Sultan Qaboos University
Language Centre
Forum
Spring 2016
Prepared by:
Ali Salim Al-Zefeiti
Faisal Said Al-Maamari
Gennady Medvedev
Victoria Tuzlokova
Cover Design
Mohammed Al-Saidi
Copyright – Sultan Qaboos University i

Sultan Qaboos University
Language Centre
Forum
Spring 2016
Prepared by:
Ali Salim Al-Zefeiti
Faisal Said Al-Maamari
Gennady Medvedev
Victoria Tuzlokova
Cover Design
Mohammed Al-Saidi
Copyright – Sultan Qaboos University i ii

Introducing the Issue ............................................................................................................................... 1
Technophobe Not Technophile ............................................................................................................... 3
Christine Eltayeb
How can we evaluate the effectiveness of ICT resources in maximising student learning in
Oman?
.................................................................................................................................................. 12
Christopher Terry
Muscat International School
Virtual Realia for Effective Teaching ................................................................................................... 19
Don Anton Robles Balida
Oman Tourism College
Enhancing Learner Autonomy through Mobile Assisted Language Learning ..................................... 35
K. Thomas Baby
Bharata Mata College
Technology and the English Language Classroom ............................................................................... 44
Kalyana Chakravarthi Thirunagari
Shinas College of Technology
Multimedia Language Labs for Learner Motivation ............................................................................. 57
Padmini Ivaturi
Salalah College of Technology
Representation, Crisis of Representation, and Legitimation ................................................................. 63
Dr. Zainab Jabur
Sultan Qaboos University
The Use of Office Hours in the English Foundation Program: Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions . 73
Wafa Al Dhahli & Jokha Al Hosni
Sultan Qaboos University
Book Review: Is language an Instinct ................................................................................................... 82
Dr. Rashid Al-Belushi
Sultan Qaboos University iii

Introducing the Issue ............................................................................................................................... 1
Technophobe Not Technophile ............................................................................................................... 3
Christine Eltayeb
How can we evaluate the effectiveness of ICT resources in maximising student learning in
Oman?
.................................................................................................................................................. 12
Christopher Terry
Muscat International School
Virtual Realia for Effective Teaching ................................................................................................... 19
Don Anton Robles Balida
Oman Tourism College
Enhancing Learner Autonomy through Mobile Assisted Language Learning ..................................... 35
K. Thomas Baby
Bharata Mata College
Technology and the English Language Classroom ............................................................................... 44
Kalyana Chakravarthi Thirunagari
Shinas College of Technology
Multimedia Language Labs for Learner Motivation ............................................................................. 57
Padmini Ivaturi
Salalah College of Technology
Representation, Crisis of Representation, and Legitimation ................................................................. 63
Dr. Zainab Jabur
Sultan Qaboos University
The Use of Office Hours in the English Foundation Program: Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions . 73
Wafa Al Dhahli & Jokha Al Hosni
Sultan Qaboos University
Book Review: Is language an Instinct ................................................................................................... 82
Dr. Rashid Al-Belushi
Sultan Qaboos University iii
The LC Forum Spring 2016 issue is pleased to present to you quality research papers from professional language teaching specialists here in Oman and outside. This issue is published at the same time of the Oman International ELT conference organised by the Language
Centre at Sultan Qaboos University. We would like to wish you interesting and useful reading and would like to encourage you to send us your contributions for the next issues.
Please visit our website on the Language Centre, Sultan Qaboos University webpage and learn more about submission guidelines. This issue features and number of articles on different matters related to ELT and a book review.
In her paper titled “Technophobe not Technophile”, Christine Eltayeb reflects on her selfperceived competence, feelings and experiences in using computer and internet technology in the classroom and for work-related matters. She also takes attention of the readers to issues related to teaching English that are situated in a technology-supported classroom at the
Language Centre of Sultan Qaboos University, and emphasizes the benefits of technology as a teaching and learning aid.
The topic of evaluating the effectiveness of information and communication resources is investigated in a study by Christopher Terry that uses Hattie's (1992) ground breaking study as a starting point and then expands into other ways in which technology might be considered to be effective in education in the Sultanate of Oman. Terry provides valuable practical examples to interpret the role of technology in maximizing student learning.
The paper by Don Anton Robles Balida , “Virtual Realia for Effective Teaching”, addresses the relatively researched notion of virtual realia in the context of language teaching and learning in Oman. It includes some effective classroom activities and sample digitized realia.
K. Thomas Baby in his paper “Enhancing Learner Autonomy through Mobile Assisted
L anguage Learning” investigates the educational potential enabled by mobile applications. In particular, the author focuses on the use of mobile applications in the project component of the English Foundation Language Program courses implemented in Oman’s m edical colleges by the Ministry of Health. The data he gathered reveals that mobile applications can be effectively employed; however, teachers and education policy-makers should be aware of psychological, physical, social and pedagogical issues involved in successful implementation of mobile learning.
The very practical paper by Kalyana Chakravarthi Thirunagari takes technology and the
English language classroom as the focus of examination. The author examines some on-line and offline class-room activities and experimental tasks that can be effectively used in
English language teaching at both Foundation and Post-Foundation levels with the emphasis on two productive skills - writing and speaking.
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“Multimedia Language Labs for Learner Motivation” is the titl e of the paper by Padmini
Ivaturi. The author examines multimedia language labs and describes them as effective tools that are supportive of accomplishing learning objectives and can accommodate individual learning needs He also elaborates on how multimedia language labs can effectively engage students in learning.
The paper by Dr Zainab Jabur explains Representation, Crisis of Representation, and
Legitimation as nonfoundational key concepts. The focus is on Representation and its crisis.
Legitimation is discussed as to how it is linked to representation but the main focus is to explore the representation concept in depth. This paper explains how representation is defined, its crisis and the related ethical issues. It looks at the relationship between representation and ethnography, identity, perspective, and culture. It also explores some other concepts that are related to the concept of representation. The last part of the paper examines how representation is related to research in the field of Composition and TESOL.
In the article entitled “ The Use of Office Hours in the English Foundation Program:
Teac hers’ and Students’ Perceptions” Wafa al-Dhahli and Jokha al-Hosni focus on the most effective practices of utilizing office hours with the students of lower levels of language proficiency and the main challenges related to it. Their article is of a dual nature: it looks into the important elements of this out-ofclass activity from the instructor’s as we ll as the learner’s perspectives . This is especially true for the students during their initial adjustment to a new academic environment. On the one hand, teachers realize the importance of their office as an extension of their classroom. Some common approaches and meaningful practices are introduced in the article. On the other hand, foundation level students also learn to understand the concept of their teachers’ office hours , but sometimes have different perceptions. Many of them may face certain challenges and often feel reluctant to pay a visit to their instructor for a number of academic and personal reasons. When they do decide to come, such effort does pay off, and the positive effects of properly implemented office hours are numerous. The researchers do not only share their expertise as program coordinators, but also get involved in a study that allows them to draw some quantitative and qualitative conclusions. So while your students are still on the way to your office, do use some of your office time to read this article and take advantage of its findings and practical suggestions.
2

“Multimedia Language Labs for Learner Motivation” is the titl e of the paper by Padmini
Ivaturi. The author examines multimedia language labs and describes them as effective tools that are supportive of accomplishing learning objectives and can accommodate individual learning needs He also elaborates on how multimedia language labs can effectively engage students in learning.
The paper by Dr Zainab Jabur explains Representation, Crisis of Representation, and
Legitimation as nonfoundational key concepts. The focus is on Representation and its crisis.
Legitimation is discussed as to how it is linked to representation but the main focus is to explore the representation concept in depth. This paper explains how representation is defined, its crisis and the related ethical issues. It looks at the relationship between representation and ethnography, identity, perspective, and culture. It also explores some other concepts that are related to the concept of representation. The last part of the paper examines how representation is related to research in the field of Composition and TESOL.
In the article entitled “ The Use of Office Hours in the English Foundation Program:
Teac hers’ and Students’ Perceptions” Wafa al-Dhahli and Jokha al-Hosni focus on the most effective practices of utilizing office hours with the students of lower levels of language proficiency and the main challenges related to it. Their article is of a dual nature: it looks into the important elements of this out-ofclass activity from the instructor’s as we ll as the learner’s perspectives . This is especially true for the students during their initial adjustment to a new academic environment. On the one hand, teachers realize the importance of their office as an extension of their classroom. Some common approaches and meaningful practices are introduced in the article. On the other hand, foundation level students also learn to understand the concept of their teachers’ office hours , but sometimes have different perceptions. Many of them may face certain challenges and often feel reluctant to pay a visit to their instructor for a number of academic and personal reasons. When they do decide to come, such effort does pay off, and the positive effects of properly implemented office hours are numerous. The researchers do not only share their expertise as program coordinators, but also get involved in a study that allows them to draw some quantitative and qualitative conclusions. So while your students are still on the way to your office, do use some of your office time to read this article and take advantage of its findings and practical suggestions.
2
Abstract.
In this paper, the author reflects on her personal feelings and experiences in using a computer prior to having to use it for work-related matters. The author relates her personal experiences using technology in the classroom. She draws comparisons between her feelings and experiences, and those the researchers describe in the literature and notes the advice given to teachers and students who are among the prime users of technology. The author describes her experiences and looks at examples from the literature to find out why people are afraid of using technology. Many of the examples explain and address teachers’ fears, giving advice as to the kind of support available for teachers through adequate training and practice, thus enabling them to change their attitudes to using technology in the classroom. The author also describes her experiences with the students at the Language Centre at Sultan Qaboos University and discusses the importance of the student-centered approach to learning that the technology encourages. She explains why she believes that modern technology encourages and promotes student-centered learning and is more beneficial than a teachercentered approach to the students’ understanding of the content of the lesson. The author refers to examples of this approach in the literature. The author concludes her paper by emphasizing the benefits of technology as a teaching and learning aid, while maintaining that teachers will always be an important part of their students’ learning process.
Key words : technology, student-centered learning, teaching and learning aid, Sultan Qaboos
University
1. Introduction
It is quite common for people to have a fear of something. People are commonly known to be afraid of spiders, snakes, cats, the dark, heights, flying, pain, open spaces, confined spaces … the list goes on. All these fears have technical names, and even the fears that are quite rare or unusual, like ‘papyrophobia’ (the fear of paper) have a name (refer to Psychology, 2015).
It is therefore not surprising that there exists a name for people’s fear of technology, namely technophobia. The term comes from the Greek ‘techne’ meaning ‘art, skill, craft’ and
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‘phobos’ meaning ‘fear’. Technophobia is the abnormal fear of or anxiety about the effects of advanced technology (refer to Dictionary.com, 2015). However, when we talk about people’s fear of computers, smart phones and various other technology devices, we are referring to a fear of using them due to a lack of knowledge rather than a fear of the device itself. Another concept is that of ‘technophilia’ which refers in general to a strong enthusiasm for technology, especially new ones like personal computers, the Internet, smart phones and home cinema (refer to Dictionary.com, 2015). The terms ‘technophilia’ and ‘technophobia’ are two extreme concepts that refer to the relationship between technology and society. At one extreme, the technophile regards most or all technology positively, adopts new forms of technology enthusiastically and sees it as a means to improve life, whilst some may even view it as a means to combat social problems (refer to Technophilia, 2015). At the other extreme, the technophobe is someone who dislikes or is afraid of technology, is not comfortable using it and may even believe it can have harmful effects.
2. Personal experience with technology
While I am no longer completely technophobic, I certainly cannot describe myself as a technophile! I consider my abilities in using technology such as smart phones, computers and laptops to be average and adequate for my everyday life, although still quite limited! I would even go so far as to say I am computer literate, but by no means a computer wizard. When confronted with a personal computer for the first time I experienced ignorance, frustration and apprehension and I remain comforted in the knowledge that others also felt the same.
John Spencer’s (2015a) a nalysis of the stages and states of mind that people pass through as they become more accustomed to using technology makes good sense to me, as someone who has slowly but surely entered the vast world of technology. Spencer (2015a; 2015b) aptly labels and describes the stages and attitudes that go hand-inhand throughout the ‘technology journey’. As I read his analysis, I immediately recognized some of the feelings and attitudes I had when faced with learning how to use modern technology. For example, he mentions resistance as the first stage along with an antagonistic attitude. I certainly tried to resist using the technology, but my attitude was one of reluctance rather than antagonism. I believe my reluctance towards using the technology stemmed from being intimidated by the technology rather than antagonistic towards it. However, it was reassuring to me that I could recognize some of my own feelings and attitudes during my learning experiences with technology.
My ignorance about the basics of using a computer made me feel awkward and embarrassed at having to ask for help. Some people were very helpful, but others lost their patience, as it seemed so simple to them. A very helpful piece of advice, however, was to imagine that the computer is like an office with cupboards, files and folders. This made sense to me and I began to understand the purpose of the icons on the computer. My feeling of unfamiliarity with the computer meant that I did not know how to find my way around and so could not do things quickly and efficiently. I felt inadequate, as others seemed more able and more confident than I was. These feelings came to the surface again when I had to take students to the computer laboratory for some of their lessons and at first, I felt reluctant to use
4

‘phobos’ meaning ‘fear’. Technophobia is the abnormal fear of or anxiety about the effects of advanced technology (refer to Dictionary.com, 2015). However, when we talk about people’s fear of computers, smart phones and various other technology devices, we are referring to a fear of using them due to a lack of knowledge rather than a fear of the device itself. Another concept is that of ‘technophilia’ which refers in general to a strong enthusiasm for technology, especially new ones like personal computers, the Internet, smart phones and home cinema (refer to Dictionary.com, 2015). The terms ‘technophilia’ and ‘technophobia’ are two extreme concepts that refer to the relationship between technology and society. At one extreme, the technophile regards most or all technology positively, adopts new forms of technology enthusiastically and sees it as a means to improve life, whilst some may even view it as a means to combat social problems (refer to Technophilia, 2015). At the other extreme, the technophobe is someone who dislikes or is afraid of technology, is not comfortable using it and may even believe it can have harmful effects.
2. Personal experience with technology
While I am no longer completely technophobic, I certainly cannot describe myself as a technophile! I consider my abilities in using technology such as smart phones, computers and laptops to be average and adequate for my everyday life, although still quite limited! I would even go so far as to say I am computer literate, but by no means a computer wizard. When confronted with a personal computer for the first time I experienced ignorance, frustration and apprehension and I remain comforted in the knowledge that others also felt the same.
John Spencer’s (2015a) a nalysis of the stages and states of mind that people pass through as they become more accustomed to using technology makes good sense to me, as someone who has slowly but surely entered the vast world of technology. Spencer (2015a; 2015b) aptly labels and describes the stages and attitudes that go hand-inhand throughout the ‘technology journey’. As I read his analysis, I immediately recognized some of the feelings and attitudes I had when faced with learning how to use modern technology. For example, he mentions resistance as the first stage along with an antagonistic attitude. I certainly tried to resist using the technology, but my attitude was one of reluctance rather than antagonism. I believe my reluctance towards using the technology stemmed from being intimidated by the technology rather than antagonistic towards it. However, it was reassuring to me that I could recognize some of my own feelings and attitudes during my learning experiences with technology.
My ignorance about the basics of using a computer made me feel awkward and embarrassed at having to ask for help. Some people were very helpful, but others lost their patience, as it seemed so simple to them. A very helpful piece of advice, however, was to imagine that the computer is like an office with cupboards, files and folders. This made sense to me and I began to understand the purpose of the icons on the computer. My feeling of unfamiliarity with the computer meant that I did not know how to find my way around and so could not do things quickly and efficiently. I felt inadequate, as others seemed more able and more confident than I was. These feelings came to the surface again when I had to take students to the computer laboratory for some of their lessons and at first, I felt reluctant to use
4 technology. However, I was reassured when I read that other teachers felt the same reluctance. John Spencer (2015a) explains that teachers are sometimes reluctant to use technology in the classroom because of the inconsistencies between their previous experiences and using the computer. For example, some teachers do not see a parallel between using multiple teaching aids and having students work in groups, and managing several computers or multiple devices at the same time. Some teachers are only comfortable with instructional strategies that match what they did growing up. Even simple technology sounds complicated, because it is different from what they know and are used to. If teachers themselves have never used the technologies in their free time and educational institutions have not used them in professional development, they will always seem difficult to manage
(Spencer, 2015b).
As I came to realize, understanding the set-up of the computer or other technology device is essential in order to be able to use it efficiently. The Ministry of Education in Kenya, for example, supports the view that technologies are a very useful aid in teaching and believes that the training of teachers on the use of technology enables them to develop professionally and keep abreast of the ever-changing trends and techniques of integrating educational technology in teaching. It has thus come to appreciate the need to address certain challenges such as students’ and teachers' attitudes and the need to impart knowledge and skills related to using the technology (Omariba, Ondigi & Ayot, 2011).
With a better understanding of the basics of using the computer, I began to feel more at ease, but feelings of frustration and apprehension frequently took over and were often a source of disi llusionment and discouragement. Spencer’s (2015a) analysis places these feelings at the sixth stage in the technology journey. Such feelings made me think that I was wasting time, as I believed I could do my tasks more quickly by hand. This meant I wanted to give up and resort to the old methods where I had more control and which seemed more reliable to me at the time. According to Spencer (2015b), the fear of letting go of control or a sense that one does not possess the right skills is a common one among teachers who are reluctant to use technology. Furthermore, a feeling of apprehension would come over me when I had to make a choice. What would happen if I chose the wrong option? Would the computer get out of control? Would I be able to stop it? Which key do I press? I soon learned, however, that the computer is very forgiving as it always asks you to confirm your choice, whether you are sure, and allows you the option of undoing what you did. I also kept telling myself that the computer or any other technology device for that matter, only obeys commands you give it.
Therefore, the option of giving a different command is still there! I also learned that saving work is vital, since it is not pleasant when you lose your work! I kept reminding myself that the computer is inanimate after all and that my feelings were completely unfounded. In fact,
Omariba, Ondigi and Ayot (2011), the authors of the Kiswahili study in Kenya, reassure us that a computer is simply a tool that the teacher can use when appropriate. Like other types of machines, the computer is useless without human input and control, but it can be very
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effective indeed, when used properly. Therefore, it seems important to me that teachers must certainly try the technology and not allow their lack of expertise to dissuade them.
3. Experience with students at Sultan Qaboos University
Teaching English at the Language Centre to the students at Sultan Qaboos University has been a very positive experience for me. Using technology in the classroom also proved to be positive, although initially the thought of having to use the computer to teach was a daunting one for me. According to Spencer (2015a), one should exercise humility in order to see that a non-tech approach is wrong and consider the advantages of using technology as a tool in teaching. He very wisely says that the comfort level of teachers should not dictate what they use with the students (Spencer, 2015a, n.p.). The computer laboratory was an intimidating place for me at first. How could I teach the students with twenty or more computers! The computers would not always be working properly and I would feel embarrassed to ask for help and feel that we were wasting time. For instance, sometimes the earphones would not work just when we needed them for listening exercises. More often than not, we could solve these technical hitches, and we would eventually be enjoying the lesson using the technology.
Patience and persistence were important to have a productive lesson. Persistence is key for teachers in learning and understanding technology. After all, many students are very much at home using technology to help them learn, as they are familiar with its workings and can do their tasks at their own pace. Students can also be of great help to the teacher if needed. For example, Education World’s technology team think the use of students who are the most familiar and adept with the technology is of great help to teachers who find it difficult to get round the entire class and may themselves be unsure in using the technology. Students learn from each other and the teacher will learn the technology from the students (Training teachers, n.d.). My personal belief is that the students struggling in the English language are not intimidated or embarrassed by their answers when they can work on their own and check their answers themselves on the computer.
My experience has also taught me that the use of technology in the classroom means that my students can become the center of their own learning while the teacher remains as a facilitator and guide as opposed to an instructor. The experience with my students in the computer laboratory tallies with the theory that student-centered learning means putting the students at the center of the learning process. This theory is in contrast with the traditional approach of a teacher-centered classroom. In this type of classroom, teachers are the primary source for knowledge, whereas in student-centered classrooms, the students are strongly encouraged to find things out for themselves. Renowned psychologist Carl Rogers and Professor J. S.
Armstrong are both strong supporters of the student-centered learning approach. Rogers
(1969) believes that ‘the only learning which significantly influences behavior [and education] is self-discovered, selfappropriated learning’ and that ‘Much significant learning is acquired through doing’ (Rogers, 1969, as cited on Gateway, n.p.). I can see the truth clearly in this because my own abilities in the use of the computer improved considerably when I embarked on a course of study and needed to write up assignments and eventually a
6

