E. Alatis Award which recognizes exemplary service to TESOL. Her most recent honor was being named to the US Department of State’s 30@30 English language specialists in 2021. This list recognizes English Language Specialists who have made an impact on the teaching and training of English language teachers around the world in the last 30 years. Lana Hiasat has a doctoral degree in educational leadership with a specialization in educational technology. She is currently the Program Team Leader of the General Studies department at Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai Men’s Campus in addition to being Senior Lecturer. Lana is a Senior Fellow HEA (SFHEA) and certified in Future Foresight, intercultural intelligence, emotional intelligence, and Kaizen Creativity. Lana has published in the areas of future foresight, emotional intelligence, smart learning, blended learning, educational leadership, intercultural intelligence, and online teaching and learning. Lana has served as the co-chair for several international conferences. She is a member of the Social Science Curriculum Development team, a taskforce to develop the national social sciences curriculum in the UAE and has developed a certified leadership course on emotional intelligence for educational leaders. She is a proud Toastmasters communicator and leader.

Author Index

A Abuquad, Kamal, 129 Ali, Ghada, 111 Assali, Mouna Abou, 223 Azeem, Mazhar, 207

B Brandon, Corey, 321 Buchanan, Jaime, 305

C Coombe, Christine, 399, 467

D Daleure, Georgia, 129, 207, 321 Dammak, Abderrazak, 75 Davidson, Peter, 399 Desai, Shifa, 59 Devitt, Patrick, 3

Hosani Al, Suhaila, 129 Hunt, Neil, 251

J Jaafarawi, Nadine, 433 Jamal, Huda, 45

K Kamal, Shabana, 287 Karaki, Suha, 445 Knott, David, 95

L Lotter, Corne, 241

G Gobert, Melanie, 349

M Mawer, Luke, 193 McLaughlin, James, 145 Michell, Colin, 367 Midraj, Jessica, 419 Midraj, Sadiq, 419 Minhas, Wasif, 321 Mohebi, Laila, 445 Myers, Tony, 305

H Hanfy, Hisham, 129, 321 Hiasat, Lana, 111, 467

N Nickerson, Catherine, 31 Nikolayeva, Larysa, 177

F Fahnestock, Nancy, 241

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1

485

486 P Papadopoulos, Panagiotis, 241 Peel, Richard, 3 Piric Mesic, Alma, 17

Q Quirke, Phil, 267

S Saba, Jessica, 161 Solovieva, Nadia, 321

Author Index T Thornquist, Erik, 385 Troudi, Salah, 223

W White, Timothy, 321 Wiens, Beth, 445

Z Zammel, Gillian, 17

Subject Index

A Academic reading, 18, 25, 152, 153, 157, 242–244, 246, 247, 287, 288, 290, 292–294, 296, 299, 300, 326, 331, 339, 367, 368, 370, 374, 375, 377, 381, 382 Academic reading difficulties, 287, 288, 292, 293, 296 Accreditation, 114, 116, 122, 322, 323, 355, 419–430 Al Jalila Foundation, 445–448, 453, 456, 458 Appraisal, 66, 269, 271, 278, 281 Arab English language learners, 287, 289, 290, 295, 298, 299, 300 Asynchronous classes, 112 Attitudes, 61–63, 77, 95, 98, 133, 134, 148, 161–165, 167–169, 171–175, 189, 194–196, 198, 202–204, 230, 235–237, 251, 263, 280, 290, 295, 296, 299, 311–314, 325, 326, 389, 391, 413, 448

B Bilingual, 31, 45–49, 51, 53–56, 60, 62, 65–67, 69, 262, 429, 456 Blended learning, 20, 26, 111–115, 124, 208, 321, 324, 326, 329, 341, 344, 349, 350, 354, 355, 361, 411, 470, 472 Blogs, 63, 161–175, 436

C Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), 419–427 Common Educational Proficiency Assessment (CEPA), 61, 64 Children and Heroes, 45, 46, 48, 49, 51, 53, 54, 56 Classroom assessment, 399, 404, 406, 409, 413 Concordance, 367, 368, 375, 381 Corpus, 63, 368, 372–375, 377, 380–382 Course standardization, 322, 326–329, 340, 341 Critical language testing, 76 Critical thinking, 3, 4, 8, 10–12, 17, 24, 40, 130, 131, 133–135, 137, 141, 142, 166, 174, 181, 238, 290, 291, 341, 344, 437 Cross-cultural, 95, 106, 257, 429, 475 Cross-listed Courses, 326–329, 340, 351–355, 364 Curriculum development, 129, 130, 132, 133, 268, 283 Curriculum renewal, xv, xvi

D Discourse, 32, 34, 35, 37, 39–41, 53, 54, 146, 252–255, 260, 262–264, 273, 310, 373, 377, 392, 425

E Education, 3–5, 7, 17, 18, 24, 25, 27, 31, 32, 41, 45–48, 51, 54–56, 59–69, 76,

