AGU Forum on Language and Education 2020

Mahmoud Sultan is a lecturer at the City University College of Ajman.  He has an MED in TESOL from the British University in Dubai. Mahmoud has served as a president of the TESOL Arabia Toastmaster Club and a VP of the Professional Toastmaster Club.

Mohammed Nour Abu Guba completed his PhD studies in phonology at Salford University, United Kingdom. He has been teaching English at different levels for more than 20 years. His main research interests are phonology and phonetics especially the phonology of the Holy Quran.

Wahida Dastakeer has over 20 years of teaching experience. She has been teaching a consortium of programs and courses at the Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab Emirates. Ms. Dastakeer is the recipient of the “Flipped Classroom” award and the “Green award” by the HCT-Dubai colleges.

Hala El Miniawi holds a B.A. in English Literature, an M.A. in Language Teaching, and a PhD in HR Sustainable Development in Third World Countries. Currently, Dr. El Miniawi works as General Consultant at the Octagon Consultancy Group Dubai.

This presentation argues that carefully reading and examining the Literature Review (LR) sections in research papers published in academic peer-reviewed journals warrants learning from others’ practices. Hence, it presents the researcher’s practical teaching guidelines on how to use already published LR sections in helping tertiary level students learn about and acquire the academic writing conventions of LRs. The presentation will begin with a general discussion of the features of academic writing, explaining how these are embedded in the LR sections. Next, the presenter will introduce the steps for sensitizing students to these features and their pragmatic uses. Adopting such strategies has brought about good understandings of the function of the LR, its contents, structure, and linguistic features. Moreover, it has enabled students to produce informative LR sections for their academic research projects.

Learning figurative language in general and idioms in particular has always been a challenge to foreign language learners. Idiomatic competence constitutes an essential component of foreign language learners’ communicative competence. Unlike the other types of competences, idiomatic competence has not been accorded adequate attention in second language acquisition research. This study investigates the extent to which Arab learners of English, at the tertiary level, can recognize and use English idioms in culturally appropriate contexts. A specially designed test consisting of four elicitation tasks was used to evaluate the competence of Arab learners of English in recognizing and using Idioms. The subjects of the study were 100 students, including 50 English majors and 50 non-English majors. The analysis of the subjects’ responses reveals that their idiomatic competence is deficient and below expectations at the levels of recognition and production.

Teachers as controllers and disseminators of knowledge need to involve their students in their learning. This involvement could take many forms depending on the goals of the community, the school, the course and the teacher. Above all, it is also dependent on what the students want to gain out of their learning experiences for the present and for the future. Students are not peripheral receivers of knowledge anymore; they need to be part of their education and learning experiences. One way to develop students’ learning experiences is to use critical thinking as a tool to internalize and properly utilize the information to which they are being exposed. During this presentation, the presenter will explain what critical thinking is, highlighting Marzano’s five dimensions of learning. The presentation will conclude with a number of implications for teachers to consider while applying Marzano’s Model.

Positive feedback can enable language learners to become motivated and enthusiastic. To provide positive feedback, teachers need to convey the message wisely and effectively. The presenter will discuss a number of tips and strategies as to how feedback can be effectively implemented and utilized in the English classroom.

Teaching writing to ESL students has always been a challenge for language instructors. Students struggle with structure, form and vocabulary while writing which normally leads to demotivation. This presentation aims to highlight the tremendous potential of google docs for teaching writing. Google docs can be a very useful tool to teach writing in various genres. The presenter will discuss why and how to utilize google docs for teaching and learning purposes. The audience will be given hands-on experience in using google docs, so that they can use them in their classes with confidence and tenacity.

Methods and approaches continue to play a key role in shaping our approach to second/foreign language teaching and learning, in particular to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). This speech will identify the three main types of methods and approaches to TESOL (structural, functional, and combined structural-functional), illustrate their classroom pedagogy, and discuss their underlying theoretical principles. It will be argued that the combined structural-functional approaches that have appeared in the last three decades, in particular cooperative language learning (CLL), project-based teaching (PBT), and task-based language teaching (TBLT), show clear progression towards alignment with effective and principled language pedagogy. The most prominent of these is the TBLT approach. Nevertheless, several contextual challenges and constraints face the full implementation and utilization of TBLT. By way of exemplification, the speech will illustrate an adaptation of the TBLT approach that speaks to the needs and demands of the specific context of TESOL, the ultimate aim being to empower teachers and enable them to take the right decision that suits their learners and their specific teaching situation.