effective indeed, when used properly. Therefore, it seems important to me that teachers must certainly try the technology and not allow their lack of expertise to dissuade them.
3. Experience with students at Sultan Qaboos University
Teaching English at the Language Centre to the students at Sultan Qaboos University has been a very positive experience for me. Using technology in the classroom also proved to be positive, although initially the thought of having to use the computer to teach was a daunting one for me. According to Spencer (2015a), one should exercise humility in order to see that a non-tech approach is wrong and consider the advantages of using technology as a tool in teaching. He very wisely says that the comfort level of teachers should not dictate what they use with the students (Spencer, 2015a, n.p.). The computer laboratory was an intimidating place for me at first. How could I teach the students with twenty or more computers! The computers would not always be working properly and I would feel embarrassed to ask for help and feel that we were wasting time. For instance, sometimes the earphones would not work just when we needed them for listening exercises. More often than not, we could solve these technical hitches, and we would eventually be enjoying the lesson using the technology.
Patience and persistence were important to have a productive lesson. Persistence is key for teachers in learning and understanding technology. After all, many students are very much at home using technology to help them learn, as they are familiar with its workings and can do their tasks at their own pace. Students can also be of great help to the teacher if needed. For example, Education World’s technology team think the use of students who are the most familiar and adept with the technology is of great help to teachers who find it difficult to get round the entire class and may themselves be unsure in using the technology. Students learn from each other and the teacher will learn the technology from the students (Training teachers, n.d.). My personal belief is that the students struggling in the English language are not intimidated or embarrassed by their answers when they can work on their own and check their answers themselves on the computer.
My experience has also taught me that the use of technology in the classroom means that my students can become the center of their own learning while the teacher remains as a facilitator and guide as opposed to an instructor. The experience with my students in the computer laboratory tallies with the theory that student-centered learning means putting the students at the center of the learning process. This theory is in contrast with the traditional approach of a teacher-centered classroom. In this type of classroom, teachers are the primary source for knowledge, whereas in student-centered classrooms, the students are strongly encouraged to find things out for themselves. Renowned psychologist Carl Rogers and Professor J. S.
Armstrong are both strong supporters of the student-centered learning approach. Rogers
(1969) believes that ‘the only learning which significantly influences behavior [and education] is self-discovered, selfappropriated learning’ and that ‘Much significant learning is acquired through doing’ (Rogers, 1969, as cited on Gateway, n.p.). I can see the truth clearly in this because my own abilities in the use of the computer improved considerably when I embarked on a course of study and needed to write up assignments and eventually a
6 thesis. In his support of the student-centered approach, Armstrong (2012) focuses on experimental learning that supports learner responsibility. Experience has shown me that this is very true.
When the teacher is the focus of the classroom, the students feel their views do not count and they lose interest very quickly. I am also of the opinion that when teachers give students more responsibility for their learning, the students are in a better position to understand their strengths and weaknesses and will seek to improve those areas of weakness at their own pace through practice and repetition. This view is also compatible with the accepted view in the literature that technology allows a student-centered approach rather than a teacher-centered one (Omariba, Ondigi & Ayot, 2011).
Other positive experiences where my students and I have made use of technology in the classroom include using the computer, laptops and smart phones for checking homework assignments, giving power-point presentations and exchanging, sharing or sending each other information. However, one must point out that the teacher needs to guard against the possibility of students copying work and plagiarism of information from the internet. The teacher should train the students to cite their sources at all times. Having said this, when working well the technology saves time and promotes student-centered learning. It increases students’ interest level because they lik e the technology as it promotes a feeling of equality among the students. They do not feel threatened by it because it is something they are comfortable with and possibly understand better than the teacher does!
At this point, it would seem appropriate to re-emphasize the need for training of teachers who fear technology. At the Language Centre at Sultan Qaboos University, there is plenty of opportunity for teachers to benefit from training in the various aspects of using technology in the classroom. I felt fortunate to have access to such training and help. For example, I learned how to use Moodle, a learning platform designed to provide teachers and learners with a system for creating personalized learning environments. This new knowledge enabled me to show the students a new way to complete different types of activities and assignments. Using
Moodle proved to be very rewarding for the teacher and students as it was an important method for helping the students to work independently of the teacher at their own pace.
According to Education World’s Tech Team, teachers unsure about using technology in the classroom frequently ask questions like the following: How do I make time to work technology into the curriculum? Why do I need to understand the computer? How did you learn all this? How can I learn this application well enough to help my students? (Training teachers, n.d.). According to the team, the responses to questions like these provide the foundations that can make a reluctant teacher feel comfortable using technology in constructive and useful ways. For example, in the view of Education World’s Tech Team, to manage the time factor in the classroom efficiently teachers need to see technology as a tool for learning, not another subject to teach (Training teachers, n.d.). Since the idea is for students to think that technology is part of the natural learning process, the teacher’s aim
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should above all else be to use technology to supplement and enhance teaching and learning and not to teach technology in isolation. The technology should be incorporated creatively into teaching, and should not completely replace tried and tested teaching methods for the sake of using the technology. It is therefore important for the teacher to decide how to integrate the technology into the lesson and how much of it to use along with traditional teaching methods.
Additionally, of utmost importance and related to the time factor and classroom management issues, is the availability of a computer center or laboratory for the students who need the chance to have access to technology every day. The Language Centre at Sultan Qaboos
University has such facilities, and so both the students and teacher are very fortunate in this respect. The students can use the computers in the laboratories with the teacher or on their own at times when it is convenient for them. They can feel free to practice their English and computer skills independently without the teacher being present.
As for the questions about understanding the computer and learning how to use it, most technology teachers suggest a practical approach to learning and teaching. By trial and error and familiarizing themselves with the computer, teachers will soon learn how to use the technology. My experience has told me that this is definitely the case. Once again, in
Spencer’s (2015a) stages referred to earlier, I recognized my experiences in practicing and trying things out with different technologies.
With regard to the last question about using applications on the computer, Edu cation World’s
Tech Team think the use of students who are the most familiar and adept with the technology is helpful to those teachers who may find it difficult to get round the entire class and may themselves be unsure in their knowledge of the technology (Training teachers, n.d.). Students learn from each other and even the teacher will learn the technology from the students. I can certainly vouch for this being so!
Thus, it is not difficult to see that technology has great potential in education. Experience with my students has taught me that it can be a valuable tool for supporting and enhancing classroom-based language instruction because it provides an appealing means of communication. The technology is important for the students because it develops their independence in class, allowing them to work on their own on assignments. For the teacher, it can be a useful aid for delivery of the lesson, for doing practical work in class, for examinations and can provide a means of recording the students’ progre ss and marks, thus saving the teacher time. The students and teacher can also use the technology outside class to communicate with each other one to one if need be. For example, it can be a comfortable and non-threatening means for the students to communicate their anxieties to the teacher.
Further evidence in support of the usefulness of technology from the teacher’s point of view is available in the results of Professor Sutherland’s four -year research project at the
University of Bristol. Professor Sutherland showed that teachers believed the technology
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should above all else be to use technology to supplement and enhance teaching and learning and not to teach technology in isolation. The technology should be incorporated creatively into teaching, and should not completely replace tried and tested teaching methods for the sake of using the technology. It is therefore important for the teacher to decide how to integrate the technology into the lesson and how much of it to use along with traditional teaching methods.
Additionally, of utmost importance and related to the time factor and classroom management issues, is the availability of a computer center or laboratory for the students who need the chance to have access to technology every day. The Language Centre at Sultan Qaboos
University has such facilities, and so both the students and teacher are very fortunate in this respect. The students can use the computers in the laboratories with the teacher or on their own at times when it is convenient for them. They can feel free to practice their English and computer skills independently without the teacher being present.
As for the questions about understanding the computer and learning how to use it, most technology teachers suggest a practical approach to learning and teaching. By trial and error and familiarizing themselves with the computer, teachers will soon learn how to use the technology. My experience has told me that this is definitely the case. Once again, in
Spencer’s (2015a) stages referred to earlier, I recognized my experiences in practicing and trying things out with different technologies.
With regard to the last question about using applications on the computer, Edu cation World’s
Tech Team think the use of students who are the most familiar and adept with the technology is helpful to those teachers who may find it difficult to get round the entire class and may themselves be unsure in their knowledge of the technology (Training teachers, n.d.). Students learn from each other and even the teacher will learn the technology from the students. I can certainly vouch for this being so!
Thus, it is not difficult to see that technology has great potential in education. Experience with my students has taught me that it can be a valuable tool for supporting and enhancing classroom-based language instruction because it provides an appealing means of communication. The technology is important for the students because it develops their independence in class, allowing them to work on their own on assignments. For the teacher, it can be a useful aid for delivery of the lesson, for doing practical work in class, for examinations and can provide a means of recording the students’ progre ss and marks, thus saving the teacher time. The students and teacher can also use the technology outside class to communicate with each other one to one if need be. For example, it can be a comfortable and non-threatening means for the students to communicate their anxieties to the teacher.
Further evidence in support of the usefulness of technology from the teacher’s point of view is available in the results of Professor Sutherland’s four -year research project at the
University of Bristol. Professor Sutherland showed that teachers believed the technology
8 enhanced their role as teachers and had a beneficial impact on the learning environment, despite their initial qualms about using computers in the classroom (Report, n.d.). In addition,
The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages clearly believes in the potential of technology as a tool for supporting and enhancing language learning, but is careful to emphasize that its effectiveness ultimately depends on the knowledge and expertise of a qualified language teacher whose interaction with the students is extremely important. In other words, training in the use of technology is key for teachers if they are to use it efficiently as an aid to teaching. (Role of Technology, n.d.).
Other researchers have supported the use of technology in the classroom while also taking into consideration the concerns of teachers who may be reluctant to use the technology at first. As early as 1983, Kenning and Kenning noted that language teachers in particular are hes itant to use technology in the classroom as they fear it will ‘dehumanize’ the language, which is all about human communication, and allow the technology to take over. My own opinion is that the real reason for teachers’ reluctance to adapt to methods of t eaching using technology is the lack of confidence in their ability to use it right away. More recently,
Omariba, Ondigi and Ayot (2011) conducted a study on the use of technology in teaching
Kiswahili language in schools in Kenya. According to the authors, the idea of integrating educational technology for teaching purposes in subjects like Kiswahili has often received mixed feelings amongst the teachers of the language, a fact that prompted the authors to voice the concerns of the teachers about the use of technology in the classroom. The authors investigated the professional preparedness of the teachers in integrating educational technology into their teaching and aimed to establish the challenges the teachers face in trying to use technology in the teaching of Kiswahili. From their research findings, one of the biggest challenges was the teachers’ preparedness and willingness to appreciate and embrace technology and media themselves. Kiswahili teachers sometimes view technology as a burden on their simple teaching life. Indeed, in my view, we all as teachers need to develop a more positive view of technology if we want to remain relevant and competitive in this digital era.
4. Conclusion
While we must always bear in mind that the challenges and fears of both students and teachers must be addressed by an understanding of the facts regarding the use of technology, a persuasive argument for the benefits of using technology as an aid in teaching can be made.
My own opinion is that teachers’ lack of confidence in their ability to use modern technology is the real obstacle to their using it willingly. However, with practice and determination, one can overcome this lack of confidence, as now I use a computer, laptop, smart phone and iPad in my everyday life. The acquisition of this new found confidence I have in using different types of technology devices, somewhat reflects Spencer’s transformation stage, in which the realization of the potential of technology and its mostly beneficial effects are prevalent.
9

Although technology is intimidating to some people and might in certain circumstances, have negative effects, there are those who see it as a challenge. Many teachers see the prospect of using technology as an attractive one. After all, technology, such as computers, is nothing more than a tool, an aid the teacher can use when appropriate or necessary. Like other types of machines, the computer is useless without human input and direction, but it can be very effective indeed when used properly. For example, it gives individual attention to the learner, acts as a tutor assessing the learner’s reply, recording it, pointing out mistakes, giving explanations, guiding the learner towards the correct answer, and generally adapting the material to his or her performance. By demanding active participation on the part of the learner, the computer promotes the acquisition of knowledge, develops the learner’s critical thinking skills, and encourages attentiveness on the part of the learner. It removes the teacher from the center of things, thus promoting the all-important notion of a student-centered classroom. According to Rogers’ five hypotheses regarding learner -centered education, the student-centered classroom is non-threatening and has a supportive atmosphere, which is friendly and open, calming those who experience technophobic feelings within the class. The teacher should work towards connecting the students to the subject matter, which should be relevant to their experiences outside the classroom, and act as a facilitator without assuming the role of technology expert.
Finally, while remembering the words of Professor Sutherland that no amount of technology will ever replace teachers who are the gateway to larger cultures of knowledge (Report, n.d.), teachers need to encourage one another to develop a more positive view of technology if they wish to remain relevant and competitive in this digital age (Omariba, Ondigi & Ayot, 2011).
References
A Gateway to Selected Documents and Web Sites. (n.d.). Retrieved December 14, 2014 from http://www.panarchy.org/rogers/learning .
Armstrong, J. S. (2012). Natural Learning in Higher Education. The Encyclopedia of the
Sciences of Learning.
Heidelberg: Springer. Retrieved May 2, 2015 from http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1151&context=marketing_pa pers .
Dictionary.com. (n.d.) Retrieved April 12, 2015 from www.dictionary.com
.
Kenning, M. & Kenning, M.-M. (1983). An introduction to computer assisted language teaching . Oxford: Oxford Press.
Omariba, A., Ondigi, S.R. and Ayot, H. (2011). Challenges facing teachers in integrating educational technology into Kiswahili teaching. Proceedings of the 2nd International
Conference on Education Quality Education for Societal Transformation, (pp.449-
470). Retrieved December 14, 2014 from.http://cuseinkenya.syr.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2013/01/ICE2011.pdf#page458.
Psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved May 3, 2015 from http://www.psychology.about.com
.
10

Although technology is intimidating to some people and might in certain circumstances, have negative effects, there are those who see it as a challenge. Many teachers see the prospect of using technology as an attractive one. After all, technology, such as computers, is nothing more than a tool, an aid the teacher can use when appropriate or necessary. Like other types of machines, the computer is useless without human input and direction, but it can be very effective indeed when used properly. For example, it gives individual attention to the learner, acts as a tutor assessing the learner’s reply, recording it, pointing out mistakes, giving explanations, guiding the learner towards the correct answer, and generally adapting the material to his or her performance. By demanding active participation on the part of the learner, the computer promotes the acquisition of knowledge, develops the learner’s critical thinking skills, and encourages attentiveness on the part of the learner. It removes the teacher from the center of things, thus promoting the all-important notion of a student-centered classroom. According to Rogers’ five hypotheses regarding learner -centered education, the student-centered classroom is non-threatening and has a supportive atmosphere, which is friendly and open, calming those who experience technophobic feelings within the class. The teacher should work towards connecting the students to the subject matter, which should be relevant to their experiences outside the classroom, and act as a facilitator without assuming the role of technology expert.
Finally, while remembering the words of Professor Sutherland that no amount of technology will ever replace teachers who are the gateway to larger cultures of knowledge (Report, n.d.), teachers need to encourage one another to develop a more positive view of technology if they wish to remain relevant and competitive in this digital age (Omariba, Ondigi & Ayot, 2011).
References
A Gateway to Selected Documents and Web Sites. (n.d.). Retrieved December 14, 2014 from http://www.panarchy.org/rogers/learning .
Armstrong, J. S. (2012). Natural Learning in Higher Education. The Encyclopedia of the
Sciences of Learning.
Heidelberg: Springer. Retrieved May 2, 2015 from http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1151&context=marketing_pa pers .
Dictionary.com. (n.d.) Retrieved April 12, 2015 from www.dictionary.com
.
Kenning, M. & Kenning, M.-M. (1983). An introduction to computer assisted language teaching . Oxford: Oxford Press.
Omariba, A., Ondigi, S.R. and Ayot, H. (2011). Challenges facing teachers in integrating educational technology into Kiswahili teaching. Proceedings of the 2nd International
Conference on Education Quality Education for Societal Transformation, (pp.449-
470). Retrieved December 14, 2014 from.http://cuseinkenya.syr.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2013/01/ICE2011.pdf#page458.
Psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved May 3, 2015 from http://www.psychology.about.com
.
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Report reveals teachers' fear of classroom technology. (n.d.) Retrieved December 6, 2014 from http://www.theguardian.com/profile/pollycurtis.
Rogers, C. (1969). Freedom to Learn . Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merril Publishing
Company.
Role of Technology in Language Learning. (n.d.). American Council on the Teaching of
Foreign Languages. Retrieved December 6, 2014 from www.actfl.org
.
Spencer, J. (2015a). Eight stages in the teacher technology journey. The Creative Classroom.
Retrieved May 2, 2015 from http://www.spencerideas.org
.
Spencer, J. (2015b). Reasons Teachers Aren’t Using Technology. The Creative Classroom .
Retrieved May 2, 2015 from http://www.spencerideas.org
.
Technophilia. (n.d.) Retrieved April 12, 2015 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technophilia .
Technophobia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2015 from http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Technophobia .
Training Teachers Who Are Terrorized by Technology. (n.d.) Retrieved March 10, 2015 from http://www.educationworld.com
.
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Abstract
This paper is concerned with trying to define effectiveness in the use of information and communication technology in education in the Sultanate of Oman. It considers Hattie's
(1992) ground breaking study as a starting point then expands into other ways in which technology might be considered to be effective. It maintains its focus on Oman and the Middle East in order to discuss the practicalities and specific nature of the use of information and communication technology in this region. It ends by looking at a practical example of the effective use of technology based on the previous discussion.
Key words : information and communication technology, education, effectiveness, Oman
1. Introduction: what is effectiveness?
Studies by Hattie (1992; 1993; 2009) and the British Educational Technology Association
(BECTA) (2000) showed that on its own information and communication technology (ICT) had little impact on the improvement or effectiveness of the teaching and learning that was taking place in schools. They cite things such as effective feedback as far more important. In
Hattie’s (1992) study, ICT comes in to effect at 20th in the table with a relatively l ow effect size. The top four influences that have a far greater effect on effective study are ‘feedback’,
‘student’s prior cognitive ability’, ‘instructional quality’ and ‘direct instruction’. If ICT is not high on the list it would seem that if ICT can assist in improving the delivery of the top three influences (excluding student cognitive ability) then that would be an effective way to use
ICT to improve student learning.
One key issue, especially here in the Middle East, is that ICT provision alone adds no value.
Investing thousands in interactive white boards is pointless if the staff do not or cannot use them. Too often I have seen interactive whiteboards used as a noticeboard to stick up bits of paper and this is not an effective use of that resource. To use ICT we must first ask does it add value; could it be done without ICT? It might not always be the most effective way of
12