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 C. Coombe et al. (eds.), English Language and General Studies Education in the United Arab Emirates, English Language Teaching: Theory, Research and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8888-1

487

488 78, 95, 97, 98, 111–116, 120, 122, 124–127, 130–134, 145, 147, 155, 161–166, 170, 171, 175, 193–197, 199, 203, 207–209, 211, 217, 223–227, 229, 231–233, 236, 238, 241, 243, 248, 249, 251, 252, 254, 260, 261, 267, 279, 282, 283, 288, 290, 291, 293, 300, 305–307, 309, 310, 314, 316, 317, 321–324, 326, 327, 329, 330, 340, 342, 349–353, 355, 357, 364, 369, 377, 419–424, 427–429, 433, 434, 436, 445–450, 455–459, 467–473, 481 Educational technology, 59, 118, 121, 324, 439, 440, 470 Emiratization, 7, 428 Emotional experience, 223, 224, 226–229, 232, 233, 236, 238 English as medium of instruction, 60, 68, 96, 207–209, 211 English Language, 4, 18, 31, 41, 45, 47, 51, 55, 59–64, 66–68, 79, 80, 95, 97, 161, 174, 209, 216, 218, 219, 225, 226, 234, 237, 251, 252, 254, 255, 260, 261, 272, 287–292, 294, 297, 300, 322, 369, 373, 419–421, 428, 467, 470, 472, 481 English Language Learning (ELL), 47, 62, 392, 419–421, 423–430 English language teaching, 59, 66, 67, 196, 251, 421, 467, 470, 481 ESP, 385 Expatriate teachers, 60, 62, 65, 66, 96, 97, 101, 102, 104, 106, 107, 211, 470

F Face-to-face learning, 350, 355 Feedback literacy, 305–309, 311–314, 316 Flipped learning, 112, 113, 350, 355, 361 Future foresight, xxv Future studies, 18, 19, 174, 353, 356, 358, 360, 361, 364, 381

G Gamification blended learning, 472 Gender differences, 113, 241, 242, 248 General/liberal studies, 3, 7 General studies, 3, 4, 7, 10, 11, 13, 18, 22, 25, 26, 28, 111–113, 117, 118, 132, 156, 193, 196–199, 209, 241–243, 248, 272, 274, 321, 322, 349, 350,

Subject Index 352, 356, 385, 388, 390, 393, 467, 472–475, 477, 480, 481 General studies education, 350, 467, 472 Genre pedagogy, 305, 309–312, 315, 316

H Higher education, 4, 5, 18, 27, 59–66, 68, 111–116, 122, 124–127, 131, 145, 147, 161–165, 171, 193, 203, 211, 241, 248, 249, 288, 305–307, 309, 316, 349, 355, 357, 369, 377, 420, 421, 434, 468, 471 His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 446 Hybrid flipped online class, 321

I Independent learning, 145, 152, 153, 155, 156, 291, 296, 309, 325, 328, 350, 357 Initiative, 9, 13, 17, 38, 60, 62, 224, 226, 269, 297–299, 441, 445–448, 454, 455, 471, 479, 480 International English Language Testing System (IELTS), 4, 60, 61, 64, 66–68, 163, 209, 210, 292, 297, 340, 367–371, 374, 375, 377, 379–382, 426 Innovation, 9, 13, 38, 46, 202, 225, 269, 351, 420, 434, 436, 437, 467–473, 475, 477, 479–481 Interpretation, 54, 56, 67, 79, 82, 96–98, 138, 169, 255, 274, 276, 288, 310, 389, 414, 423 IPads, 60, 62, 63, 216, 218, 219, 322, 324, 470

K Knowledge, 3, 8–11, 13, 17–19, 25, 27, 32–34, 39, 41, 48, 51, 56, 61, 63, 65, 67–69, 77, 81, 97, 98, 104, 118, 119, 121, 125, 130–132, 135, 137, 138, 147, 148, 156, 161, 166, 167, 177, 180–182, 184, 194, 195, 211, 223–226, 233, 235–237, 247, 254, 258, 260, 262, 268, 271–274, 276, 277, 279–282, 288, 289, 291–296, 298–300, 306–310, 313, 315, 317, 351, 371, 385, 388–390, 392, 411, 412, 414, 419, 421, 423–428, 439,

Subject Index 441–443, 446, 447, 448, 456, 457, 468, 469, 471, 481 Knowledge economy, 68, 69, 130, 131

L Language learner motivations, 62 Language policies, 60, 404 Language skills, 4, 18, 31, 48, 62, 161, 174, 177, 223, 226, 288, 435, 443, 447 Leadership, 9, 11, 13, 97, 267, 268, 270–273, 279–282, 425, 457, 471 Learning Management System Standardization, 326 Learning-Oriented Assessment (LOA), 399, 400, 403–408, 412–416 Lifelong learners, 17

M Massive Open Online Course (MOOCS), 351, 352, 411 Mentoring, 155, 280, 445, 447, 448, 450–454, 457