Vowel reduction, especially to schwa, is a key characteristic of the English stress-timed rhythm, which poses one of the most challenging difficulties to Arab learners of English leading to adverse effects on intelligibility, comprehensibility and accentedness. This study aimed at accounting for the acquisition of English schwa by Levantine learners. Data were elicited through reading a story by two groups of Levantine learners (n=20) with different levels in English (advanced and elementary) besides a control group (n= 5) of English native speakers. Potential schwas were analysed acoustically using PRAAT software. Results showed that not all potential schwas were produced correctly; the majority were produced as full vowels. Moreover, the schwas produced by the Levantine learners were significantly different from those produced by the English native speakers in terms of duration, intensity, fundamental frequency and quality (first and second formants). There were statistically significant differences in performance between the native and non-native speakers, however, there were no significant differences between the two groups of Levantine learners; an indication that the learners were not aware of the peculiarities of English schwa. The presenter will discuss the reasons behind this performance and conclude with a number of pedagogical implications and recommendations for teaching English vowel reduction.

This qualitative study investigates how the use of Virtual Reality Literacy (VRL) contributes to creating virtual agent story re-tellers. The study seeks to fathom the differences of retelling volume and reactions through exposing a number of fourth graders to two modes of visual literacy representation of the same content. To achieve the intended aim, different reading strategies such as Retelling, Gist Recalling, and Elaboration are employed.

This presentation will quote reports by Dubai Knowledge Summit 2019, and a study by Oxford University on the status quo of 20th century skill gaps that need urgent attention in order to meet the real needs of the labor market in the twenty-first century in general, and the English teaching profession in particular. The presentation will shed light on the future needs of teaching English globally and regionally in an attempt to answer three questions. Firstly, what skills need to be highlighted in the language classroom? Secondly, what new skills need to be introduced? Thirdly, how will the role(s) of the English language teacher change?

Employing differentiated instruction strategies is a key pillar of quality teaching. It guarantees effective teaching via means of diversifying teaching and learning processes whilst responding to students’ learning styles and catering to their needs. This presentation examines the implementation of differentiated teaching and learning strategies in order to enable educationalists to ensure teaching effectiveness.

This presentation highlights a new methodology which promotes the field of edutainment where education and entertainment meet. It shows ways of involving students and maximizing their self-reflection and interaction. Finally, results of students’ surveys and testimonies which indicate the superiority of such teaching and learning methodology will be presented.

Defining your Personal Brand with Clarity has never been more important than it is today, as it enables you not only to define your personal brand thoroughly but also to communicate effectively. Using a storytelling and guided learning approach, the presenter will lead you on a journey to perceive with clarity, your unique and special BrandYOU.

This presentation offers a model of effective utilization of technology within English language teaching, learning and assessment contexts. The model is based on a lingua skill case study which the presenter conducted whilst focusing on language teaching, learning and assessment. The presenter will conclude with recommendations for English language researchers and instructors to consider.

A learning environment is a category of educational software where the learner`s task is not to answer a predefined series of questions, but to explore a complex world with the assistance of computational agents. This presentation delineates current educational technology in terms of potentials, expectations, and challenges, relating the discussion to UAE educational contexts and beyond.

The presenter will pinpoint the importance of being exposed to a variety of feedback resources such as professional teaching associations. The presenter will also demonstrate different types of class observations, feedback and intervention, depicting when the observer should resort to a certain type of intervention. Additionally, the ethics of class observation and how it should be conducted will be highlighted during the presentation.

This presentation explores the research surrounding why classroom management is sometimes difficult to achieve and why past techniques no longer work with modern-day students. The presenters will look at the causes of classroom management issues and some ways to overcome them. Techniques, strategies, and interventions that work with teachers in the Gulf and beyond will also be shared with the audience. 

This presentation will demonstrate how students can download a free, easy mobile app and create a profound “I Am” multimodal video poem comprising voice synced with text, music, photos and video clips. Using poetic devices, students integrate core language skills with digital literacy and self-discovery through this project.  After synthesizing the benefits of poetry to language learning and the value of identity poems to self-expression, the presenters will explain step by step how students compose and then upload their poem digitally via the mobile app. Actual poem sheets and video poems from a class project in Kuwait will be presented to illustrate the project’s results. Instructional handouts, a project rubric, and a peer participation sheet will be distributed. Participants will depart inspired to try this multimodal video poem project with their students and equipped with the know-how to do so.

This presentation deals with how to teach IELTS effectively. With quality education in mind, a number of IELTS tips and techniques will be presented and discussed during the presentation.