Abstract
This paper is concerned with trying to define effectiveness in the use of information and communication technology in education in the Sultanate of Oman. It considers Hattie's
(1992) ground breaking study as a starting point then expands into other ways in which technology might be considered to be effective. It maintains its focus on Oman and the Middle East in order to discuss the practicalities and specific nature of the use of information and communication technology in this region. It ends by looking at a practical example of the effective use of technology based on the previous discussion.
Key words : information and communication technology, education, effectiveness, Oman
1. Introduction: what is effectiveness?
Studies by Hattie (1992; 1993; 2009) and the British Educational Technology Association
(BECTA) (2000) showed that on its own information and communication technology (ICT) had little impact on the improvement or effectiveness of the teaching and learning that was taking place in schools. They cite things such as effective feedback as far more important. In
Hattie’s (1992) study, ICT comes in to effect at 20th in the table with a relatively l ow effect size. The top four influences that have a far greater effect on effective study are ‘feedback’,
‘student’s prior cognitive ability’, ‘instructional quality’ and ‘direct instruction’. If ICT is not high on the list it would seem that if ICT can assist in improving the delivery of the top three influences (excluding student cognitive ability) then that would be an effective way to use
ICT to improve student learning.
One key issue, especially here in the Middle East, is that ICT provision alone adds no value.
Investing thousands in interactive white boards is pointless if the staff do not or cannot use them. Too often I have seen interactive whiteboards used as a noticeboard to stick up bits of paper and this is not an effective use of that resource. To use ICT we must first ask does it add value; could it be done without ICT? It might not always be the most effective way of
12 learning; it is just one tool in a teacher’s tool kit, not the be all and end all in teaching an effective lesson.
According to Hattie (2009), the use of computers is more effective when...
◾ there is a diversity of teaching strategies
◾ there is teacher pre-training in their use as a teaching and learning tool
◾ there are multiple opportunities for learning (e.g. deliberative practice, increasing time on task)
◾ the student, not the teacher, is in "control" of learning
◾ when peer learning is optimized
◾ when feedback is optimized’ (p.220
-227).
Therefore when considering the effective use of ICT in Oman and the Middle East we must consider the above factors. Firstly traditional ‘chalk and talk’ met hods are still prevalent in
Oman and the Middle East so even with the introduction of ICT hardware a vast cultural shift would have to continue to occur if ICT was to be used effectively. In Oman teachers come from a wide variety of educational and cultural backgrounds, some willing and able to use a wide variety of active teaching techniques. Some teachers are not highly computer literate.
They have had no formal teacher training or have not been trained in how to use technology within their lessons. Many favor rote learning and focus solely on exam results rather than employing a holistic approach. Conversely often the students are highly computer literate which allows opportunity for student lead learning, which has been shown to be highly effective. However, because of the disparity between the skills of the teacher and the skills of the student, teachers may feel less confident at using ICT.
In relation to this ICT is not an integral part of many schools planning. Either because of lack of resources or because the resources are not being used correctly. ICT labs are often seen in
Oman and the Middle East as a place for ICT lessons not as an integral part of all subjects curriculum planning. Without constant use and integration across all subject’s curricu lum the use of ICT in lessons is not effective. Students need to use the ICT suites in other lessons so they understand how they can use the resources effectively. They need to be used to working with computers so their time is used to address the lesson objectives and assessment objectives not just learning how to use computers.
Student led learning is becoming huge in education in the West but its benefits have not been embraced here. Flipped classrooms and student led learning needs to be embedded in Oman if ICT is to become effective. Again, however, this will take a significant retraining of the current multicultural mix of teachers that are in the Sultanate. With the transient nature of international teachers, retraining might not be possible. Also the infrastructure for this learning is not in place as there is no requirement to attend formal teacher training colleges or requirements to obtain formal teaching qualifications to teach in the Sultanate.
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Peer learning again is fantastically important especially considering the potential for extension tasks and active engaged learning. This however takes a big shift in the way lessons are taught as students have to be educated as to how to perform effective peer assessment.
Teachers from different back grounds may not feel confident teaching like this without significant training.
Finally and most importantly ‘feedback’. This was ranked as the highest influencing factor for improving student performance. If technology can be used to provide effective feedback then students’ education will benefit. In Oman and many Middle Eastern countries effective feedback is not practiced. The obsession with grade A’s takes over from any form or feedback that might be used to improve student learning. Feedback has to be based on accurate actionable data if it is to be effective. Students have to understand where they are and what they have to do to get better and technology can assist the teacher in providing this.
Virtual learning environments such as Moodle which are popular in Western schools are yet to become widespread here in the Sultanate which can provide effective and fast feedback to students through discussion groups and self-marking quizzes such as Hot Potatoes.
On top of Hattie’s (1992) definition, the definition of effective can be widened to include other aspects of education where the use of ICT might make student learning more effective.
2. Effectiveness and the use of information and communication technology
2.1. Engaging
Often the benefits of ICT are presented in terms of engagement. The potentials of the pleasurable aesthetic of an ICT led lesson should make the lesson more engaging. This has to be taken with a pinch of salt however. I have observed many students leading PowerPoint presentation lessons where the work of creating the PowerPoint might well have been interactive and effective, but then students drift into passivity as they watch a PowerPoint presentation that presents no challenge to them, nor a way for them to interact. Every presentation must be interactive for the audience. It must be ensured that there is an interactive element, a quiz, test at the end or notes to be made or computer game related to the points made during the presentation, to remove the possibility of student passivity.
In Oman and the Middle East sometimes the resources available to western countries are blocked or unavailable here. I am thinking or websites such as BBC Bitesize and other resources. The speed and availability of the internet can also cause problems when teachers are trying to access valuable teaching resources online. Also many schools do not have the latest technology that would allow them to access many of the new interactive technologies.
2.2. Guarantee standards i.e. AO and LO
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Peer learning again is fantastically important especially considering the potential for extension tasks and active engaged learning. This however takes a big shift in the way lessons are taught as students have to be educated as to how to perform effective peer assessment.
Teachers from different back grounds may not feel confident teaching like this without significant training.
Finally and most importantly ‘feedback’. This was ranked as the highest influencing factor for improving student performance. If technology can be used to provide effective feedback then students’ education will benefit. In Oman and many Middle Eastern countries effective feedback is not practiced. The obsession with grade A’s takes over from any form or feedback that might be used to improve student learning. Feedback has to be based on accurate actionable data if it is to be effective. Students have to understand where they are and what they have to do to get better and technology can assist the teacher in providing this.
Virtual learning environments such as Moodle which are popular in Western schools are yet to become widespread here in the Sultanate which can provide effective and fast feedback to students through discussion groups and self-marking quizzes such as Hot Potatoes.
On top of Hattie’s (1992) definition, the definition of effective can be widened to include other aspects of education where the use of ICT might make student learning more effective.
2. Effectiveness and the use of information and communication technology
2.1. Engaging
Often the benefits of ICT are presented in terms of engagement. The potentials of the pleasurable aesthetic of an ICT led lesson should make the lesson more engaging. This has to be taken with a pinch of salt however. I have observed many students leading PowerPoint presentation lessons where the work of creating the PowerPoint might well have been interactive and effective, but then students drift into passivity as they watch a PowerPoint presentation that presents no challenge to them, nor a way for them to interact. Every presentation must be interactive for the audience. It must be ensured that there is an interactive element, a quiz, test at the end or notes to be made or computer game related to the points made during the presentation, to remove the possibility of student passivity.
In Oman and the Middle East sometimes the resources available to western countries are blocked or unavailable here. I am thinking or websites such as BBC Bitesize and other resources. The speed and availability of the internet can also cause problems when teachers are trying to access valuable teaching resources online. Also many schools do not have the latest technology that would allow them to access many of the new interactive technologies.
2.2. Guarantee standards i.e. AO and LO
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Off the shelf ICT based lessons can also be ineffective. They often do not relate exactly to teacher’s lesson or assessment objectives. ICT based lessons that can be adapted to fit exactly the class dynamics and lesson objectives and assessment objectives are more effective.
Especially here in Oman the dynamics of the classroom with largely second or third language
English speakers means that ICT lessons, to be effective, must be specific to the teacher’s class and specific lesson objectives.
ICT can be used to maintain standards as it is easily repeatable. Principals often like the idea of the conformity of PowerPoint led lessons where they can guarantee that students have been made aware of the ‘Lesson Objectives’ and that can be checked against syllabus coverage. It is also very useful in Ofstead, BSO or BSME visits as it is evidence that standards are being adhered to.
2.3. Time
ICT might be effective if we consider the time element. If the resources can be retained on the school intranet system and altered constantly in reaction to Assessment for Learning then that might be effective in that it saves teachers time. It might assist in the delivery of the topic minimizing the direct instruction element of the lesson freeing up time for more student activity, higher order thinking and interaction. Interactive diagrams and short clear video clips are ideal for this. The replicable nature of this also frees up teacher time to focus more on effective student feedback.
2.4. Promote different learning styles
2.4.1. Visual
ICT can assist visual learners through images and pictorial representations making ICT the most effective way to deliver a lesson that those visual learners can have access to the information. This can also assist with students who have EAL; pictures and visuals assisting with understanding. The prevalence of International schools using English as the teaching medium means that this element can be important in contributing to the students understanding.
2.4.2. Aural
ICT can use a variety of sound programs and audio programs to assist students. Sound files can be used to create effective direct feedback to students that students can retain and use to assist them in their revision and study programs. They are especially good at assisting the
EAL learners who can listen to them repeatedly and at their own speed assisting them in their understanding and improving the quality of the feedback. This again is useful in Oman with its wide variety of international students.
2.4.3. Verbal/Social
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ICT can be used to provoke discussion and assist students in verbalizing ideas and helping them to explain their reasoning and learning. In relation to the Sultanate group work needs to be something that is promoted. ICT can help students verbalize and discuss their ideas but it is not something that is used in many schools. This is often because of the traditional didactic methods of teaching which are still prevalent in many schools in Oman. ICT at the heart of group work can assist in this learning style. Often a decision on how ICT can be used effectively can be addressed through the ratio of student numbers to computers. One student to a computer is not always the most effective use of ICT especially when we are trying to promote active engaging learning that utilizes group work to assist maximizing learning.
2.4.4. Physical
Often the passivity of ICT lessons needs to be addressed. The best elements of a good ICT lesson are interactive which might include a kinesthetic element. Through computer manipulation the students can access the curriculum and improve their learning. This could be seen as an effective use of ICT as often physical movement in class can have logistical problems that ICT might assist with.
2.5. Solitary
ICT can be used for students to work on their own. Again the problem of active learning must be addressed. The ICT task must make all tasks be engaging and challenging for the student.
The resources of course must be available for students to partake this individual study. In
Oman however many schools would be unable to provide this direct one student to one computer ratio. Studies have shown that ICT can assist students with SEN and language difficulties by providing them with a safe scaffold framework for learning. This is something that might make the use of ICT more effective.
2.6. Tangible outcome
Something that the author is very interested in is the tangible outcome of the lesson. What was produced and more importantly how can students return to this at a later date reassessing and reviewing the learning. By saving data and creating tangible outcomes we can use these lessons to form the basis of a framework for students understanding. PowerPoint games, posters, quizzes can all be used interactively at a later date.
2.7. Assessment/plenaries
ICT can be used for assessment but the teacher has to consider whether the assessment or plenary is directly addressing the lesson objectives. Too often ‘off the peg quizzes’ are not exact enough to assess the actual purpose of the lesson. Adaptable ICT resources are often better where you can write your own questions such as ‘Hot Potatoes’ quizzes or ‘Fling the
Teacher’ type games. These would work particularly well in Oman as they can be altered to fit the exact nature of the specific class.
16

ICT can be used to provoke discussion and assist students in verbalizing ideas and helping them to explain their reasoning and learning. In relation to the Sultanate group work needs to be something that is promoted. ICT can help students verbalize and discuss their ideas but it is not something that is used in many schools. This is often because of the traditional didactic methods of teaching which are still prevalent in many schools in Oman. ICT at the heart of group work can assist in this learning style. Often a decision on how ICT can be used effectively can be addressed through the ratio of student numbers to computers. One student to a computer is not always the most effective use of ICT especially when we are trying to promote active engaging learning that utilizes group work to assist maximizing learning.
2.4.4. Physical
Often the passivity of ICT lessons needs to be addressed. The best elements of a good ICT lesson are interactive which might include a kinesthetic element. Through computer manipulation the students can access the curriculum and improve their learning. This could be seen as an effective use of ICT as often physical movement in class can have logistical problems that ICT might assist with.
2.5. Solitary
ICT can be used for students to work on their own. Again the problem of active learning must be addressed. The ICT task must make all tasks be engaging and challenging for the student.
The resources of course must be available for students to partake this individual study. In
Oman however many schools would be unable to provide this direct one student to one computer ratio. Studies have shown that ICT can assist students with SEN and language difficulties by providing them with a safe scaffold framework for learning. This is something that might make the use of ICT more effective.
2.6. Tangible outcome
Something that the author is very interested in is the tangible outcome of the lesson. What was produced and more importantly how can students return to this at a later date reassessing and reviewing the learning. By saving data and creating tangible outcomes we can use these lessons to form the basis of a framework for students understanding. PowerPoint games, posters, quizzes can all be used interactively at a later date.
2.7. Assessment/plenaries
ICT can be used for assessment but the teacher has to consider whether the assessment or plenary is directly addressing the lesson objectives. Too often ‘off the peg quizzes’ are not exact enough to assess the actual purpose of the lesson. Adaptable ICT resources are often better where you can write your own questions such as ‘Hot Potatoes’ quizzes or ‘Fling the
Teacher’ type games. These would work particularly well in Oman as they can be altered to fit the exact nature of the specific class.
16
2.8. Scaffolding for weaker students
ICT can also be used effectively when it provides scaffolding for weaker students. It can be used to show examples of answers and to assist with spelling and getting clarifying information. Often weaker students are more computer literate than literate and it can be effective at helping students gain confidence. This is an effective use of ICT because many schools in Oman do not have the resources to provide full SEN support programs and ICT might help assist these students.
2.9. Extension
ICT also can be used to provide effective and meaningful extension tasks. When differentiating by outcome an effective ICT lesson should be able to provide an effective opportunity for extension tasks. In Oman there are many outstanding students but the opportunity for Gifted and Talented extension programs are often not found in schools. ICT led lessons allow teachers to push their stronger students challenging them at a higher level allowing them to take ownership of their learning.
2.10. Does ICT promote higher learning, creativity?
ICT needs to be able to promote higher order thinking. This is especially important because we do not want to allow ICT to create passivity. The classic example being cut and paste
PowerPoint’s that do not address higher order thinking. Famously Blooms T axonomy lists the top three higher order skills as firstly Evaluation, secondly Synthesis and Thirdly analysis. To be effective ICT lessons must allow students to access these higher order skills.
In Oman knowledge based questions are too prevalent in internal and external exams with less opportunity to utilize or be assessed in higher order thinking. Effective ICT should allow and assist students to work at a higher cerebral level.
2.11. Can ICT assist in SEAL OBJECTIVES?
Social and emotional aspects of learning (SEAL) have the potential to be addressed by ICT.
As already mention using ICT can assist in giving confidence to students and providing a scaffolding frame work to assist them in their higher order thinking or in making them more successful at their task helping them to achieve their lesson objectives. SEAL objectives are not always considered in the Middle East however the emotional state of students has long been proven to have an effect of classroom outcomes. If ICT can assist in the promotion of a good healthy classroom environment again we might consider it effective.
3. a framework for the effective use of information and communication technology in education
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To use ICT effectively many of the above considerations must be addressed when deciding to use ICT. Below is an example of Interactive PowerPoint games that could be considered to be an effective ICT led lesson:
Students create interactive PowerPoint games. First the teacher introduces a topic. The students then use the topic which is usually the key question based on the lesson objective or can be the assessment objective itself. They then make a PowerPoint game using hyperlinks and three slides. On the first slide is a key question with usually 5 correct and 5 wrong answers. Slide two says correct and slide three says wrong. They then have to create right and wrong answers. Usually at the end of the first lesson the students peer assess each other’s work. In the second lesson they complete the PowerPoint game adding animation, images and sounds relative to the key question or topic. In the final plenary the students can play each other’s games. These games then are kept and used as revision plenaries or the basis for a revision lesson later on in the year.
This satisfies the definition of effective ICT learning then because the lesson accesses higher order thinking. It provides scaffolding and extension opportunities. It is interactive and specific to the assessment and lesson objectives. It includes great opportunity for effective assessment for learning and effective plenaries. Finally it also has a tangible outcome that can be used in future lessons to review learning.
4. Conclusion
The effective use of ICT is still some way off in Oman. There needs to be a country wide push to ensure ICT is used effectively. Teachers need to be trained in the effective use of ICT and active learning. Resources also need to be put in place so these trained teachers can start to integrate ICT into their lessons. Individual teachers might well create pockets of excellence but this is not enough if Oman wants to embrace the latest most effective teaching techniques.
References
BECTA (2000) Does ICT improve learning and teaching in schools? SJ Higgins, British
Educational Research Association - 2003 - bera.ac.uk Review of 200 studies into the effectiveness of ICT in Education.
Hattie, J. A. (1992). Towards a model of schooling: A synthesis of meta-analyses. Australian
Journal of Education , 36, 5-13.
Hattie, J. A. (1993). Measuring the effects of schooling. SET , 2, 1-4.
Hattie, J. A. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement.
London, UK: Routledge.
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To use ICT effectively many of the above considerations must be addressed when deciding to use ICT. Below is an example of Interactive PowerPoint games that could be considered to be an effective ICT led lesson:
Students create interactive PowerPoint games. First the teacher introduces a topic. The students then use the topic which is usually the key question based on the lesson objective or can be the assessment objective itself. They then make a PowerPoint game using hyperlinks and three slides. On the first slide is a key question with usually 5 correct and 5 wrong answers. Slide two says correct and slide three says wrong. They then have to create right and wrong answers. Usually at the end of the first lesson the students peer assess each other’s work. In the second lesson they complete the PowerPoint game adding animation, images and sounds relative to the key question or topic. In the final plenary the students can play each other’s games. These games then are kept and used as revision plenaries or the basis for a revision lesson later on in the year.
This satisfies the definition of effective ICT learning then because the lesson accesses higher order thinking. It provides scaffolding and extension opportunities. It is interactive and specific to the assessment and lesson objectives. It includes great opportunity for effective assessment for learning and effective plenaries. Finally it also has a tangible outcome that can be used in future lessons to review learning.
4. Conclusion
The effective use of ICT is still some way off in Oman. There needs to be a country wide push to ensure ICT is used effectively. Teachers need to be trained in the effective use of ICT and active learning. Resources also need to be put in place so these trained teachers can start to integrate ICT into their lessons. Individual teachers might well create pockets of excellence but this is not enough if Oman wants to embrace the latest most effective teaching techniques.
References
BECTA (2000) Does ICT improve learning and teaching in schools? SJ Higgins, British
Educational Research Association - 2003 - bera.ac.uk Review of 200 studies into the effectiveness of ICT in Education.
Hattie, J. A. (1992). Towards a model of schooling: A synthesis of meta-analyses. Australian
Journal of Education , 36, 5-13.
Hattie, J. A. (1993). Measuring the effects of schooling. SET , 2, 1-4.
Hattie, J. A. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement.
London, UK: Routledge.
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Abstract
This paper is grounded on the author’s belief that virtual realia can effectively improve students’ performance in
English, especially in the area of spelling, vocabulary and reading comprehension. It manifests the author’s commitment to further integrate virtual realia in the English language classroom. Therefore, it details current trends and techniques of teaching the virtual realia materials in the context of language teaching and learning in Oman, and includes some effective classroom activities and sample digitized realia.
Key words : virtual realia, English language teaching and learning, Oman
1. Introduction
The inspiring result of the experiment conducted by the author in 2006 with the aim to find out how language learners would perform in spelling, vocabulary and reading comprehension test after having been exposed to virtual realia. The study showed astonishing results. The data revealed that 77% of the students obtained scores of 75% and higher. Students’ scores registered 8.46% variability, and the mean post-test performance was 83.46%, which can be noted as “satisfactory” (Balida, 2006, 73 -79). After the subsequent class sessions which utilized virtual realia materials, the post-test registered the highest mean score of 93.08%, which was obtained in vocabulary, while the lowest, 89.69% was in spelling. The highest score of 100% was registered in vocabulary and comprehension. Given these results, it can be surmised that virtual realia can effectively improve students’ perfor mance in English, especially in vocabulary and reading comprehension, which are the fundamentals of language learning.
This paper presents the operational definition of virtual realia and its theory. It also describes the process involved in digitizing the realia materials focusing on how to incorporate virtual realia in language lessons to enhance the teaching and learning process.
2. operational definition of virtual realia
2.1. Why Virtual?
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The term ‘virtual’ (V), simply means not real. According to Beal (2015), the term ‘virtual’ is used to distinguish something that that is merely conceptual from something that has physical reality. In other words, virtual is the opposite of real or physical that is temporarily simulated or extended by computer software performing the functions of something that isn't really there.
2.2. Why Realia?
The term ‘realia’ (R) in teaching refers to objects, such as photos and brochures used by teachers to illustrate everyday living. These are real or physically existing objects brought into the classroom as visual aids. On hindsight, the realia (R) is simply the opposite of virtual
(V).
2.3. The Theoretical Aspects of Virtual Realia
The virtual realia (VR) provide language learners with multi-sensory impressions of the language. According to Rivers (1983 as cited in Smith, 1997) a target language is learned at least partly through seeing, hearing, touching and manipulating items. Rivers (1983) further explains that interaction with the authentic materials aids in contextually grounding instructions. This is done by bringing students into contact with language as it is used in the target culture in order to meet actual communication needs. Likewise, the use of virtual realia can enhance linguistic and cultural comprehensibility, which are prerequisites for genuine language learning. Baecker, et al. (1995 as cited in Smith, 1997) explains that virtual realia utilize digitized objects from the target culture. These can be brought into the classroom as examples or aids to stimulate spoken and written language production. Moreover, virtual realia co-exist with the multimedia. They can be combined with sounds and pictures, and even presented in more than one medium, such as text, audio, still graphics, video and animation.
Virtual reali a’s popularity is credited to a number of advantages. These advantages suffice the disadvantages as virtual realia can be produced easily. They can also be distributed through an email, utilized in interactive formats, such as blogs, websites, computer assisted quizzes or tests, stored, shared across cultures through the World Wide Web and transformed while preserving the authentic realia.
3. the Digitalization Process
The process of the digitalization involves any object from the target culture to be presented in a digital format as a fundamental virtual realia teaching material. For instance, if a plane ticket is a realia, a scanned copy of the exact plane ticket is a virtual realia. Tanguay (1997 as cited in Williams & Lahaie, 2006) suggests “that which c an be digitized will be digitized, then why not realia” (p.29). If we are to follow this idea, then we need to understand how the
20

The term ‘virtual’ (V), simply means not real. According to Beal (2015), the term ‘virtual’ is used to distinguish something that that is merely conceptual from something that has physical reality. In other words, virtual is the opposite of real or physical that is temporarily simulated or extended by computer software performing the functions of something that isn't really there.
2.2. Why Realia?
The term ‘realia’ (R) in teaching refers to objects, such as photos and brochures used by teachers to illustrate everyday living. These are real or physically existing objects brought into the classroom as visual aids. On hindsight, the realia (R) is simply the opposite of virtual
(V).
2.3. The Theoretical Aspects of Virtual Realia
The virtual realia (VR) provide language learners with multi-sensory impressions of the language. According to Rivers (1983 as cited in Smith, 1997) a target language is learned at least partly through seeing, hearing, touching and manipulating items. Rivers (1983) further explains that interaction with the authentic materials aids in contextually grounding instructions. This is done by bringing students into contact with language as it is used in the target culture in order to meet actual communication needs. Likewise, the use of virtual realia can enhance linguistic and cultural comprehensibility, which are prerequisites for genuine language learning. Baecker, et al. (1995 as cited in Smith, 1997) explains that virtual realia utilize digitized objects from the target culture. These can be brought into the classroom as examples or aids to stimulate spoken and written language production. Moreover, virtual realia co-exist with the multimedia. They can be combined with sounds and pictures, and even presented in more than one medium, such as text, audio, still graphics, video and animation.
Virtual reali a’s popularity is credited to a number of advantages. These advantages suffice the disadvantages as virtual realia can be produced easily. They can also be distributed through an email, utilized in interactive formats, such as blogs, websites, computer assisted quizzes or tests, stored, shared across cultures through the World Wide Web and transformed while preserving the authentic realia.
3. the Digitalization Process
The process of the digitalization involves any object from the target culture to be presented in a digital format as a fundamental virtual realia teaching material. For instance, if a plane ticket is a realia, a scanned copy of the exact plane ticket is a virtual realia. Tanguay (1997 as cited in Williams & Lahaie, 2006) suggests “that which c an be digitized will be digitized, then why not realia” (p.29). If we are to follow this idea, then we need to understand how the
20 digitization process works. There are two ways to follow in doing the three-step process.
The whole process of the digitization is shown in Figure 1 .
camera memory card computer
Figure 1 – The Digitization Process
Left
1. Take a photo of the target realia using any device with a camera
2. Save the photo in the memory card
3. Transfer the photo into your desktop or laptop
Right
1. Identify the target realia
2. Scan the realia using a scanner
3. Save the image into the desktop/laptop realia scanner computer realia
Fig 1 The digitalization process
The digitized materials can be stored in the computer as a PDF (portable document format) file that preserves all fonts, formatting, colors and graphics of any document. Files are compact that can be shared, viewed, navigated and printed as exactly intended.
Throughout the entire learning process, it is essential for teachers to provide a variety of uniquely interesting experience. To address this need, every lesson must be carefully planned.
Integrating the virtual realia in language teaching is one of the many ways to hook your
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students into your lesson. Gathering the realia materials for digitizing also requires time.
However, what can be a bett er way than getting students involved in the process? You’ll be surprised to see the amount of interest they can show in collecting various types of realia, for example, posters, souvenir photos, and brochures among others. And being the center of every lesson, students also take pride on every chance they could get in helping their teacher.
All over the world, there are quite a number of teachers, not just English language teachers; who promote the use of realia (R) in every classroom for various rationales. To exemplify, a popular website busyteacher.org
gives ten downloadable examples of virtual realia and how they can be used in the classroom. Some of them are incorporated into this paper. For example:
Brochures
This travel brochure is courtesy of Peter
Sommer Travels, Retrieved 15 May
2015, http://www.petersommer.com/blog/gree ce-travel/travel-brochure-2015/
Scanned images of travel brochures available on the Internet (e.g. Google Images), are effective tools for teaching. Bear (2015) claims that brochures can inform, educate, persuade, explain, or instruct. The brochure might describe a person, a place, or a thing. There are countless ways that your students can use brochures in the classroom.
22