N Non-native language, 130, 137, 207, 208, 210–212, 220

O Online, 11, 26, 27, 40, 111–127, 156, 163, 165, 166, 170–173, 179, 180, 182, 197, 198, 203, 204, 208, 241–249, 258, 267, 272, 321–331, 339–342, 349–351, 354–358, 361, 363, 364, 368, 389–391, 409, 411, 427, 433–443, 449, 450, 455, 472, 473, 480 Online educational tools, 433–442 Online learning, 26, 111, 112, 114–117, 123, 124, 126, 127, 203, 242, 244, 247–249, 323–327, 341, 349, 350, 355, 358, 361, 363, 411, 443

P Pandemic, 26, 27, 111, 114, 115, 124, 125, 127, 241, 249, 321, 324, 342, 349, 363, 364, 447, 449, 455, 475, 480 People of Determination (POD), 445–447, 456

489 Portfolio, 125, 225, 269, 271, 281, 401, 403, 407, 445, 447–463 Pre-service teachers, 223 Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), 445, 447, 448, 454, 455, 457

Q Qualitative research, 78, 80, 169, 267

R Reader response, 179, 181, 189 Reading, 8, 12, 18, 25, 26, 45, 48–50, 56, 63, 64, 81, 87, 105, 113, 147, 152, 153, 155, 157, 164, 172, 174, 175, 177–189, 209, 210, 242, 243, 244, 246, 247, 256, 267, 272, 275, 280–282, 287–300, 315, 326, 331, 339, 358, 367–372, 374, 375, 377, 380–382, 387, 389, 391, 396, 409, 441, 460, 471, 473 Reading challenges in the UAE, 287, 300 Reflection, 40, 63, 87, 98, 111, 117–121, 226, 257, 267–269, 272, 274–282, 388, 394, 409, 422, 424, 439–443 Research, 9, 10, 12, 18, 25, 27, 31–35, 40, 41, 45, 46, 59–69, 76, 78–82, 95–99, 107, 111, 118, 120, 126, 135, 145, 147–149, 156, 162, 163, 165, 167–170, 174, 177, 178, 180, 182, 184, 188, 189, 193–199, 202, 211–214, 219, 224–228, 236–238, 241–245, 247–249, 253–256, 267–271, 274, 277, 279, 280, 283, 289, 290, 292, 298, 305, 306, 310–315, 322–325, 331, 339–341, 352, 353, 367, 368, 371–374, 378, 379, 387–389, 392, 395, 400, 407, 409, 415, 421–423, 426, 429, 433–435, 437, 438, 442, 446, 459, 471, 475, 481

S Semi-structured interviews, 75, 80, 95, 98, 149, 167, 287, 292 Soft skills, 3, 4, 7–11, 13, 325 State schools, 68, 95, 98, 106, 311 Strategic foresight, 19, 322, 353, 356, 358, 361, 364 Student engagement, 123, 208, 210, 211–215, 220, 315, 358, 472, 473, 481

490 Student perceptions, 68, 214, 312, 314, 325 Student performance, 241–243, 247–249, 326, 352, 361, 439 Synchronous classes, 112 Synchronous learning, 350

T Ta’alouf, 445–448, 454–456 Task-based learning and teaching, 358, 433–435, 438, 439, 440 Teacher cognition, 107 Teacher education, 195, 223, 224, 226, 227, 232, 236, 238, 267, 283, 419–423, 427–429 Teacher Identities, 254 Teachers’ participation, 75–79, 83, 86, 88 Teachers’ satisfaction, 75, 76, 85 Teaching practicum, 233 Technical writing, 385–387, 389–394 Technology acceptance, 196, 199 Tertiary education, 5, 18, 24, 25, 115, 197, 199, 207, 225, 238, 279, 300, 309, 317, 323, 324, 340, 352 TESOL Standards, 419, 423–430 Text adaptation, 177, 181, 188, 189 TPACK, ESL, 433, 439, 440 Transferable skills, 17

Subject Index U UAE higher education, 65 UAE national unemployment, 4 UAE tertiary education, 323 Undergraduate learning, 31 Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), 193, 194, 196, 197, 199, 202, 203 United Arab Emirates (UAE), 3–6, 8, 11–13, 17–21, 31, 32, 34–37, 39, 41, 45–49, 51, 53–56, 59–69, 78, 95–98, 105–107, 111, 112, 114–116, 122, 127, 129–131, 133–135, 145–147, 161–163, 168, 193, 197, 199, 207–209, 211, 212, 223, 224, 226, 232, 238, 241–243, 247–249, 251, 254, 256, 257, 259, 261–264, 287–289, 291, 292, 298, 300, 321, 323–325, 328, 342, 349, 350, 352, 355, 364, 387, 399, 403, 413, 420, 421, 426–430, 433, 440, 445–447, 455–457, 459, 467, 470–472, 479, 481

W Wordlist, 367, 371–373, 375, 377, 381 Writing skills, 152, 153, 161–163, 165, 167, 169, 170, 171, 173–175, 209, 255, 313