students into your lesson. Gathering the realia materials for digitizing also requires time.
However, what can be a bett er way than getting students involved in the process? You’ll be surprised to see the amount of interest they can show in collecting various types of realia, for example, posters, souvenir photos, and brochures among others. And being the center of every lesson, students also take pride on every chance they could get in helping their teacher.
All over the world, there are quite a number of teachers, not just English language teachers; who promote the use of realia (R) in every classroom for various rationales. To exemplify, a popular website busyteacher.org
gives ten downloadable examples of virtual realia and how they can be used in the classroom. Some of them are incorporated into this paper. For example:
Brochures
This travel brochure is courtesy of Peter
Sommer Travels, Retrieved 15 May
2015, http://www.petersommer.com/blog/gree ce-travel/travel-brochure-2015/
Scanned images of travel brochures available on the Internet (e.g. Google Images), are effective tools for teaching. Bear (2015) claims that brochures can inform, educate, persuade, explain, or instruct. The brochure might describe a person, a place, or a thing. There are countless ways that your students can use brochures in the classroom.
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Virtual Realia 1 – Travel Brochure
Class Activities:
1. Make a list of what you can see and do in each destination.
2. Pick a specific place for a vacation and explain why, how to get to this place and go around, e.g. modes of transportation.
3. Discuss the history or meaning of landmarks or symbols found in the brochure.
4. Create your own travel brochure that would make other people want to visit your target destination. (A template may be provided)
Target Vocabulary brochure destination mode of transportation landmark symbols travel
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Travelling requires proper planning and some useful information about the target place. A map is an excellent virtual realia material that can be used for students to learn about places.
Also, a map is an excellent tool to teach students how to ask for and give directions. Using a map in your lesson offers students with a visual record for enriching their knowledge of geography.
Virtual Realia 2 – Map
Map courtesy of Going Global East
Meets West, Retrieved 14 May 2015, http://goingglobaleastmeetswest.blogspo
t.com/
Class Activities
1. Choose a specific city from the map that you wish to visit.
2. Make a list of sites that you want to see and be located by your classmate in the map.
3. Take turns asking each other how to get to certain countries, cities or locations of famous landmarks.
4. Discuss which countries the goods we use every day are produced or manufactured.
Target Vocabulary geography site location capital city produce manufacture
Home Delivery Menu
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Travelling requires proper planning and some useful information about the target place. A map is an excellent virtual realia material that can be used for students to learn about places.
Also, a map is an excellent tool to teach students how to ask for and give directions. Using a map in your lesson offers students with a visual record for enriching their knowledge of geography.
Virtual Realia 2 – Map
Map courtesy of Going Global East
Meets West, Retrieved 14 May 2015, http://goingglobaleastmeetswest.blogspo
t.com/
Class Activities
1. Choose a specific city from the map that you wish to visit.
2. Make a list of sites that you want to see and be located by your classmate in the map.
3. Take turns asking each other how to get to certain countries, cities or locations of famous landmarks.
4. Discuss which countries the goods we use every day are produced or manufactured.
Target Vocabulary geography site location capital city produce manufacture
Home Delivery Menu
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Ordering home delivery food can be very tough. Sometimes, it can lead to miscommunication. There are a number of reasons why other people prefer to order take away food online or by phone and one of them is convenience. If you want to know more about Online Food Ordering: PROS AND CONS check out Ryan’s blog at itsmyingredients.com.
Virtual Realia 3 – Home Delivery Menu
Class Activities
1. Rehearse ordering food at a restaurant as shown in a digitized menu. Pay attention to every detail – prices, portions or quantity, home address, time of delivery, etc.
2. Take turns in playing waiter and customer roles.
3. Make a list of ways of being polite and courteous on the phone.
Target Vocabulary menu delivery quantity polite courteous
Official Documents
Your students get to travel abroad at one point in their lives and therefore it’s essential for them to learn how to fill out important documents such as immigration arrival and departure
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cards. This activity will encourage students to remember important personal information and significant dates.
Virtual Realia 4 – Immigration Card
Class Activities
1. Talk about your age, birthday, address (home country and abroad) and purpose of visit.
2. Write all the required information while paying attention to correct spelling and capitalization.
3. Practice polite way of asking for help regarding items, which you don’t know about.
Target Vocabulary immigration abroad personal information address
Movie Schedule
Movie schedules provide a lot of information such as movie synopsis, casting, showing dates and timings as well as reviews. This type of teaching offers your students a welcome break from traditional teaching method and simply because today’s young learners are fond of watching movies.
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cards. This activity will encourage students to remember important personal information and significant dates.
Virtual Realia 4 – Immigration Card
Class Activities
1. Talk about your age, birthday, address (home country and abroad) and purpose of visit.
2. Write all the required information while paying attention to correct spelling and capitalization.
3. Practice polite way of asking for help regarding items, which you don’t know about.
Target Vocabulary immigration abroad personal information address
Movie Schedule
Movie schedules provide a lot of information such as movie synopsis, casting, showing dates and timings as well as reviews. This type of teaching offers your students a welcome break from traditional teaching method and simply because today’s young learners are fond of watching movies.
26
Virtual Realia 5 – Movie Flyer
Class Activities
1. Talk about your favorite movie – casts, plot, soundtrack and theme.
2. Explain which movies are showing on which dates and times.
3. Choose a movie shown on your screen then write a review about that movie in terms of casting, plot and soundtrack. .
Target Vocabulary flyer cast soundtrack theme movie review plot
Metro Route/Map
Map courtesy of LUSAS Bridge,
Retrieved 14 May 2015, http://www.lusas.com/case/bridge/dubai
_metro_substructures.html
Part of your students’ everyd ay survival is using different modes of public transport like rapid transit train such as metro, subways, and undergrounds. Therefore, learning how to use this mode of transport is considered as an essential life skill for your students.
27

Virtual Realia 6 – Metro Map
Class Activities
1. Discuss the train ’s different routes .
2. Explain the methods and steps on how to get a ticket.
3. Describe what you can see at every station and how to get to a specific route.
Target Vocabulary route underground schedule station mode of transport
Magazines Ads
The classified ads section of a magazine is one of the most prominent and effective means of promotion especially socio-cultural events. There is so much information your students can get from magazine ads from job opportunities to the latest gadget.
28

Virtual Realia 6 – Metro Map
Class Activities
1. Discuss the train ’s different routes .
2. Explain the methods and steps on how to get a ticket.
3. Describe what you can see at every station and how to get to a specific route.
Target Vocabulary route underground schedule station mode of transport
Magazines Ads
The classified ads section of a magazine is one of the most prominent and effective means of promotion especially socio-cultural events. There is so much information your students can get from magazine ads from job opportunities to the latest gadget.
28
Virtual Realia 7 – Magazine Advertisement
Class Activities
1. Discuss what your students think the advertisement is for.
2. Students create their own wording/text for the same advertisement.
3. Explain how this particular ad attracted them to consider buying this product.
Target Vocabulary classified ads promotion event job opportunity advertisement
Coupon and Membership Card
Nowadays, coupons and membership cards are offered everywhere. Business establishments use coupons and VIP membership card to lure their customers. Your students need to know that not all coupons and Membership are always free.
29

Virtual Realia 8 – Promo Coupon and Membership Application
Class Activities
1. Discuss all the information required in this digitized membership application form.
2. Explain the amount you need to pay for the promo or membership fee.
3. Discuss the conditions/rules set forth in the promotional coupon or membership.
Target Vocabulary coupon membership terms & conditions discount
Food Packaging
Most products are packed attractively to catc h buyers’ attention. However, there is more than meets the eye because looks can be deceiving.
30

Virtual Realia 8 – Promo Coupon and Membership Application
Class Activities
1. Discuss all the information required in this digitized membership application form.
2. Explain the amount you need to pay for the promo or membership fee.
3. Discuss the conditions/rules set forth in the promotional coupon or membership.
Target Vocabulary coupon membership terms & conditions discount
Food Packaging
Most products are packed attractively to catc h buyers’ attention. However, there is more than meets the eye because looks can be deceiving.
30
Virtual Realia 9 – Food Packaging
Class Activities
1. Discuss valuable information related to expiry date, nutrition label, ingredients, etc.
2. Explain what’s healthy and what’s not; safe or unsafe.
3. Discuss the manufacturer’s reputation.
4. Write a persuasive text for the product shown on your screen.
5. Design a food package for the product of your choice.
Theater Program
Witnessing a live performance on the theater gives pleasure and joy most especially that some shows take place once in a lifetime only and most theater programs are not staged over a period of time. “Attending a live theatre performance can be a magical and memorable experience even for young children. Done well, you will be planting the seeds of appreciation in a young patron for a love of live theatre. Done poorly, you can create an awful experience for your child and the people seated around you” (Morris Performing Arts Center, 2015).
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Target Vocabulary expiration nutrition label ingredient package

Virtual Realia 10 – Theater Program
Class Activities
1. Discuss about the play and the performers.
2. Describe what the play would be about.
3. Explain what kind of audience would go to a theater.
4. Make a list of theater etiquette that everyone must observe.
Target Vocabulary theater performer audience ticket etiquette
4. The virtual realia lesson plan model
Teacher
Level
Time
Subject/Skill
Topic/Lesson
Title
Objectives
Dr. Don Anton Robles Balida
Foundation (Pre-Elementary – Advanced)
50 – 60 minutes
Writing
Traveling
Cognitive
Psychomotor write, list, design, make, role play, use, manipulate
Make a list of what you can see and do in the destination of your choice.
Affective discuss/identify/explain/describe/
Identify and discuss various modes of transportation available in the target destination.
Virtual Realia
Material/s Travel Brochure appreciate, share, cooperate, enjoy, perceive, feel
Share to the whole class your advice on how to travel safely.
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Virtual Realia 10 – Theater Program
Class Activities
1. Discuss about the play and the performers.
2. Describe what the play would be about.
3. Explain what kind of audience would go to a theater.
4. Make a list of theater etiquette that everyone must observe.
Target Vocabulary theater performer audience ticket etiquette
4. The virtual realia lesson plan model
Teacher
Level
Time
Subject/Skill
Topic/Lesson
Title
Objectives
Dr. Don Anton Robles Balida
Foundation (Pre-Elementary – Advanced)
50 – 60 minutes
Writing
Traveling
Cognitive
Psychomotor write, list, design, make, role play, use, manipulate
Make a list of what you can see and do in the destination of your choice.
Affective discuss/identify/explain/describe/
Identify and discuss various modes of transportation available in the target destination.
Virtual Realia
Material/s Travel Brochure appreciate, share, cooperate, enjoy, perceive, feel
Share to the whole class your advice on how to travel safely.
32
Presentation/
Strategies
Evaluation
Homework
Check the attendance
Collect the homework
Revise previous lesson/Warm-up
Unlock target vocabulary
Lesson Proper: (1) Students are directed to the monitor/LCD projector to analyze virtual realia; (2) Students complete the following tasks: make a list of what you can see and do in each destination; pick a specific place for a vacation and explain why, how to get to this place and go around, e.g. modes of transportation; discuss the history or meaning of landmarks or symbols found in the brochure.
Collect the completed tasks
(Orally) Students will be randomly picked to provide answers to questions raised by the teacher.
Create your own travel brochure that would make other people want to visit your target destination. (A template may be provided)
5. Conclusion
The virtual realia materials are to a great extent full of potential to advance English language teaching and learning in Oman. This is mainly because of their interactive nature. Also, the overall experience of incorporating virtual realia could serve as a break from the traditional classroom activities. Moreover, if applied effectively, virtual realia could yield promising results benefiting both students and teachers.
References
Balida, D.A.R. (2006). The effects of virtual realia materials (Unpublished master’s thesis).
Manuel L. Quezon University, Manila, Philippines.
Beal, V. (2015). What is Virtual? Webopedia. Retrieved 19 April 2015, from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/V/virtual.html
.
Bear, J. H. (n.d.). Brochure Lesson Plans. Retrieved 13 May 2015, from http://desktoppub.about.com/od/lessonplans/a/brochures.htm
.
Cohen, E. (1983). Teacher Planet - Great Resources, Lessons and Units. Retrieved 13 May
2015, from http://www.sites4teachers.com/links/redirect.php?url=http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curri culum/units/1983/5/83.05.03.x.html
.
Doc format downloads of desktop publishing lesson plans. (2012, August). Retrieved 13 May
2015, from http://desktoppub.about.com/od/lessonplans/l/aa_lessonsdoc.htm
.
Map Lessons: The Route to Improved Geography Skills. (n.d.). Retrieved 13 May 2015, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson287.shtml
.
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Ryan. (2011, June 23). Online Food Ordering: PROS AND CONS | It’s My Ingredient. on
WordPress.com. Retrieved 13 May 2015, from http://itsmyingredient.com/2011/06/23/online-food-ordering-pros-and-cons/ .
Teach with Movies! (n.d.). Retrieved 13 May 2015, from http://www.owlteacher.com/teachwith-movies.html
.
Theater Etiquette | Morris Performing Arts Center. (n.d.). Retrieved 13 May 2015, from http://www.morriscenter.org/theater-etiquette.php
.
Virtual Realia (2015), Retrieved 1 May 2015, from http://busyteacher.org/15445-how-to-usevirtual-realia-esl-class-10-examples.html
.
Williams, S. G., & Lahaie, U. S. (2006). Socallt ’05: The Year of Languages: Motivating the
Language Learner with ... Google Books. iUniverse. Retrieved from https://books.google.com.om/books?id=j1CCA3VvBvcC&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq
=virtual+realia+-+Tanguay&source=bl&ots=p-mTfgFCgb&sig=twE8_XewjbDPziOm4gt9ZjjKwc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_ytTVbqNB4qjsgG93oCwBA&redir_esc=y#v=o nepage&q=virtual%20realia%20-%20Tanguay&f=false .doc format downloads of desktop publishing lesson plans. (2012, August). Retrieved 13 May 2015, from http://desktoppub.about.com/od/lessonplans/l/aa_lessonsdoc.htm
34

Ryan. (2011, June 23). Online Food Ordering: PROS AND CONS | It’s My Ingredient. on
WordPress.com. Retrieved 13 May 2015, from http://itsmyingredient.com/2011/06/23/online-food-ordering-pros-and-cons/ .
Teach with Movies! (n.d.). Retrieved 13 May 2015, from http://www.owlteacher.com/teachwith-movies.html
.
Theater Etiquette | Morris Performing Arts Center. (n.d.). Retrieved 13 May 2015, from http://www.morriscenter.org/theater-etiquette.php
.
Virtual Realia (2015), Retrieved 1 May 2015, from http://busyteacher.org/15445-how-to-usevirtual-realia-esl-class-10-examples.html
.
Williams, S. G., & Lahaie, U. S. (2006). Socallt ’05: The Year of Languages: Motivating the
Language Learner with ... Google Books. iUniverse. Retrieved from https://books.google.com.om/books?id=j1CCA3VvBvcC&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq
=virtual+realia+-+Tanguay&source=bl&ots=p-mTfgFCgb&sig=twE8_XewjbDPziOm4gt9ZjjKwc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_ytTVbqNB4qjsgG93oCwBA&redir_esc=y#v=o nepage&q=virtual%20realia%20-%20Tanguay&f=false .doc format downloads of desktop publishing lesson plans. (2012, August). Retrieved 13 May 2015, from http://desktoppub.about.com/od/lessonplans/l/aa_lessonsdoc.htm
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Abstract
This paper examines the educational potential enabled by mobile applications, especially when used in structured language courses for students’ linguistic and study skills and competences’ enhancement. The sp ecific focus is on the use of mobile applications in the project component of the
English Foundation Language Program courses implemented in Oman’s medical colleges by the Ministry of
Health. In addition, theoretical foundations and practical implications of learner autonomy in mobile assisted language learning are discussed. The results demonstrate that mobile applications can be effectively employed; however, teachers and education policy-makers should be aware of psychological, physical, social and pedagogical issues involved in successful implementation of mobile learning.
Key words : mobile-assisted language learning, learner autonomy, skills, English Language
Foundation Program, Oman
1. Introduction
Mobile assisted language learning is an emerging approach to language learning that can be incorporated effectively into the English language component of the General Foundation
Program which is currently implemented in Oman to prepare students for their postsecondary and higher education studies. Firstly, the majority of Omani students own diverse mobile devices and are very adept at using them. Secondly, if computer assisted language learning (CALL) was popular until recently, nowadays the opportunities of mobile assisted language learning are gaining currency in the academic world due to the emergence of sophisticated and affordable mobile devices, such as, for example, mobile phones, tablets, etc. (Burston, 2015). It refers to any formal or informal learning activity mediated through handheld or palmtop devices which can be accessed anytime and at any place (Traxler, 2005).
35

Mobile devices can function as motivating factors that stimulate learners’ interest. In
Beatty’s (2013) view, they can also function as a supplement to classroom learning and be viable alternatives to other tools and educational platforms. In addition, mobile phone applications can bring about radical changes in this particular component to overcome the constraints of time faced by learners in getting the review feedback from teachers on time, and, therefore ensure progress of the work without the need to schedule constant meetings between students and teachers.
2. Reasons for incorporating mobile-assisted language learning
The most singular advantage of mobile assisted language learning is that this type of learning is possible anywhere and anytime. Also, there is a wide range of devices, e.g. IPADs, computer notebooks, mobile phones, etc., and applications as technology continues to evolve especially with regard to features, functions and size. According to Chinnery (2006), all such devices can be effectively employed for language learning.
In this study, we examine mobile phone applications as instructional tools because all Omani language learners in the English Foundation Program classes own different types of mobile phones with the required applications. A quick survey in a class consisting of twenty English
Language Foundation Program students revealed that all of them possessed and used mobile phones. This simple survey prompted a detailed study of how mobile applications can be effectively employed as learning tools in the General Foundation Program implemented by the Ministry of Health Oman. Consequently, the question of incorporating mobile assisted language learning in the General Foundation Program was analyzed critically in order to figure out which component can be effectively integrated into the course for enhancing learner autonomy using mobile phone applications. This analysis presented multiple challenges because most of the components in the General Foundation Program are designed for specific curriculum that includes periodic assessment. Finally, a detailed analysis of the course content revealed that the project assignment included in the final stages of the English
Language Foundation Program (level3) could be supported by mobile applications.
3. Mobile applications in structured English Language Programs
Mobile assisted language learning involves a large scope of interactivity and learner autonomy; therefore, it is challenging to incorporate this approach into structured courses, such as English Language Foundation Program courses. The viable option is to identify course components which can offer flexibility for teaching as well as opportunities to using mobile devices and mobile device applications as learning tools and enlarging the scope of students’ learner autonomy.
The project component is included in the writing course of the English Language Foundation
Program to enhance students’ linguistic, study and critical thi nking skills, and promote learner autonomy among students. It fully adopts a student-centered approach with the teacher acting as a supervisor and facilitator. The students are given complete freedom to
36

Mobile devices can function as motivating factors that stimulate learners’ interest. In
Beatty’s (2013) view, they can also function as a supplement to classroom learning and be viable alternatives to other tools and educational platforms. In addition, mobile phone applications can bring about radical changes in this particular component to overcome the constraints of time faced by learners in getting the review feedback from teachers on time, and, therefore ensure progress of the work without the need to schedule constant meetings between students and teachers.
2. Reasons for incorporating mobile-assisted language learning
The most singular advantage of mobile assisted language learning is that this type of learning is possible anywhere and anytime. Also, there is a wide range of devices, e.g. IPADs, computer notebooks, mobile phones, etc., and applications as technology continues to evolve especially with regard to features, functions and size. According to Chinnery (2006), all such devices can be effectively employed for language learning.
In this study, we examine mobile phone applications as instructional tools because all Omani language learners in the English Foundation Program classes own different types of mobile phones with the required applications. A quick survey in a class consisting of twenty English
Language Foundation Program students revealed that all of them possessed and used mobile phones. This simple survey prompted a detailed study of how mobile applications can be effectively employed as learning tools in the General Foundation Program implemented by the Ministry of Health Oman. Consequently, the question of incorporating mobile assisted language learning in the General Foundation Program was analyzed critically in order to figure out which component can be effectively integrated into the course for enhancing learner autonomy using mobile phone applications. This analysis presented multiple challenges because most of the components in the General Foundation Program are designed for specific curriculum that includes periodic assessment. Finally, a detailed analysis of the course content revealed that the project assignment included in the final stages of the English
Language Foundation Program (level3) could be supported by mobile applications.
3. Mobile applications in structured English Language Programs
Mobile assisted language learning involves a large scope of interactivity and learner autonomy; therefore, it is challenging to incorporate this approach into structured courses, such as English Language Foundation Program courses. The viable option is to identify course components which can offer flexibility for teaching as well as opportunities to using mobile devices and mobile device applications as learning tools and enlarging the scope of students’ learner autonomy.
The project component is included in the writing course of the English Language Foundation
Program to enhance students’ linguistic, study and critical thi nking skills, and promote learner autonomy among students. It fully adopts a student-centered approach with the teacher acting as a supervisor and facilitator. The students are given complete freedom to
36 choose the project topic. The only clause attached to the choice of topic is that it should be related to the Omani society and life. There are five distinct stages in the project component which are specifically designed to promote students’ autonomy and critical thinking skills.
These stages are: a) introduction (e.g., choosing the topic and framing the hypothesis); b) literature review (e.g., exploring the topic through research from various sources); c) method of investigation (e.g., survey, interview, and statistics); d) results and discussion (e.g., research findings and vindication of the hypothesis); e) conclusion (e.g., summary of the results or research findings).
The initial stage of choosing the topic and framing the hypothesis is followed by literature review. Even at this stage students are provided with enough opportunities for working independently while selecting and paraphrasing the information relevant to the topic of their choice and stated hypothesis. After this, the students are required to explain in detail their method of investigation. This crucial stage offers students greater autonomy and scope for critical thinking as they have to frame suitable questions in order to go forward with their investigation. The method of investigation can be a survey, an interview or an analysis of statistics. Whatever the method of investigation is, the result or the outcome of the investigation should sustain and support the hypothesis. The final stages of the result and discussion are also oriented towards fostering critical thinking and autonomous learning activities. The elements of learner autonomy are ensured in all stages of the project component by giving the learners complete freedom to proceed along their line of investigation. There is no direct intervention from the teacher at any stage of the learning process.
The role of the teacher in this component is essentially the one of a facilitator. He/she has to hold discussions with the learners to make sure that they are proceeding on the right track of investigation. This is done periodically by holding review sessions and asking them questions and giving feedback on their work which aid them in moving forward in the right direction.
Since the project is primarily an instructional component, it offers ample measure of learner autonomy. As such the students need to be in constant communication with the teacher in order to review their progress and to complete the project on time. Some of the mobile applications can be employed effectively in this component to overcome the constraints of time faced by learners in getting the review and feedback on time. Moreover, it ensures progress of the work without the need to schedule constant meetings between learners and teachers.
The project component necessitates that each individual student is in constant communication with the teacher in order to complete the project work on time. Presently teachers and students find it hard to schedule personal meetings constantly at all stages of progress during the project work. In a class consisting of twenty students at least one hundred individual meetings are need to be scheduled taking into account the five distinct stages of the project.
In addition, each of the five distinct stages needs specific instruction to the whole class from the part of the teacher. Since the time allocated for the component is mainly used in the class
37

for general instruction, teachers find it hard to schedule individual meetings with the students to review their progress and give feedback to them on time. The constraints of time faced by teachers and students in the project component can be effectively solved by making use mobile applications commonly found in smart phones such as e-mail, WhatsApp and voice mail.
The project is a mobile assisted language learning friendly component for multiple reasons.
First of all, the component allows a greater amount of learner autonomy. Unlike other components in the English Language Foundation Program courses, the project component allows the student complete freedom to choose his/her topic. The only restriction is that the topic should be related to Oman and it needs the approval of the teacher. The choosing of the topic and framing the hypothesis encourages critical thinking ability in the learner. Since the guidance and approval of the teacher is mandatory at all the stages of research, it is necessary to arrange meetings between the teacher and individual students. This is a time consuming process and is often challenged by unforeseen hurdles. In this context the assistance of mobile applications such as e-mail, WhatsApp or voice mail can save a lot of time and energy for both the teacher and the learner.
Mobile applications such as e-mail, WhatsApp and voice mail can effectively solve such challenges. The teacher and the student can communicate at any time through these applications and ensure the smooth progress of the learning activity. Interruption of learning usually takes place by the challenges posed by constraints of time and space. Since mobile assisted language learning can easily overcome these challenges, it can be used effectively in the project component. All the smart phones have applications such as email and WhatsApp.
These applications can be used anywhere at any time if there is internet connectivity.
Therefore, the first step of implementing mobile assisted language learning for the project component is to ensure that all the students have mobile phones with such applications as an e-mail and WhatsApp. The viability of this proposal was tested further by conducting a survey among a group of students who did the project in 2014 in the customary manner of arranged meetings between the teacher and the individual students. Around one hundred such meetings had to be scheduled, and the whole procedure had turned out to be tedious because of the frequent interruptions of such meetings due to various reasons. Therefore, mobile assisted language learning can be integrated into the component to overcome the practical difficulties in the present system of arranging face to face meetings with the students and the teacher.
In order to implement s mobile assisted language learning successfully, Stockwell and
Hubbard (2013) formulate ten basic principles in their study that was implemented with preintermediate EFL students in a private university in Japan in early 2013, exemplifying how the mobile assisted language learning principles can be incorporated in practice. The present study can be validated by applying these ten principles to the proposal of implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component of the English Language
Foundation Program. In this context, a brief description of these principles is essential.
38

for general instruction, teachers find it hard to schedule individual meetings with the students to review their progress and give feedback to them on time. The constraints of time faced by teachers and students in the project component can be effectively solved by making use mobile applications commonly found in smart phones such as e-mail, WhatsApp and voice mail.
The project is a mobile assisted language learning friendly component for multiple reasons.
First of all, the component allows a greater amount of learner autonomy. Unlike other components in the English Language Foundation Program courses, the project component allows the student complete freedom to choose his/her topic. The only restriction is that the topic should be related to Oman and it needs the approval of the teacher. The choosing of the topic and framing the hypothesis encourages critical thinking ability in the learner. Since the guidance and approval of the teacher is mandatory at all the stages of research, it is necessary to arrange meetings between the teacher and individual students. This is a time consuming process and is often challenged by unforeseen hurdles. In this context the assistance of mobile applications such as e-mail, WhatsApp or voice mail can save a lot of time and energy for both the teacher and the learner.
Mobile applications such as e-mail, WhatsApp and voice mail can effectively solve such challenges. The teacher and the student can communicate at any time through these applications and ensure the smooth progress of the learning activity. Interruption of learning usually takes place by the challenges posed by constraints of time and space. Since mobile assisted language learning can easily overcome these challenges, it can be used effectively in the project component. All the smart phones have applications such as email and WhatsApp.
These applications can be used anywhere at any time if there is internet connectivity.
Therefore, the first step of implementing mobile assisted language learning for the project component is to ensure that all the students have mobile phones with such applications as an e-mail and WhatsApp. The viability of this proposal was tested further by conducting a survey among a group of students who did the project in 2014 in the customary manner of arranged meetings between the teacher and the individual students. Around one hundred such meetings had to be scheduled, and the whole procedure had turned out to be tedious because of the frequent interruptions of such meetings due to various reasons. Therefore, mobile assisted language learning can be integrated into the component to overcome the practical difficulties in the present system of arranging face to face meetings with the students and the teacher.
In order to implement s mobile assisted language learning successfully, Stockwell and
Hubbard (2013) formulate ten basic principles in their study that was implemented with preintermediate EFL students in a private university in Japan in early 2013, exemplifying how the mobile assisted language learning principles can be incorporated in practice. The present study can be validated by applying these ten principles to the proposal of implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component of the English Language
Foundation Program. In this context, a brief description of these principles is essential.
38
Principle 1: Mobile activities, tasks, and apps should distinguish both the affordances and limitations of the mobile device and the affordances and limitations of the environment in which the device will be used in light of the learning target (Reinders & Hubbard, 2013).
Principle 2: Limit multi-tasking and environmental distractions. Mobile environments, such as when commuting, by their nature are likely to be distracting, and multi-tasking is a natural part of that environment.
Principle 3: Push, but respect boundaries. Research has shown that the push mechanism has the potential to prompt learners to action, but at the same time, learners have ideas of when and how frequently they would like to receive these reminders (Kennedy & Levy, 2008).
Principle 4: Strive to maintain equity (Elias, 2011; Herrington et al., 2009). For example, in a classroom it is important to ensure whether the learner has a mobile device. If not, there should be an equivalent non-mobile alternative.
Principle 5: Acknowledge and plan for accommodating language learner differences.
Principle 6: Be aware of language learners’ existing uses and cultures of use for their devices.
Studies have shown that students usually perceive their mobile devices as objects for personal and social use rather than as educational tools (Liu, 2013; Stockwell, 2010).
Principle 7: Keep mobile language learning activities and tasks short and succinct or divide longer tasks or activities into smaller, coherent chunks. (Elias, 2011; Herrington et al., 2009).
Principle 8: Let the language learning task fit the technology and environment, and let the technology and environment fit the task.
Principle 9: Some, possibly most, learners will need guidance and training to effectively use mobile devices for language learning.
Principle 10: Recognize and accommodate multiple stakeholders. In the language classroom setting, adequate preparation and motivational support for teachers as well as learners must be provided.
These principles are formulated from the findings of various studies oriented towards the successful implementation of mobile assisted language learning in the teaching learning context. As such these principles can be considered as guidelines for the successful implementation of mobile assisted language learning. A critical analysis of implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component of the English Language
Foundation Program in the light of the above ten principles undoubtedly affirms that it can be successfully implemented by fulfilling all the above mentioned principles or requirements.
4. Survey and Analysis
39

The survey was conducted among twenty English Language Foundation Program students of North Batinah Nursing Institute, Oman. These students did the project component in the customary manner of face to face meetings with the teacher. The aim of the survey was to investigate the viability of implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component. The survey was conducted at the course when the completed the course. The students were asked 8 closed ended-questions to measure the viability of implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component, e.g. a) Do you have a mobile phone? b) Do you have an e-mail application in your mobile phone? c) Do you use e-mails to communicate with others? d) Do you use WhatsApp? e) Do you use voice mail? f) Did you face any difficulty in meeting your teacher regularly for your project work? g) Did your project work get delayed because of not having the arranged meeting with the teacher? h) Do you think mobile applications such as e-mail or WhatsApp can solve these difficulties?
The results of the survey reveal that all students have mobile phones which have email applications. Most students (18) use email applications to communicate with others. Many of them use WhatsApp (14) and voice mail (12). Majority of students (19) believe that mobile applications can help them with difficulties that they have in their project work, namely not meeting with the teacher regularly (17) and getting project delayed because of this (16). The results show that there is no technical challenge in implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component. Ninety five percent of the students who participated in the study believe that implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component can successfully solve the problem of the delay caused by arranging several meetings with teachers. Since arranging several personal meetings between the teacher and the students individually several times during course work is not very practical, the application of mobile assisted language learning in this component is a very effective solution.
5. Conclusion
There are several advantages for implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component. As explained above, it reduces the cumbersome task of arranging numerous meetings between the teacher and the students on an individual basis. It can be easily substituted by mobile communications such as e-mail, WhatsApp or voice mail which defy the constraints of time and space. According to Reinders and White, 2010, the three factors that are particularly relevant to mobile environments are access, authenticity, and situated learning. In addition, in the project component, mobile assisted language learning can prevent the inordinate delays in fixing meetings and waiting for the feedback from the teacher. In short, mobile applications can make the whole procedure easier and quicker.
Secondly, it enhances learner autonomy in students as they have to submit their work online within the deadline. Since most of the work is done by the students themselves, their critical thinking ability will develop at a faster rate. In addition, the feedback from the teacher is recorded in the communication device. This is very helpful because it can be accessed repeatedly during the course work which is not always possible in face to face meetings.
Above all, the major challenge of managing the time and meeting the deadlines can be
40

The survey was conducted among twenty English Language Foundation Program students of North Batinah Nursing Institute, Oman. These students did the project component in the customary manner of face to face meetings with the teacher. The aim of the survey was to investigate the viability of implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component. The survey was conducted at the course when the completed the course. The students were asked 8 closed ended-questions to measure the viability of implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component, e.g. a) Do you have a mobile phone? b) Do you have an e-mail application in your mobile phone? c) Do you use e-mails to communicate with others? d) Do you use WhatsApp? e) Do you use voice mail? f) Did you face any difficulty in meeting your teacher regularly for your project work? g) Did your project work get delayed because of not having the arranged meeting with the teacher? h) Do you think mobile applications such as e-mail or WhatsApp can solve these difficulties?
The results of the survey reveal that all students have mobile phones which have email applications. Most students (18) use email applications to communicate with others. Many of them use WhatsApp (14) and voice mail (12). Majority of students (19) believe that mobile applications can help them with difficulties that they have in their project work, namely not meeting with the teacher regularly (17) and getting project delayed because of this (16). The results show that there is no technical challenge in implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component. Ninety five percent of the students who participated in the study believe that implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component can successfully solve the problem of the delay caused by arranging several meetings with teachers. Since arranging several personal meetings between the teacher and the students individually several times during course work is not very practical, the application of mobile assisted language learning in this component is a very effective solution.
5. Conclusion
There are several advantages for implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component. As explained above, it reduces the cumbersome task of arranging numerous meetings between the teacher and the students on an individual basis. It can be easily substituted by mobile communications such as e-mail, WhatsApp or voice mail which defy the constraints of time and space. According to Reinders and White, 2010, the three factors that are particularly relevant to mobile environments are access, authenticity, and situated learning. In addition, in the project component, mobile assisted language learning can prevent the inordinate delays in fixing meetings and waiting for the feedback from the teacher. In short, mobile applications can make the whole procedure easier and quicker.
Secondly, it enhances learner autonomy in students as they have to submit their work online within the deadline. Since most of the work is done by the students themselves, their critical thinking ability will develop at a faster rate. In addition, the feedback from the teacher is recorded in the communication device. This is very helpful because it can be accessed repeatedly during the course work which is not always possible in face to face meetings.
Above all, the major challenge of managing the time and meeting the deadlines can be
40 achieved through the application of mobile assisted language learning in the project component.
Implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component is very beneficial to the students because it gives them unlimited freedom to interact meaningfully with his/her teacher online defying time constraints. In this context the learner can also interact with his/her peers who are in a similar situation and can help each other to enhance their linguistic skills. Hence, in an academic context, mobile assisted language learning provides opportunities for learner autonomy which has been regarded as one of the important goals of education. According to Lamb (2009), freedom, choice, and negotiation are often identified as crucial environment factors for learner autonomy development. In a peer group situation such an environment is created which is conducive for the development of behavioral and cognitive elements which allow the learners to initiate, monitor and regularly evaluate their learning process (Little, 2003). The project component gives ample opportunities for selfevaluation in the form of feedback from the teacher and discussions with peers. Since this evaluation is an ongoing process throughout the five stages of the project work, it can enhance critical thinking ability in students. As a result, enhancing of learner autonomy in the project component ultimately leads to the sharpening students’ critical thinking skills through the implementation of mobile assisted language learning.
The implementation of mobile assisted language learning in the project component reduces the number of direct human interaction between students and teachers. This can adversely affect the progress and quality of work because the feedback is given to the students indirectly through mobile communicative channels. The effectiveness of direct interaction with the teacher helps to reduce the instances of plagiarism by pointing out the style of language used in the work in relation to the teacher’s assessment of the linguistic abilities of the particular student. Both these charges are unsustainable for the following reasons. Firstly, the share of mobile assisted language learning in the English Language Foundation Program is less than 15% of the total output in the whole course. As a result students do not suffer from a lack of direct interaction with teachers. Secondly, it is wrong to assume that teachers can detect plagiarism of students by comparing their style of writing and asking them directly in face to face feedback sessions. The best method to detect plagiarism is to employ the use of good software which can identify plagiarism. It is also pointed out that the wide range of personal and social applications in the mobile phones today makes the learners think that their mobile devices are not appropriate vehicles for learning (Stockwell & Hubbard 2013).
Similarly, researchers, such as, for example, Hulme and Shield (2008), think that mobility and portability is often not fully exploited in the design of mobile assisted language learning activities, even though it is precisely these affordances that justify using mobile devices.
Many of the studi es ignored the ‘anytime, anywhere’ affordances supposedly offered by mobile devices. Despite some of these, it can be safely assumed that implementing mobile assisted language learning in the project component of the English Language Foundation
Program can enhance learner autonomy in students and it helps successfully to overcome the
41

shortage of time caused by the constant scheduling of direct meetings between the teacher and the students during the project work. Finally, this study endorses fully the opinion of
Burston (2015) that mobile-assisted language learning is decisively securing its place in language learning contexts. In addition, it is a powerful tool that makes it an attractive supplement to other forms of teaching and learning a second language. However, learners, teachers, policymakers, and employers should be keenly aware of the physical, pedagogical, and psycho-social issues involved in successful implementation of mobile assisted language learning.
References
Beatty, K. (2013). Beyond the classroom: Mobile learning in the wider world. Monterey, CA:
The International Research Foundation for English Language Education. Retrieved
May 12, 2015 from http://www.tirfonline.org/english-in-the-workforce/mobileassisted-language-learning .
Burston, J. (2015). Twenty years of MALL project implementation: A meta-analysis of learning outcomes. ReCALL , 27, pp 4-20.
Chinnery, G. M. (2006). Emerging technologies. Going to the mall: mobile assisted language learning. Language Learning & Technology , 10(1), 9-16.
Elias, T. (2011). Universal instructional design principles for mobile learning. International
Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning , 12(2), 143-156. Retrieved May
5, 2015 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ920738.pdf
.
Herrington, A. Herrington, J. & Mantei, J. (2009). Design principles for mobile learning. In J.
Herrington, A. Herrington, J. Mantei, I. Olney & B. Ferry (Eds.), New technologies, new pedagogies: Mobile learning in higher education (pp. 129-138). Wollongong:
University of Wollongong. Retrieved May 8, 2015, from http://ro.uow.edu.au
.
Hulme, A.K and Shield, L. (2008). An overview of mobile assisted language learning: From content delivery to supported collaboration and interaction. ReCALL , 20(3), pp. 271 –
289.
Kennedy, C., & Levy, M. (2008). L’italiano al telefonino: Using SMS to support beginners’ language learning. ReCALL , 20(3), 315-330.
Liu, J. Y. (2013, May). Using Facebook for learning writing: EFL students’ perceptions and challenges. Paper presented at the 30th International Conference on English Teaching and Learning, Tainan, Taiwan, May 18-19, 2013.
Lamb, T. (2009). Controlling learning: Learners’ voices and relationships between motivation and learner autonomy. In S. Toogood, R. Pemberton & A. Barfield (Eds.),
Maintaining control: Autonomy and language learning . Hong Kong: Hong Kong
University Press.
Little, D. (2003) Learner autonomy and second/foreign language learning. Guide to Good
Practice. Retrieved March 18, 2015 from http://www.llas.ac.uk
.
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shortage of time caused by the constant scheduling of direct meetings between the teacher and the students during the project work. Finally, this study endorses fully the opinion of
Burston (2015) that mobile-assisted language learning is decisively securing its place in language learning contexts. In addition, it is a powerful tool that makes it an attractive supplement to other forms of teaching and learning a second language. However, learners, teachers, policymakers, and employers should be keenly aware of the physical, pedagogical, and psycho-social issues involved in successful implementation of mobile assisted language learning.
References
Beatty, K. (2013). Beyond the classroom: Mobile learning in the wider world. Monterey, CA:
The International Research Foundation for English Language Education. Retrieved
May 12, 2015 from http://www.tirfonline.org/english-in-the-workforce/mobileassisted-language-learning .
Burston, J. (2015). Twenty years of MALL project implementation: A meta-analysis of learning outcomes. ReCALL , 27, pp 4-20.
Chinnery, G. M. (2006). Emerging technologies. Going to the mall: mobile assisted language learning. Language Learning & Technology , 10(1), 9-16.
Elias, T. (2011). Universal instructional design principles for mobile learning. International
Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning , 12(2), 143-156. Retrieved May
5, 2015 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ920738.pdf
.
Herrington, A. Herrington, J. & Mantei, J. (2009). Design principles for mobile learning. In J.
Herrington, A. Herrington, J. Mantei, I. Olney & B. Ferry (Eds.), New technologies, new pedagogies: Mobile learning in higher education (pp. 129-138). Wollongong:
University of Wollongong. Retrieved May 8, 2015, from http://ro.uow.edu.au
.
Hulme, A.K and Shield, L. (2008). An overview of mobile assisted language learning: From content delivery to supported collaboration and interaction. ReCALL , 20(3), pp. 271 –
289.
Kennedy, C., & Levy, M. (2008). L’italiano al telefonino: Using SMS to support beginners’ language learning. ReCALL , 20(3), 315-330.
Liu, J. Y. (2013, May). Using Facebook for learning writing: EFL students’ perceptions and challenges. Paper presented at the 30th International Conference on English Teaching and Learning, Tainan, Taiwan, May 18-19, 2013.
Lamb, T. (2009). Controlling learning: Learners’ voices and relationships between motivation and learner autonomy. In S. Toogood, R. Pemberton & A. Barfield (Eds.),
Maintaining control: Autonomy and language learning . Hong Kong: Hong Kong
University Press.
Little, D. (2003) Learner autonomy and second/foreign language learning. Guide to Good
Practice. Retrieved March 18, 2015 from http://www.llas.ac.uk
.
42
Reinders, H. & Hubbard, P. (2013). CALL and learner autonomy: Affordances and constraints. In M. Thomas, H. Reinders, and M. Warschauer (Eds.). Contemporary computer assisted language learning (pp. 359-375). London: Continuum Books.
Reinders, H. & White, C. (2010). The theory and practice of technology in materials development and task design. In Harwood, N. (Ed.). Materials in ELT: Theory and practice , (pp. 58-80). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stockwell, G., & Hubbard, P. (2013). Some emerging principles for mobile-assisted language learning. Monterey, CA: The International Research Foundation for English
Language Education. Retrieved April 12, 2015 from http://www.tirfonline.org/english-in-the-workforce/mobile-assisted-languagelearning .
Traxler, J. (2005). ‘Mobile Learning: It’s here, but what is it?’ Interactions , 9 (1), University of Warwick.
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Abstract
In this paper the author suggests some need-based usage of technology for English language teaching and learning at higher education institutions in Oman. He also examines some on-line and offline class-room activities and experimental tasks. The focus is on English language teaching at both Foundation and Post-Foundation levels with the emphasis on two productive skills - writing and speaking - as these are among the most complex skills to teach and learn.
Key words : technology, language learning, writing, speaking, Oman
1. Introduction
Nowadays, technology has become a part of our daily life. To exemplify, internet is a ready source of knowledge for any kind of information related to any subject existing in the world; social media is a world in itself enabling us to contact and communicate easily with anybody, anywhere in the world irrespective of time and distance.
Almost all students in higher education institutions in Oman have access to the internet and a variety of tools and applications, such as email, blogs, IMO, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook,
Twitter among others. According to Taylor (1980), learning with technology incorporates constructivist learning approach that holds potential for better learning. How, then, can technology be effectively used in the English language classroom to improve students’ knowledge and skills?
2. Using an E-mail for Language Learning
An e-mail can give immense opportunities to students and teachers in terms of language practice and acquisition. For example, if there is a class of twenty students who meet twice or thrice a week, an e-mail activity can be designed and delivered to provide continuity of teaching and learning. For example, the teacher can invite students to discuss in groups a topic ‘Omani traditions and culture’, and then ask them to report to the whole class
44

Abstract
In this paper the author suggests some need-based usage of technology for English language teaching and learning at higher education institutions in Oman. He also examines some on-line and offline class-room activities and experimental tasks. The focus is on English language teaching at both Foundation and Post-Foundation levels with the emphasis on two productive skills - writing and speaking - as these are among the most complex skills to teach and learn.
Key words : technology, language learning, writing, speaking, Oman
1. Introduction
Nowadays, technology has become a part of our daily life. To exemplify, internet is a ready source of knowledge for any kind of information related to any subject existing in the world; social media is a world in itself enabling us to contact and communicate easily with anybody, anywhere in the world irrespective of time and distance.
Almost all students in higher education institutions in Oman have access to the internet and a variety of tools and applications, such as email, blogs, IMO, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook,
Twitter among others. According to Taylor (1980), learning with technology incorporates constructivist learning approach that holds potential for better learning. How, then, can technology be effectively used in the English language classroom to improve students’ knowledge and skills?
2. Using an E-mail for Language Learning
An e-mail can give immense opportunities to students and teachers in terms of language practice and acquisition. For example, if there is a class of twenty students who meet twice or thrice a week, an e-mail activity can be designed and delivered to provide continuity of teaching and learning. For example, the teacher can invite students to discuss in groups a topic ‘Omani traditions and culture’, and then ask them to report to the whole class
44 representing group ideas. Later, these ideas can be emailed by the students to each other in their groups for editing and redrafting, and, eventually, submitted to their teacher online.
Omani
Traditions and Culture
E-mail
Linguistic
Linguistic
Critical Thinking
Fig. 1Various implications
Problem Solving
E-mails can be also a stimulus for reading and writing. For example, many students have interacted online with the author, and the result is quite encouraging providing a strong base for the introduction of an Online Course in English in Oman.
Exhibit 1 Student’s informal chat in the context of real time communication
Sent at 12:28 on Thursday
Abhishek: goodafternoon sir
Abhishek: how r u? me: Hey Abhishek , I am fine, how n where r u?
Abhishek: I am also fine sir. I’m still in ICFAI completing my grads. Its 5 yrs course for us na where r u nowadays sir?
Sent at 12:30 on Thursday me: I am a Visiting Prof and Coach, so visiting a lot of places in India and occasionally the Middle East.
Abhishek: wow sir. Nice. even I love travelling. me: Yours is a 5 Yrs programme, yea, after MBA or BBA / LLB?
Abhishek: BBA-LLB me: How are your class mates, what are they doing?
Abhishek: i dontwanna do MBA now. wanna do on my own, dont on parents' money all r fine sir we are having end sem exams now me: Good, you must be in your final year now?
Abhishek: so all r busy wid portions struggling to study whatever we can we are passing in 2016, me: How about your class fellows, I miss your batch? Convey regards to them, ask them to mail me or chat sometimes, ok? Great future lawyers, ha?
Abhishek: sure sir, will definitely convey ur msg. hahaha, trying to be sir me: Pls give my mail ID to them all once, they must have misplaced it!
Abhishek: but i m looking for a job in corporates. sodat i can earn my own
45

and if possible go for MBALLM abroad….sure sir me: ok, try to specialize in Corporate Law or Cyber law, it has a great future. Environmental Law too! Go for new specializations always, where you have very few competitors, ok!
Abhishek: sure sir.thank uwe will need a lot of guidance from u
Sent at 12:38 on Thursday me: yea, my pleasure, any time.
Abhishek: thank u sir. I have exam tomorrow, but hope to chat again with u soon. It was really nice talking to u
Live chats can be useful for the students. They can come out openly during online chatting with classmates and teachers, and provide opportunities for real and natural communication empowering students with knowledge and skills. Moreover, apart from skill enhancement, using emails, students can develop intercultural communication skills when participating in cross-cultural email exchange projects. This can be exemplified by the following activity.
Exhibit 2 Student’s activities
Time:
Software:
45 – 60 minutes.
MS Office tools, internet and Gmail.
Hardware: Computers connected to an LCD projector with headphones and microphones, speakers and a spacious writing board.
Materials:
Topics: etc.
Procedure: slides on the LCD or computer monitors, handouts and note books.
“ V isit to a new place”, “Meeting people”, “Things bought at a shopping festival”,
Ask students to discuss one of the given topics in pairs for 5 minutes and then log into their e-mail accounts. Ask students to write and send an email to their partner, then chat (text) with each other on the topic, finally chat using voice mail. One of them can ask some questions on the topic or complete sentences in writing followed by oral description. Error correction can be done by displaying the chat text on the screen. Voice chat can be recorded and replayed for analysis.
Linguistic implications:
“Visiting a New Place” - to compose an e-mail on this topic, students need adequate topic related vocabulary which has to be pre-taught to the students. Then the chatting should start, otherwise they cannot perform the task.
“Meeting People” – here students need to know the local culture of the person they are going to write to. They need to research about the country of origin, local customs and traditions. Next, they need to think of a dialogue in this imaginary situation.
“Things bought at a Shopping Festival” – in the context of this topic, students need to make a shopping list, describe things in the list and report to a friend and then to the whole class. Hence, a pair-work or group work task has to be initiated to discuss the topic followed by e-mail chatting. Composing sentences with suitable words, expressions, grammatical structures and punctuation is a challenge for students as they study and use the language in the situation of English as a Foreign Language. Mistakes can be corrected after composing the e-mails. These things are applicable to such productive skills, as writing and speaking.
Critical Thinking
Each topic has to be brainstormed by students before going online under the supervision of teachers.
These aspects give students ample chance for thinking creatively and critically.
Problem Solving
Practical situations, continuous practice, peer corrections, teachers’ evaluation and feedback gives the students an idea as to how they can solve the above problems. Teachers can send students the correct answers through e-mail.
46

and if possible go for MBALLM abroad….sure sir me: ok, try to specialize in Corporate Law or Cyber law, it has a great future. Environmental Law too! Go for new specializations always, where you have very few competitors, ok!
Abhishek: sure sir.thank uwe will need a lot of guidance from u
Sent at 12:38 on Thursday me: yea, my pleasure, any time.
Abhishek: thank u sir. I have exam tomorrow, but hope to chat again with u soon. It was really nice talking to u
Live chats can be useful for the students. They can come out openly during online chatting with classmates and teachers, and provide opportunities for real and natural communication empowering students with knowledge and skills. Moreover, apart from skill enhancement, using emails, students can develop intercultural communication skills when participating in cross-cultural email exchange projects. This can be exemplified by the following activity.
Exhibit 2 Student’s activities
Time:
Software:
45 – 60 minutes.
MS Office tools, internet and Gmail.
Hardware: Computers connected to an LCD projector with headphones and microphones, speakers and a spacious writing board.
Materials:
Topics: etc.
Procedure: slides on the LCD or computer monitors, handouts and note books.
“ V isit to a new place”, “Meeting people”, “Things bought at a shopping festival”,
Ask students to discuss one of the given topics in pairs for 5 minutes and then log into their e-mail accounts. Ask students to write and send an email to their partner, then chat (text) with each other on the topic, finally chat using voice mail. One of them can ask some questions on the topic or complete sentences in writing followed by oral description. Error correction can be done by displaying the chat text on the screen. Voice chat can be recorded and replayed for analysis.
Linguistic implications:
“Visiting a New Place” - to compose an e-mail on this topic, students need adequate topic related vocabulary which has to be pre-taught to the students. Then the chatting should start, otherwise they cannot perform the task.
“Meeting People” – here students need to know the local culture of the person they are going to write to. They need to research about the country of origin, local customs and traditions. Next, they need to think of a dialogue in this imaginary situation.
“Things bought at a Shopping Festival” – in the context of this topic, students need to make a shopping list, describe things in the list and report to a friend and then to the whole class. Hence, a pair-work or group work task has to be initiated to discuss the topic followed by e-mail chatting. Composing sentences with suitable words, expressions, grammatical structures and punctuation is a challenge for students as they study and use the language in the situation of English as a Foreign Language. Mistakes can be corrected after composing the e-mails. These things are applicable to such productive skills, as writing and speaking.
Critical Thinking
Each topic has to be brainstormed by students before going online under the supervision of teachers.
These aspects give students ample chance for thinking creatively and critically.
Problem Solving
Practical situations, continuous practice, peer corrections, teachers’ evaluation and feedback gives the students an idea as to how they can solve the above problems. Teachers can send students the correct answers through e-mail.
46
3. Teaching and Learning English through Chatting Online
Teachers using chats for educational purposes should know the characteristics of different chat tasks according to the objective, role of moderator, and structure of the interaction to be generated. This is introduced in the taxonomy for an educational chat (Gonzalez, 2003). In addition, language teachers need to be e-literate to apply this knowledge to their educational contexts, which is not an easy task to accomplish. Some teachers are afraid of technology either because they have not been offered training or do not feel ready to shift their traditional educational paradigms to more collaborative and student-cantered paradigms in e-learning.
Another obstacle is infrastructure to carry out online projects. Additionally, one of the main criticisms about e-learning is the lack of human contact, the isolation of the students in cyberspace. According to Kimura (2003), “human interaction, discussion and collaboration is still the foremost in leading to new knowledge and enabling us to overcome the challenges that face us in the classrooms” (p.58), and suggests grou p work in chat as the most useful component of learning and self-reflection processes.
Almeida d’Eça (2002) defines chat as ‘a two -way synchronous form of computer mediated communication (CMC), a dialogue in real time as we keyboard or speak our words in online conversation between two or more people’. The word ‘chat’ means ‘to talk in an informal or familiar manner’ which makes chat a natural space for communication. The language in chat is usually a special lingo that becomes closer to a face-to-face (f2f) conversation for the following reasons: a) greetings meeting rituals; b) people talk without respecting turns; c) people start answering without waiting for others; d) people introduce new topics without finishing previous ones; e) turn taking is not usually well distributed; some people tend to hold the floor or participate more than others; f) some only listen to the dialogues.
Unfortunately, chats have been neglected in the classrooms mainly because some educational institutions do not allow students chatting in computer labs. However, Poole, Axmann,
Calongne and Cox (2003) argue that chat rooms can be a successful medium for learning in the synchronous environment. Beneficial characteristics of chats and their advantages include but are not limited to interacting with real audiences regardless of location; receiving input and produce output; providing chat logs (written scripts of that’s) that allow for further analysis of the conversation; getting immediate feedback from interlocutors; giving opportunity for negotiating meaning and collaborative learning towards knowledge construction; promoting learning autonomy among others. The social nature of chats also contributes to lowering the affective filter by offering a relaxing atmosphere for learning to t ake place. Another feature is “language noticing” - for language to take place, students should be aware of what they learn, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, etc. Different hypotheses of second language acquisition, such as the input hypothesis (Krashen, 1985); the output hypothesis (Swain, 1985&1993); the interactionist hypothesis (Long, 1985) and the intake hypothesis (Schmidt; 1990), support the usage of chat for the language learning.
However, there might be some difficulties with chatting. Mynard (2002) lists out some of them. For example, if keyboarding skills are slow, parts of the conversation can be missed;
47

slow readers may find it difficult to follow the text scrolling on the screen; chat lingo may be incomprehensible for newbies. Mynard (2002) also points out that cultural issues may result in misunderstandings.
Below are some sample activities that utilize chatting and can be effectively used in the
English language class.
Task 1: Speaking
Divide the class into groups of 4 and ask them to sit in front of the computers. Enable voice facility. Ask the pupils to put on head-phones. Give a printed dialogue on the topic chosen prior to the class. Ask the pupils to read the dialogues. Model the dialogue and ask them to start speaking with each other. They need not type anything on the screen as they go on speaking. After some time, ask the pupils to change their roles and keep speaking. Take rounds in the class and help weaker pupils. Teachers can record their conversations so that these can be replayed and corrected later.
Task 2: Writing
Practice writing using computer screens attached to electronic pens and pads. Online instructions and some offline or parallel writing tasks can be carried out. Give a printed dialogue in two parts - Questions and Answers. First ask two students to read the example dialogues. Model the dialogues. Write them on the board. Give enough practice. Divide the class into small groups, as per the availability of computers and the strength. Ask them to open chatting. Then ask them to type the given dialogue and get the reply from their friends.
Ask them to keep on practicing as many dialogues as possible. Monitor and help. As an extension work, select and send some thought-provoking pictures or graphics via e-mail to the students and ask them to develop an incident or a story and write informal e-mails to their friends. These drafts can be corrected by the teacher or students themselves by exchanging.
Implications
Linguistic : For speaking activities, depending on the topics in each dialogue, students have to be taught the meaning and pronunciation of the words that occur during conversations. For writing activities, form, functional grammar and punctuation has to be taught.
Critical Thinking: At times students thoughts related to the given topics may be vague and blank, so teachers have to monitor, note down the problems and attend to them.
Problem Solving: For the above tasks, students have to be trained properly before carrying out online tasks. Planning and execution have to be well-balanced. Giving examples, setting the suitable contexts and specific objectives are essential.
48

slow readers may find it difficult to follow the text scrolling on the screen; chat lingo may be incomprehensible for newbies. Mynard (2002) also points out that cultural issues may result in misunderstandings.
Below are some sample activities that utilize chatting and can be effectively used in the
English language class.
Task 1: Speaking
Divide the class into groups of 4 and ask them to sit in front of the computers. Enable voice facility. Ask the pupils to put on head-phones. Give a printed dialogue on the topic chosen prior to the class. Ask the pupils to read the dialogues. Model the dialogue and ask them to start speaking with each other. They need not type anything on the screen as they go on speaking. After some time, ask the pupils to change their roles and keep speaking. Take rounds in the class and help weaker pupils. Teachers can record their conversations so that these can be replayed and corrected later.
Task 2: Writing
Practice writing using computer screens attached to electronic pens and pads. Online instructions and some offline or parallel writing tasks can be carried out. Give a printed dialogue in two parts - Questions and Answers. First ask two students to read the example dialogues. Model the dialogues. Write them on the board. Give enough practice. Divide the class into small groups, as per the availability of computers and the strength. Ask them to open chatting. Then ask them to type the given dialogue and get the reply from their friends.
Ask them to keep on practicing as many dialogues as possible. Monitor and help. As an extension work, select and send some thought-provoking pictures or graphics via e-mail to the students and ask them to develop an incident or a story and write informal e-mails to their friends. These drafts can be corrected by the teacher or students themselves by exchanging.
Implications
Linguistic : For speaking activities, depending on the topics in each dialogue, students have to be taught the meaning and pronunciation of the words that occur during conversations. For writing activities, form, functional grammar and punctuation has to be taught.
Critical Thinking: At times students thoughts related to the given topics may be vague and blank, so teachers have to monitor, note down the problems and attend to them.
Problem Solving: For the above tasks, students have to be trained properly before carrying out online tasks. Planning and execution have to be well-balanced. Giving examples, setting the suitable contexts and specific objectives are essential.
48
These tasks can be tried out in pairs or groups by the students weekly or fortnightly once. If teachers can positively exploit this situation by supplying suitable and interesting tasks, wonderful results can be achieved.
The exhibit given below is the result of instructions through mail and WhatsApp. Students were asked to write about ‘how they can learn English through technology’. The student drafts below may have some errors.
Exhibit 3 Student’s work: Learning with technology
Most people would agree that is the current linguae franca of the world that is the most commonly used language. Without English don’t do anything because it is very important now days. You use it at airport, Hotels College, School and business meeting. There are many different ways to improve your own language such as, Social media and internet etc.
First of all, English is an important language in our life. You can learn English easily through internet. Internet is global communication network through which to exchange information and communication units. You should use of English language education sites on the internet to help you in improve your own skills in listening and speaking .In addition ,When used YouTube has a role in the pronunciation of words correctly lay
Watching English films. In Short, through the internet you can easily learn the English language because there are many applications, and Sites will help you in improving language learning.
Nowadays social media is common, so many people learning English through social media like WhatsApp. WhatsApp is applications in the Smart phones .you can improve your own language through chatting with your friends in English .Also, you can make group to chat in English .Another Social media to learn English is Instagram. Instagram also is application in phones. In Instagram you just see Short videos and pictures .To improve your own language. You follow accounts who are published the Videos and pictures in English.
So, you should listen to videos well to learn the correct pronunciation. Also, you should understand what is written on the images to improve your own speaking. In addition, you can learn English through twitter and Facebook. Through communication with people from outside your own country you can easily master the language.
In conclusion, it is evidence that internet and social media are both can improve your own skills in English .However some people learn English from WhatsApp for example when you chatting with your friends . In addition, in Instagram you can follow accounts are published the short videos in English. In my opinion, English is required in everywhere.
So, you should everyone learn English because it is need in our life. For example to get job easily and when you travel can easily communicate with people from outside your own country.
As it can be seen from the example of the student’s work, that in addition to discussing model texts and practicing their writing skills, they can also involve in the experience of composing, namely composing sentences with suitable words, expressions, grammatical structures and punctuation. Thus, technology can help teachers impart good language education (Dave
Sperling, 2003).
49

Exhibit 4 (Student’s work before using e -mail)
Part 1 Part 2
Critical Thinking: wise choice of information, vocabulary, grammar- direct/ indirect speech and active/ passive voice and punctuation choices. These aspects give the students ample chance for thinking critically.
Problem Solving: practical situations, continuous practice, peer corrections, tea chers’ evaluation and feedback gives the students an idea as to how they can solve the above problems. Mistakes can be avoided by frequent corrective interventions after composing the mails. However, the difficulties can be minimized with a good Task design, lesson plan and preparation.
4. Multimedia Approach to Develop Spelling, Punctuation and Vocabulary
Boyle (1997) highlights the role of multimedia in four major areas: ‘information dissemination and retrieval’, ‘tools and composition support’, ‘simulation and vicariousness’ and ‘structured skill and knowledge acquisition’. Multimedia practitioners point out the ability of multimedia to capture the attention of students who have grown up in technology age playing an increasing role in their lives and education. This can be seen in the sample activities presented below.
Task 1: Presentation Skills (Speaking)
Ask the students to choose two products, technical or general, available in the market. For the students of Engineering and Technology, electronic and for Business Studies students, general products are suitable. Ask them to collect information about the products and discuss the differences between the two. Under the given criteria, let them prepare a small report,
Power Point presentation using pictures, audio/ video clips and present to the class. Give them enough time.
50

Exhibit 4 (Student’s work before using e -mail)
Part 1 Part 2
Critical Thinking: wise choice of information, vocabulary, grammar- direct/ indirect speech and active/ passive voice and punctuation choices. These aspects give the students ample chance for thinking critically.
Problem Solving: practical situations, continuous practice, peer corrections, tea chers’ evaluation and feedback gives the students an idea as to how they can solve the above problems. Mistakes can be avoided by frequent corrective interventions after composing the mails. However, the difficulties can be minimized with a good Task design, lesson plan and preparation.
4. Multimedia Approach to Develop Spelling, Punctuation and Vocabulary
Boyle (1997) highlights the role of multimedia in four major areas: ‘information dissemination and retrieval’, ‘tools and composition support’, ‘simulation and vicariousness’ and ‘structured skill and knowledge acquisition’. Multimedia practitioners point out the ability of multimedia to capture the attention of students who have grown up in technology age playing an increasing role in their lives and education. This can be seen in the sample activities presented below.
Task 1: Presentation Skills (Speaking)
Ask the students to choose two products, technical or general, available in the market. For the students of Engineering and Technology, electronic and for Business Studies students, general products are suitable. Ask them to collect information about the products and discuss the differences between the two. Under the given criteria, let them prepare a small report,
Power Point presentation using pictures, audio/ video clips and present to the class. Give them enough time.
50
Exhıbit 5 Student Work – content for Power Point presentation
Comparison of Dell laptop and Apple laptop
Technical Description
Criteria DELL XPS
Screen type
Hard drive
RAM
Screen resolution
LCD , LED
500GB
8GB
1366X768 pixel
Core
Sound
USB
WIFI &
Bluetooth
Design Types
I7
8 beep sound
4
Yes
Color
Dell Inspiron , Dell studio , Dell studio
XPS , Dell Vostro , Dell Adamo ,Dell
Mini
Silver ,red, black, white, blue
Price OMR 400
Apple MacBook
LED
128 GB
8 GB screen 13-inch display Ritina clearly 2880 × 1800 pixels
I7
4 Deep sound
3
& 4.0
Apple MacBook Air, Apple
MacBook Pro , Apple iMac
Pink , white , silver , black
OMR 800
51

Exhibit 6 Student’s Power Point Presentatio n sent by e-mail
Driverside Passenger side
How does it work?
52

Exhibit 6 Student’s Power Point Presentatio n sent by e-mail 5. Proposed Bridge Courses
Below the author proposes some foundation and post-foundation language courses which incorporate usage of technology.
Driverside Passenger side
How does it work?
52
Fig. 2 Model of the Courses
These courses can incorporate online practice, for example, Hot Potatoes, created by
Research and Development team at the University of Victoria
[http://wwwedu.ge.ch/cptic/prospective/projects/anglais/exercises/welcome.html; http://web.uvic.ca/hcmc/end/comprog.html#hotpotsites ], quandary, an application for practicing and creating Web-based Action Mazes- interactive case-studies, created by Stewart
Arneil (Macintosh) and Martin Holmes (Windows), etc. They can also involve a number of practice tasks, for example:
Ask students to observe simple procedures and processes such as processing date fruits, servicing cars, mobile phones etc., let them write and video graph these and make a multimedia presentation in the class.
Write a Process Description about Desalination. First write the steps, a paragraph and finally present it to the class using Power Point and multimedia.
53

Fig. 4 Desalination process Picture Source: Internet
5. Conclusions
The activities discussed in this paper have been designed to improve the language skills of the students and can serve as launch pads for future language education at various institutions in Oman, if implemented systematically by integrating the latest technology benefitting our students. Since higher education institutions are aimed at contributing to the job market, introducing various new courses and trying out language teaching and learning with technology will be useful.
References
Alderson, J. Ch. (2005). Diagnosing Foreign Language Proficiency, Continuum: UK.
Al-Hamdani D.S.A. (2003). Introduction of Multimedia Project-Based Learning in a
Technology-Rich Environment: a Study of Teacher Attitudes and Influencing Factors in Basic Education Schools in Oman. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis: Hull University. UK.
Almeida d’Eça, T. (2002). To chat or not to chat in the EFL clas sroom. Paper presented at the
“Language - Communication - Culture” International Conference, University of
Evora, Portugal, November 29, 2002 http://www.malhatlantica.pt/teresadeca/papers/evora2002/chat-and-efl.htm
.
Arneil, S. (2003). Human computing and media centre. University of Victoria. Retrieved
May 3, 2014 from https://hcmc.uvic.ca/about/staff.php
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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
54

Fig. 4 Desalination process Picture Source: Internet
5. Conclusions
The activities discussed in this paper have been designed to improve the language skills of the students and can serve as launch pads for future language education at various institutions in Oman, if implemented systematically by integrating the latest technology benefitting our students. Since higher education institutions are aimed at contributing to the job market, introducing various new courses and trying out language teaching and learning with technology will be useful.
References
Alderson, J. Ch. (2005). Diagnosing Foreign Language Proficiency, Continuum: UK.
Al-Hamdani D.S.A. (2003). Introduction of Multimedia Project-Based Learning in a
Technology-Rich Environment: a Study of Teacher Attitudes and Influencing Factors in Basic Education Schools in Oman. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis: Hull University. UK.
Almeida d’Eça, T. (2002). To chat or not to chat in the EFL clas sroom. Paper presented at the
“Language - Communication - Culture” International Conference, University of
Evora, Portugal, November 29, 2002 http://www.malhatlantica.pt/teresadeca/papers/evora2002/chat-and-efl.htm
.
Arneil, S. (2003). Human computing and media centre. University of Victoria. Retrieved
May 3, 2014 from https://hcmc.uvic.ca/about/staff.php
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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
54 learning. Educational Psychologist , 26 (3-4), 369-398. Retrieved December 14, 2014 from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf .
Boyle, T. (1997). Conceptual design - strategic approaches to educational multimedia design
– constructivism. In: Design for Multimedia Learning , Prentice Hall Europe.
Ganzalez (2003). Teaching English with Technology. Journal for Teachers of English , 3(4).
Retrieved February 14, 2016 from http://www.iatefl.org.pl/call/j_review15.htm
.
Gonzalez, D. (2003). A Multicultural Project: Video-chat unit with USB students. Retrieved
February 12, 2016 from http://www.dafnegon.tripod.com/videochat/videochatunit.htm
.
Holmes, M. (2015). Retrieved December 2, 2015 from http://www.mholmes.com/ .
Hotpotatoes (n.d.). Retrieved May 2, 2014 from http://hotpot.uvic.ca
.
Kalyan, T.C & Damodar, G. (2004). Developing Online Course Material in English for
Undergraduate Students in India. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Kakatiya University,
IndiaKimura.
Kimura, B. (2003). Welcoming e-mail address at the TCC 2003 Online Conference. April 22,
2003. Retrieved April 4, 2003 from http://makahiki.kcc.hawaii.edu/tcc/2003/conference/greetings .
Krashen & Terrell’s Natural Approach (1983). Retrieved May 3, 2002 from www.groups.yahoo.com/ group/Human_ CALL.
Long, M. (1985). Input and second language acquisition theory. In: S. M. Gass & C. G.
Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition , (pp.377-393). Rowley, MA:
Newbury House.
Mynard, J. (2002). Introducing EFL students to chat rooms. The Internet TESL Journal, 8(2).
Retrieved February 2, 2002 from http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Mynard-Chat.html
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Poole, B.J., Axmann, M., Calongne, C.M., Cox, D. (2003). To chat or to chatter: Making online sense of the chat room environment. Paper presented at the TCC 2003 Online
Conference, April, 2003. Retrieved April 23, 2003 from http://makahiki.kcc.hawaii.edu/tcc/2003/conference/presentations/poolep.html
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Quandary. (n.d.). Retrieved May 2, 2014 from http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary.php.
Schmidt, R. (1990). The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied
Linguistics , 11 (2), 129-158.
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4, 12-19.
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Online: http://iserver.saddleback.cc.ac.us/div/bus/faculty/rdsdis.html
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Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. In: S. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition . (pp. 235-253). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
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Taylor, R. P. (1980). Introduction. In: R. P. Taylor (Ed.), The computer in school: Tutor, tool, tutee , (pp. 1-10). New York: Teachers College Press. Retrieved December 3,
2014 from: http://www.citejournal.org/vol3/iss2/seminal/article1.cfm
.
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Taylor, R. P. (1980). Introduction. In: R. P. Taylor (Ed.), The computer in school: Tutor, tool, tutee , (pp. 1-10). New York: Teachers College Press. Retrieved December 3,
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.
56
Abstract.
The most effective learning environment is that in which teacher is capable of selecting from a wide variety of strategies the most appropriate one that can accommodate individual learning needs and is supportive of accomplishing learning objectives designed to benefit individual learners. The purpose of this paper is to examine the significance of the multimedia language laboratory as an effective teaching tool that takes into consideration differences in students’ abilities based on their individual intelligence. It also analyzes the importance of learner motivation, and elaborates on how multimedia labs can effectively engage students in learning.
Key words : technology, multimedia, learning environment, motivation
1. Introduction
In any academic setting, the learner occupies a central place. All processes, policies and resources focus on the learner (e.g., Al-Mahrooqi & Asante, 2010; Fahmy & Bilton, 1992;
Issan & Gomaa, 2010; Schacter, 1999). However, the learner needs motivation that can be a driving force for making use of available resources and achieve learning objectives (Kimura,
Nakata, & Okumura, 2001). According to Cheng and Dörnyei (2007), it “serves as the initial engine to generate learning and [it] later functions as an ongoing driving force that helps to sustain the long and usually laborious journey of acquiring a foreign language” (p. 153).
Indeed, globalization has elevated the status of English as an international language in almost all spheres of life in Oman. However, English language teachers face many challenges
(Burns, 2010; Moody, 2009). Not all students evince keen interest in learning the language.
Some of them study English to meet school requirements; others – to meet college-admission requirements or the increasingly competitive requirements of the private-sector job market in urban areas (Fahmy & Bilton, 1992). In addition, the levels of motivation required for successful learning of the English language are not attained by many. It is common to find some demotivated students busy with their mobile phones instead of participating in the classroom activities. Also, there are some students who are either too shy or not confident in their skills, and demotivated as a result. Here, the question is how teachers can enhance
57

learners’ performance and create their interest in language and language learning. The multimedia language labs can answer these questions to a certain extent.
2. Multimedia language labs
A language laboratory can be regarded as one of the foremost technological inventions for effective English language teaching, as well as for enhancing learner language and communication skills. The language laboratory is a self-access center in which various learning resources related to all the four language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing, are available. Teaching through the language laboratory software takes into consideration differences in students’ abilities based on their individual intelligence and provides for optimum utilization of time and learning resources by students according to their individual needs.
The audio language labs were introduced in the 1960s to help language students improve their aural/oral skills with programmed instruction (e.g., drill and repeat exercises) being the first step towards using technology in language instruction. According to Harding and
Rodgers (19 85), the language lab was a “major breakthrough in language teaching methodology because of its potential to take the boredom out of the classroom” (p. 23).
Language acquisition theories, however, have changed significantly in due course of time.
With the demise of the Audio-Lingual Method and the increased interest in Communicative
Language Teaching, the use of the laboratory appeared less and less relevant to the goals of language teaching. For the most part, the rejection of the language lab in the 1980s was the result of its integral relation to audio-lingual methodologies, which labs were originally intended to support. On the whole, the primary objective of language learning has become communicative fluency rather than linguistic accuracy. As the result of this change, the language lab has been regarded as a relic with no merit in today's language learning environment.
However, digitalization has contributed a lot to raising the status of the language laboratory as an instructional tool. The multimedia language laboratory is a network of multimedia computers and appropriate software that facilitates for the integration of word-processing, multiple computer applications, and internet access. Some of the businesses that supply digital language labs are, for example, CAN-8 VirtuaLab [http://www.can8.com/],
ConnectED: Agents for Sony Virtuoso (UK) [http://www.connectededucation.com/], Keylink
Computers [http://ds.dial.pipex.com/keylink/], Melissi
[http://www.scenecinema.co.uk/melissi/ (Melissi has now been taken over by Scene Cinema
Ltd)], ReLANpro [http://relanpro.net/], Robotel [http://www.robotel.com/en/], Sanako:
[http://www.sanako.com/], Schoolshape [http://schoolshape.com/], Sony Virtuoso (USA)
[http://www.sansinc.com/], Soundbooth [http://soundbooth.eu/], Sun-Tech
[http://www.suntechgroup.com/], Televic Education: http://www.televic-education.com/en/].
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learners’ performance and create their interest in language and language learning. The multimedia language labs can answer these questions to a certain extent.
2. Multimedia language labs
A language laboratory can be regarded as one of the foremost technological inventions for effective English language teaching, as well as for enhancing learner language and communication skills. The language laboratory is a self-access center in which various learning resources related to all the four language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing, are available. Teaching through the language laboratory software takes into consideration differences in students’ abilities based on their individual intelligence and provides for optimum utilization of time and learning resources by students according to their individual needs.
The audio language labs were introduced in the 1960s to help language students improve their aural/oral skills with programmed instruction (e.g., drill and repeat exercises) being the first step towards using technology in language instruction. According to Harding and
Rodgers (19 85), the language lab was a “major breakthrough in language teaching methodology because of its potential to take the boredom out of the classroom” (p. 23).
Language acquisition theories, however, have changed significantly in due course of time.
With the demise of the Audio-Lingual Method and the increased interest in Communicative
Language Teaching, the use of the laboratory appeared less and less relevant to the goals of language teaching. For the most part, the rejection of the language lab in the 1980s was the result of its integral relation to audio-lingual methodologies, which labs were originally intended to support. On the whole, the primary objective of language learning has become communicative fluency rather than linguistic accuracy. As the result of this change, the language lab has been regarded as a relic with no merit in today's language learning environment.
However, digitalization has contributed a lot to raising the status of the language laboratory as an instructional tool. The multimedia language laboratory is a network of multimedia computers and appropriate software that facilitates for the integration of word-processing, multiple computer applications, and internet access. Some of the businesses that supply digital language labs are, for example, CAN-8 VirtuaLab [http://www.can8.com/],
ConnectED: Agents for Sony Virtuoso (UK) [http://www.connectededucation.com/], Keylink
Computers [http://ds.dial.pipex.com/keylink/], Melissi
[http://www.scenecinema.co.uk/melissi/ (Melissi has now been taken over by Scene Cinema
Ltd)], ReLANpro [http://relanpro.net/], Robotel [http://www.robotel.com/en/], Sanako:
[http://www.sanako.com/], Schoolshape [http://schoolshape.com/], Sony Virtuoso (USA)
[http://www.sansinc.com/], Soundbooth [http://soundbooth.eu/], Sun-Tech
[http://www.suntechgroup.com/], Televic Education: http://www.televic-education.com/en/].
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As for multimedia language labs’ facilities, it is important to point out that language teaching involves not only listening and pronunciation but the holistic integration of the other skills of reading, writing and speaking. It is also essential to give due importance to grammar, syntax and vocabulary. Multimedia computers, good quality headphones, microphone, LCD along with language software support and other information and communication resources are the basic requirements here. The lab is fully interactive with teacher to learner, learner to teacher and learner to learner interactions. A teacher can view their monitor screens for effective monitoring of the class. Teachers can address all learners at a time or to a specific learner. A learner can individually communicate with the teacher to ask a question or to clarify a doubt. Learners can take on-line objective type or short answer type tests chosen by the teacher for testing specific deficient areas. They can also exchange messages and use them creatively to supplement oral interactive activities. Audio files can be transferred to student terminal for on-line listening. Loud reading practice is a tested tool for bringing clarity and fluency in speaking which can be done in the lab without disturbing other students.
In addition, multimedia has the capacity to blend image, sound, audio and video. Teachers have various choices of multimedia software, videos, films, slides, photographs, and other media. Multimedia language labs are equipped with language software, which include pronunciation software, study skill software and writing software, and students can access them as per their requirements and levels. In addition, to develop listening skills, students are exposed to the usage of audiovisual tools. Activities such listening to songs, watching videos, and involving in group conferencing can be conducted with the students. Watching English movies and other videos is highly effective for the appropriate use of body language as well as for enhancing oral skills. Teachers can also use multimedia tools to provide vivid materials, creating real contexts and giving background information in order to help students to create an atmosphere of participation and exchange in different contexts.
In a traditional classroom, teacher provides the topic-specific situation for students to make use of language as much as they can. Since the traditional classroom is far from any similarities to the real life situation, the teacher has to tell students to use their imagination and place themselves in that situation. On the other hand, the multimedia lab offers the opportunity for students to visualize the situation. The computer software creates a virtual world that is very similar to the real world. It is a world that you can see. When using multimedia software, teachers can use pictures and images to enrich the content of classes, and also imagine different contexts in the process of producing teaching courseware. Students in the class can use multimedia to understand the concepts clearly.
Writing skill can also be practiced in the lab. For example, teachers can show some eyecatching visual clues, pictures and video clippings on their monitor screens and ask students to write a description of them. Teachers can design writing tasks. The language lab is used to integrate interactive learning through task-based activities. Teachers can make use of the
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unique features of a language lab to create a learning environment and this cannot be recreated in the regular classroom.
The purpose of the language lab is to involve students to actively participate in language learning exercises and get more practice than otherwise possible in a traditional classroom environment .Task-based activities in a lab intrinsically motivate the learners to shed the inhibitions and get actively engaged in the tasks. Besides motivating the learners and raising their self-esteem and confidence, the lab can enhance their interaction, verbalization and involvement in collaborative learning. Developing listening skills and viewing materials to enrich basic vocabulary and grammar, providing perfect environment for self-analysis, providing privacy of learning for beginners are some the advantages of self-learning in a multimedia lab.
3. Learning through the use of technology
The multimedia language labs have many advantages. For example, learners become more attentive towards the sounds in the lab than merely listening to the teacher in the classroom.
This way, speaking ability is promoted for successful learning. They better concentrate on the program materials used in the lab since it permits them to listen individually and learn efficiently. What is more, the la b is quite useful for shy learners. Such learners usually don’t speak in the classroom when teacher communicates with them but they practice language confidently in the labs. With a language lab, all students in the class can speak simultaneously without distracting each other regardless of the class size. Without a language lab, in a class of more than 10 students, each student gets less than one minute of speaking practice. They may also record the dialogue and listen to it for personal assessment. This provides a place for exercising linguistic abilities by using communicative learning activities.
The language learners improve their listening of L2 by using language labs. It consolidates learning. In addition, once the students learn how to manipulate the language software self – learning through technology is made possible.
However, multimedia labs will become a waste of money if they are underutilized. The following things have to be considered to make it fully operative:
Cost: It is very expensive to install and maintain a multimedia lab. The equipment needs support and up gradation. We need to employ technicians to take care of the sophisticated equipment. Creation and management of resources, storage space and regular upgrading of software incurs money.
Time: Schedules have to be carefully prepared to accommodate all the learners. Time tables have to be made without overlap or clashes.
Training: If training is neglected or resisted, a brand new digital lab will be a waste of space and money. Training is an area that is commonly neglected in the education sector.
Technologies fail to make an impact on teaching- learning due to the absence of the very
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unique features of a language lab to create a learning environment and this cannot be recreated in the regular classroom.
The purpose of the language lab is to involve students to actively participate in language learning exercises and get more practice than otherwise possible in a traditional classroom environment .Task-based activities in a lab intrinsically motivate the learners to shed the inhibitions and get actively engaged in the tasks. Besides motivating the learners and raising their self-esteem and confidence, the lab can enhance their interaction, verbalization and involvement in collaborative learning. Developing listening skills and viewing materials to enrich basic vocabulary and grammar, providing perfect environment for self-analysis, providing privacy of learning for beginners are some the advantages of self-learning in a multimedia lab.
3. Learning through the use of technology
The multimedia language labs have many advantages. For example, learners become more attentive towards the sounds in the lab than merely listening to the teacher in the classroom.
This way, speaking ability is promoted for successful learning. They better concentrate on the program materials used in the lab since it permits them to listen individually and learn efficiently. What is more, the la b is quite useful for shy learners. Such learners usually don’t speak in the classroom when teacher communicates with them but they practice language confidently in the labs. With a language lab, all students in the class can speak simultaneously without distracting each other regardless of the class size. Without a language lab, in a class of more than 10 students, each student gets less than one minute of speaking practice. They may also record the dialogue and listen to it for personal assessment. This provides a place for exercising linguistic abilities by using communicative learning activities.
The language learners improve their listening of L2 by using language labs. It consolidates learning. In addition, once the students learn how to manipulate the language software self – learning through technology is made possible.
However, multimedia labs will become a waste of money if they are underutilized. The following things have to be considered to make it fully operative:
Cost: It is very expensive to install and maintain a multimedia lab. The equipment needs support and up gradation. We need to employ technicians to take care of the sophisticated equipment. Creation and management of resources, storage space and regular upgrading of software incurs money.
Time: Schedules have to be carefully prepared to accommodate all the learners. Time tables have to be made without overlap or clashes.
Training: If training is neglected or resisted, a brand new digital lab will be a waste of space and money. Training is an area that is commonly neglected in the education sector.
Technologies fail to make an impact on teaching- learning due to the absence of the very
60 much needed teacher training. It is more so with computer technology. Just like IT professionals get trained to upgrade their skills language teachers also should be trained and put the labs to optimum utilization. Training has to be an ongoing process. It must be subjectspecific, i.e. it must address the requirements of teachers. Many digital labs are under-used or not used at all by some teachers, simply because they have not been given adequate training in using the facilities that the lab offers. Teachers also need training in using the software that will be used in the lab. Equally important is training that covers the pedagogical and methodological implications of using a multimedia lab.
4. Different orientation
The right choice of computer software that fits into the setting of a multimedia lab is one of the keys to success. The medium of teaching ought to go along with the computers. A totally new approach to materials and class preparation is needed. A cultural change by the teacher is vital. Digital labs give the teacher the chance to integrate all digital media easily. A teacher should learn how to operate the lab. The other dimension that should be taken into consideration is that the multimedia lab needs different teaching strategies and tools. Chalks and blackboard are obsolete. The computer is the most appropriate teaching tool in a multimedia lab. Accordingly, using computer software in a multimedia lab should be fun and interactive. Additionally, orientation is important. Students have to learn how to use the computer software effectively. If they are not trained to utilize it to the maximum extent, then they might be frustrated. This undermines their interest in learning. However, teachers’ assistance can help smooth out the difficulty and they will be very glad to engage in all communicative activities based on the computer software. Indeed, there might be management and technical problems in the multimedia lab. For most of teachers, these demonstrate a major challenge. In a multimedia lab, teachers should have advanced knowledge of computers and software and also answer students' technical questions. In comparison with the work in a traditional classroom, managing a conversation class under the communicative framework in a multimedia lab is relatively demanding.
5. Conclusion
Multimedia is a patient nonthreatening tutor for the students’ basic language skills acquisition because it offers infinite opportunity to repeat problems until the process or content is mastered. It is also apparent that multimedia is effective in English language teaching in terms of nurturing and enhancing both students’ and teachers’ interest and motivation.
References
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University Academic Publication Board.
Burns, S. (2010). How the other half learns. In R. Al-Mahrooqi & V. Tuzlukova (Eds.). The
Omani ELT Symphony: Maintaining linguistic and socio-cultural equilibrium (pp. 91-
110). Muscat: Sultan Qaboos University Academic Publication Board.
Cheng, H. F., & Dörnyei, Z. (2007). The Use of motivational strategies in language instruction: The case of EFL Teaching in Taiwan. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching , 1(1), 153-174.
Fahmy, J., & Bilton, L. (1992). The sociocultural dimension of TEFL education: the Omani file. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development , 13(3), 269-289.
Harding, E. & Rodgers, T. (1985) Language laboratories: What have we learned? NASSP
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Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal , 1(1), 19-27.
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Journal, 23(1), 47-65.
Moody, J. (2009). A neglected aspect of ELT in the Arabian Gulf: Who is communication between? In Zhang, L. J., R. Rubdy, & Alsagoff, L. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 13th
International Conference on English in Southeast Asia (pp. 99-119). Singapore:
National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University.
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linguistic and socio-cultural equilibrium (pp. 477-494). Muscat: Sultan Qaboos
University Academic Publication Board.
Burns, S. (2010). How the other half learns. In R. Al-Mahrooqi & V. Tuzlukova (Eds.). The
Omani ELT Symphony: Maintaining linguistic and socio-cultural equilibrium (pp. 91-
110). Muscat: Sultan Qaboos University Academic Publication Board.
Cheng, H. F., & Dörnyei, Z. (2007). The Use of motivational strategies in language instruction: The case of EFL Teaching in Taiwan. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching , 1(1), 153-174.
Fahmy, J., & Bilton, L. (1992). The sociocultural dimension of TEFL education: the Omani file. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development , 13(3), 269-289.
Harding, E. & Rodgers, T. (1985) Language laboratories: What have we learned? NASSP
Bulletin , 69(480)21-29.
Issan, S., & Gomaa, N. (2010). Post Basic Education reforms in Oman: A case study.
Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal , 1(1), 19-27.
Kimura, Y., Nakata, Y., & Okumura, T. (2001). Language learning motivation of EFL learners in Japan - A cross-sectional analysis of various learning milieus. JALT
Journal, 23(1), 47-65.
Moody, J. (2009). A neglected aspect of ELT in the Arabian Gulf: Who is communication between? In Zhang, L. J., R. Rubdy, & Alsagoff, L. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 13th
International Conference on English in Southeast Asia (pp. 99-119). Singapore:
National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University.
62
Abstract
This paper is an essay that explains Representation, Crisis of Representation, and Legitimation as nonfoundational key concepts. The focus will be on Representation and its crisis.
Legitimation will be discussed as to how it is linked to representation but the main focus is to explore the representation concept in depth. This paper will explain how representation is defined, its crisis and the related ethical issues. It will look at the relationship between representation and ethnography, identity, perspective, and culture. It will also explore some other concepts that are related to the concept of representation. The last part of the paper will examine how representation is related to research in the field of Composition and TESOL.
1.
What is Representation?
The term representation has various definitions depending on the community of discourse. I will start this paper by providing several definitions of the term representation, adding my understanding of the concept and what it implies. The literal meaning of representation is to re-describe, re-present, re-illustrate, re-express, and repeat several features of the world.
According to the Dictionary of Qualitative Inquiry, representatio n “in its many forms— as resemblance, replication, repetition, description, and duplication — is central to the modernist project of understanding the world” (p.227).
Schwandt (2001) discusses two types of representation in his book Dictionary of Qualitative
Inquiry . The first type is the naturalistic inquiry which “assumes the importance of faithful representation of the life worlds of those one studies.”(p. 227). Few of such naturalistic researchers are attached to “naïve realism”. They argue that their ac counts are exact representations and literal reflections of an external reality. Few others would dispose of the idea that their representation, description, or portrayal should not be exact and precise. The second type is the postmodernists, who “find the idea of representation reprehensible” (p,
228). They argue that representation acquires “a) the ability to reproduce and duplicate reality and b) the ability to make the transfer without loss of content” (p.228). They believe that there is not something c alled ‘original’. They think that there are endless representations and it assumes objectivism. They believe that they suggest rather than represent.
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Representation in qualitative inquiry could mean the process of re-presenting a research that was previously presented or representing subjects (participant or a group of participants). The questions related to representation are who has the right to represent what and how? Where is the truth? Are you qualified to represent what was presented? What are the ethical issues and requirements for representation? All these questions and much more indicate that it is very hard to give one general definition to the term representation and it is harder to summarize it in an eight page essay.
According to Danesi, (1999), representation is defined as “Literally “presenting again”
(representing) some aspects of the world through signs, codes, and texts. Representation implies classification, that is, the organization of the meanings captured and conveyed by signs, codes, a nd texts into categories” (P. 25). Here, the definition gives more of a general sense to representation including signs, codes, texts, and how such things are related to our world.
More generally, representation, as defined by Wikipedia, is “the act of pe rforming selected functions of roles of another physical or abstract (object, person, or organization) in predefined circumstances and it is based on the consensus of the group/ community involved”
(Para. 1). For example, a written symbolic text on a piece of paper could represent a physical object. Representation could mean the expression of opinions or symbolic behaviors on the behalf of the subject that is being presented.
For more clarification, I will give a general example of representation in research. When we write a research paper, we read first to collect ideas, facts and sentences about a certain topic.
Sometimes, we come up with new ideas while we are reading, and other times we rewrite those ideas that have been spoken or written before to reach our own ideas. We use representation to write what other people have previously discussed before. We could represent what others said from different perspectives for different reasons. Thus, we are linking what other people wrote (the text), how people were presented in the text (the participants, subjects), and our own ideas altogether to represent them in a new text. There are definitely ethical issues and requirements that govern representation, which I will address later in this paper.
More detailed type of representation is Fallible Representation which seeks “to find ways to give evidence or good reasons for their accounts that represent social phenomena without claiming that those accounts are certain or beyond revision ” ( Schwandt, 2001, p. 228 ).
Additionally, there are many different kinds of representation, each appearing in different domains. There is representation in politics, in law, and in several other fields.
Also, there is self-representation and representation as part of a group. Self representation is how you represent yourself as an individual sharing space in and belonging to many aspects of the world. The way you represent yourself is the indication of who you are as a person and what you want people to know about you. Of course, sometimes we represent the opposite of
64

Representation in qualitative inquiry could mean the process of re-presenting a research that was previously presented or representing subjects (participant or a group of participants). The questions related to representation are who has the right to represent what and how? Where is the truth? Are you qualified to represent what was presented? What are the ethical issues and requirements for representation? All these questions and much more indicate that it is very hard to give one general definition to the term representation and it is harder to summarize it in an eight page essay.
According to Danesi, (1999), representation is defined as “Literally “presenting again”
(representing) some aspects of the world through signs, codes, and texts. Representation implies classification, that is, the organization of the meanings captured and conveyed by signs, codes, a nd texts into categories” (P. 25). Here, the definition gives more of a general sense to representation including signs, codes, texts, and how such things are related to our world.
More generally, representation, as defined by Wikipedia, is “the act of pe rforming selected functions of roles of another physical or abstract (object, person, or organization) in predefined circumstances and it is based on the consensus of the group/ community involved”
(Para. 1). For example, a written symbolic text on a piece of paper could represent a physical object. Representation could mean the expression of opinions or symbolic behaviors on the behalf of the subject that is being presented.
For more clarification, I will give a general example of representation in research. When we write a research paper, we read first to collect ideas, facts and sentences about a certain topic.
Sometimes, we come up with new ideas while we are reading, and other times we rewrite those ideas that have been spoken or written before to reach our own ideas. We use representation to write what other people have previously discussed before. We could represent what others said from different perspectives for different reasons. Thus, we are linking what other people wrote (the text), how people were presented in the text (the participants, subjects), and our own ideas altogether to represent them in a new text. There are definitely ethical issues and requirements that govern representation, which I will address later in this paper.
More detailed type of representation is Fallible Representation which seeks “to find ways to give evidence or good reasons for their accounts that represent social phenomena without claiming that those accounts are certain or beyond revision ” ( Schwandt, 2001, p. 228 ).
Additionally, there are many different kinds of representation, each appearing in different domains. There is representation in politics, in law, and in several other fields.
Also, there is self-representation and representation as part of a group. Self representation is how you represent yourself as an individual sharing space in and belonging to many aspects of the world. The way you represent yourself is the indication of who you are as a person and what you want people to know about you. Of course, sometimes we represent the opposite of
64 what we want people to know in order to hide something from them. For example, the way we dress indicates the way we sometimes feel, the country we belong to, or the religion we believe in. For me, wearing a scarf in my country means I am a good Muslim, but this does not mean that everyone who wears a scarf is Muslim or a good Muslim, but as I mentioned before, what one thing means in one country can mean something else in another. It is subject to cultural and individual variation.
Representation as part of a group is how we represent ourselves as part of a discourse community. I can research and represent a group of participants by studying them as subjects in order to help them know about themselves through an emic perspective, or I can represent them to other people who would like to know about them through an etic perspective. I can represent a group of people by belonging to them and sharing their values and beliefs. Fine
(1994) comments on “how researchers have spoken “of” and “for” others while occluding ourselves and our own investment” (p. 70). By representing others, researchers document the others’ unfiltered voice. Commenting on Risessman (1993), Casey (1995) stated “‘I share the goal but am more cautious. We cannot give voice, but we do hear voices that we record and interpret.’ The problem, after all is not with the voices that speak but with the ears that do not hear” (p. 223). Casey is relating the problem to the researchers themselves and how they do not represent the reality of their participants.
An example of representing a group of people , being a Composition & TESOL graduate student, I can represent all of the graduate students in general, my community of Composition
& TESOL, women in the graduate program, women in the Composition and TESOL
Program, and many other communities. Enrolling in the Composition and TESOL graduate program gave me the right to represent these roles, but at the same time this does not mean that I can represent anyone who belongs to these communities anytime and anywhere; to be able to represent such a big group of people, there are rules, ethical issues, and requirements.
Sometimes, the way I represent myself has an affect on me or on the group I represent. Then, it comes to the question of was I a good representative of me or of my group? Did I represent what I intended to present of myself? Did I represent what the group intended to present or did I add my personal voice or perspective? When we represent others, we are studying communities which sometimes we are familiar with to some degree or not at all, we collect and interpret artifacts about these communities to achieve the desired goals of our study.
2.
Representation, Perspective, Voice and Identity
How does identity, voi ce, subjectivity, and perspective shape the researchers’ understanding of the data and representation of the subjects? To answer such a question, we need to look at our nature as human beings. All of us have our own identity that is shaped by our past experiences, by many factors that could be related to gender, culture, race, ethnicity, class, and level of education. This identity shapes our voices, perspectives, beliefs, and our understanding of the data in the research. Due to this, all of the above play very important roles in our representation of the data or the subjects. The challenge occurs when the
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researchers try to represent, describe, or interpret without making any judgments or adding their own beliefs, voices, and perspectives to the interpretation and representation of the data or the participants. The researchers need to ensure that what they represented duplicates and illustrates what the subjects or the data intended, and not what the researchers wanted to hear or think. Even if the data doe s not agree with the researchers’ voices, perspectives, and beliefs, researchers need to document the voices and beliefs of the others (subjects) that they are representing. Sometimes, it is an unconscious process and the researchers do not feel themselves adding their voices to the data. Thus, they need to make this process a conscious one and they can, after presenting the subjects and analyzing the data, add their own voices and interpretations that fit with their beliefs and ideas. They need to control their perspectives and not let their perspectives and desires control their representations.
3.
Representation and Culture
People perceive things differently according to their culture. One thing represents a meaning in one country while it could represent something different, completely the opposite, or the same in another. Representation is subject to individual and cultural variation. This means that when researchers represent something they should indicate what the representation means to the specific culture, context, and time. Here is a brief example that represents various meanings on different countries.
In East Africa, the Swahili believe the Owl represents and brings illness to children. In Arabia, the Owl is a bird of ill omen, the embodiment of evil spirits that carries off children at night. In Iran, it is said that this bird brings bad luck. It is forbidden to eat the owl in Islam. In Middle East, the Owl represents the souls of people who have died un-avenged. However, in Louisiana, owls are old people and should be respected and in China, the Owl is a symbol of too much Yang (positive, masculine, bright, active energy) (Lewis, 1999).
4.
Representation, Ethnography, and the field of Composition and TESOL
In the field of Composition and TESOL, I focus on representation in Qualitative Research.
Most graduate students, teachers, and scholars need to conduct research related to their field of study. Most of the time, they need to look at what others have done in their field. They need to review and represent previous research, including researchers or participants in order to reach their conclusions and results of the study. We can be the participants to a research study or the researchers for our own study. The research and qualitative inquiry would not exist today without the researchers themselves and their efforts, and the subjects and their existences, participation, and willingness.
For the researchers, they need to make conscious and careful observation and interpretation about the way they represent the subjects of their studies. They also need to consider their audience and aims. From this, a relationship emerges between researchers, subjects, and the written text. The relationship between the researcher, subjects, text, and representation is interdependent. The relationship between researcher and the subjects (participants) is
66

researchers try to represent, describe, or interpret without making any judgments or adding their own beliefs, voices, and perspectives to the interpretation and representation of the data or the participants. The researchers need to ensure that what they represented duplicates and illustrates what the subjects or the data intended, and not what the researchers wanted to hear or think. Even if the data doe s not agree with the researchers’ voices, perspectives, and beliefs, researchers need to document the voices and beliefs of the others (subjects) that they are representing. Sometimes, it is an unconscious process and the researchers do not feel themselves adding their voices to the data. Thus, they need to make this process a conscious one and they can, after presenting the subjects and analyzing the data, add their own voices and interpretations that fit with their beliefs and ideas. They need to control their perspectives and not let their perspectives and desires control their representations.
3.
Representation and Culture
People perceive things differently according to their culture. One thing represents a meaning in one country while it could represent something different, completely the opposite, or the same in another. Representation is subject to individual and cultural variation. This means that when researchers represent something they should indicate what the representation means to the specific culture, context, and time. Here is a brief example that represents various meanings on different countries.
In East Africa, the Swahili believe the Owl represents and brings illness to children. In Arabia, the Owl is a bird of ill omen, the embodiment of evil spirits that carries off children at night. In Iran, it is said that this bird brings bad luck. It is forbidden to eat the owl in Islam. In Middle East, the Owl represents the souls of people who have died un-avenged. However, in Louisiana, owls are old people and should be respected and in China, the Owl is a symbol of too much Yang (positive, masculine, bright, active energy) (Lewis, 1999).
4.
Representation, Ethnography, and the field of Composition and TESOL
In the field of Composition and TESOL, I focus on representation in Qualitative Research.
Most graduate students, teachers, and scholars need to conduct research related to their field of study. Most of the time, they need to look at what others have done in their field. They need to review and represent previous research, including researchers or participants in order to reach their conclusions and results of the study. We can be the participants to a research study or the researchers for our own study. The research and qualitative inquiry would not exist today without the researchers themselves and their efforts, and the subjects and their existences, participation, and willingness.
For the researchers, they need to make conscious and careful observation and interpretation about the way they represent the subjects of their studies. They also need to consider their audience and aims. From this, a relationship emerges between researchers, subjects, and the written text. The relationship between the researcher, subjects, text, and representation is interdependent. The relationship between researcher and the subjects (participants) is
66 sometimes viewed as teacher/learner collaborative and beneficial relationship. From here, a new question develops, how valid the research is if it was misrepresented by the researcher?
The representation of a research plays a very important role in the validity of a research. If a research was misrepresented by the researcher then it is invalid, un-useful, and unusable.
Thus, that the researcher will lose his/her audience because of the conflict between the data, representation, and results. Even if it was published, it would not be taken into consideration by other researchers.
Representation is considered as a part of ethnography. In ethnography, writers (observers) writ e about other people’s (observed) stories, life experiences or any other observations; in this process the writers are representing those people in their text, telling their stories and their experiences. The question here, is how those observers conceive, document, and reflect the observed, and not their own interpretation of them. How can writers capture the true lived experience and reality of the others and transcribe it into a text that represents the observed people in an accurate way.
Ethnography produces a thick description which emphasizes the use of techniques that ensure accuracy, validity, and reliability in the final representation (Sullivan, 1996, p. 101). Janice
Lauer and J. William Asher authors of Composition Research: Empirical Designs , focused on the “mechanism of knowledge— on methods of data collection and analysis that provide the composition researcher with ‘a window on culture’” in their chapter on ethnography
(Sullivan, 1996, p. 101). They looked at the nature of ethnographic inquiry as a methodological limitation and believe that “no ethnographer can be objective, nor is that the goal” (Lauer & Asher, 1988, p.42). Thus, the ethnographic method places ethnographic authority and responsibility on the researcher to represent what is true of the others. The researched have their own rights and are living in their own cultural area; the ethnographers enter their worlds and write about what they learned from observation and sometimes participation. As Maanen explains ethnographers represent “the social reality of others through the analysis of one’s own experience in the world of these others” (1988, p. ix).
Representation, as I mentioned above, is part of the ethnographic studies in qualitative research which became very popular in the last three decades, including the composition and
TESOL field. Kenneth, Kantor, Kirby, and Goetz, in their article Research in the Teaching of
English which was summarized in Introduction: Reflections on Methodology in Literacy
Studies by Kirsch and Mortensen, examined what a good and bad ethnographer is and concluded that there are five problems in Qualitative research. These problems that should be accounted for are: “Reliability and validity, interpretive language, data collection and analysis, correspondence s with experimental research, and resources for research” (302 -305).
The researchers need to interpret their data and represent their participants carefully; this will enhance the validity of the research or the ethnographic study. All these five problems are central to all research and are under the authority of representation which is controlled by ethical issues and requirements to shape the research. Then, the way the researchers represent their subjects and data is the link between the term representation and qualitative research.
67

Upon my reading of the article Introduction: Reflections on Methodology in Literacy Studies by Kirsch and Mortensen and the term representation, I concluded the following diagram:
Diagram (1) is an example of representation, but after reading these articles and designing this diagram, I asked myself, did I represent what they wrote in their articles the same way they intended? Would they represent their information the same way I did? Of course, the answer could be yes or no. It just so happens that sometimes there are two or more people that think the same way, but certainly what I just designed can be represented in various ways.
5.
Academic Success, Ethical Issues, and Representation
We as human beings become very blinded by our driven desires, desires to achieve our goals whether in our personal or academic life. Sometimes, we do not even realize how unsupportive we become of others, simply to support our own ideas, perspectives, and beliefs. Other times, we pretend to misunderstand or misinterpret others in order to prove our point of views; this will lead to misrepresentation of others. In our academic life, such misrepresentation in research will weaken the work itself. The question here, is how researchers represent the subjects, other researchers, or the data in their work or research?
What ethical issues do composition and TESOL scholars need to take into consideration when they are representing other data or subjects?
In any qualitative research, the researchers struggle with some ethical issues to some degree, whether with the subjects or the data; Thomas Newkirk calls it “the ethics of bad news”. It is unethical to research subjects without their knowledge or consent. The researchers seduce and betray the subjects by showing them their good will and friendliness and by not making their intentions known. Here, the moral conflict appears when the researchers start writing and representing the data or the participants as Newkirk calls it by “bad news”. The researchers’ repre sentation of the subjects could be negative or fails to represent the reality of the participants. Thus, when the subjects read the text they feel betrayed, deceived, embarrassed, and lose their trust in the researchers.
However, there is an “informed consent form” that is approved by the institutions committee.
These forms provide a brief and unclear description of the research project. Such forms state to the subjects that they have the right of participating or not in the study. They can withdraw at any point in the research, remain anonymous, and their identity will be protected. These forms help to some degree in protecting the subjects’ rights but they still are not fully protected from the researchers’ representation of them. The participants know li ttle about the project, the goals and findings of the researchers, and how they will be described, whether it will be negatively or positively. However, this does not ensure the participants that no harm will face them from participating in the study.
68

Upon my reading of the article Introduction: Reflections on Methodology in Literacy Studies by Kirsch and Mortensen and the term representation, I concluded the following diagram:
Diagram (1) is an example of representation, but after reading these articles and designing this diagram, I asked myself, did I represent what they wrote in their articles the same way they intended? Would they represent their information the same way I did? Of course, the answer could be yes or no. It just so happens that sometimes there are two or more people that think the same way, but certainly what I just designed can be represented in various ways.
5.
Academic Success, Ethical Issues, and Representation
We as human beings become very blinded by our driven desires, desires to achieve our goals whether in our personal or academic life. Sometimes, we do not even realize how unsupportive we become of others, simply to support our own ideas, perspectives, and beliefs. Other times, we pretend to misunderstand or misinterpret others in order to prove our point of views; this will lead to misrepresentation of others. In our academic life, such misrepresentation in research will weaken the work itself. The question here, is how researchers represent the subjects, other researchers, or the data in their work or research?
What ethical issues do composition and TESOL scholars need to take into consideration when they are representing other data or subjects?
In any qualitative research, the researchers struggle with some ethical issues to some degree, whether with the subjects or the data; Thomas Newkirk calls it “the ethics of bad news”. It is unethical to research subjects without their knowledge or consent. The researchers seduce and betray the subjects by showing them their good will and friendliness and by not making their intentions known. Here, the moral conflict appears when the researchers start writing and representing the data or the participants as Newkirk calls it by “bad news”. The researchers’ repre sentation of the subjects could be negative or fails to represent the reality of the participants. Thus, when the subjects read the text they feel betrayed, deceived, embarrassed, and lose their trust in the researchers.
However, there is an “informed consent form” that is approved by the institutions committee.
These forms provide a brief and unclear description of the research project. Such forms state to the subjects that they have the right of participating or not in the study. They can withdraw at any point in the research, remain anonymous, and their identity will be protected. These forms help to some degree in protecting the subjects’ rights but they still are not fully protected from the researchers’ representation of them. The participants know li ttle about the project, the goals and findings of the researchers, and how they will be described, whether it will be negatively or positively. However, this does not ensure the participants that no harm will face them from participating in the study.
68
Problems must account for
Reliability &
Validity
Correspondence with
Experimental research
Interpretive language
Data collection &
Analysis
Resources for research
Qualitative Research
Case Studies
Ethnography In particular
The researcher
Representation &
Interpretation
(Ethical issues)
Subjects (Participants)
Interpretive, Representation Authority
(Rights & Responsibilities of
Representation)
Written Text
New Qualitative Research
Interpretation &
Representation is central to all research
69
Diagram 1

Cheri Williams calls the researchers “safe guardians”, who guard the “rights, interests, safety, and sensitivities of those who entrust information to them” (p. 45). They need to distinguish between their own goals to achieve academic success, their ethical behaviors and principles of representing others and their experiences. The researchers hold the power of representing a bigger group of participants for different goals and purposes. As Newkirk
(1996) puts it “those who turn other people’s lives into texts hold real power” (p.14). Thus, such power should appropriately be used to accurately portray the results of the study.
6.
Crisis of Representation
The phrase “Crisis of representation” came into the picture in the last decades of the twentieth century. It first appeared in feminist and some critical theories. It was coined originally by George Marcus and Michael Fischer to “refer to the uncertainty within the human sciences about adequate means of describing social reality” (Schwandt, 2001, p. 41).
Due to the diversity of this concept, it can have numerous interpretations and definitions, therefore there is no authority. This is connected with the concept of representation. The crisis of representation arises from the uncontroversial claim that there is no interpretive account that can successfully capture true lived experience directly or completely. Some indications of the crisis are: “borrowing methods and ideas across disciplines, questioning the dominance of post-World War II frameworks and theories that guided inquiry, and the turn away from developing theoretical models of social and natural order to debates about … forms of representation” (Schwandt, 2001, p. 41). As an insider, you cannot distance yourself to accurately analyze the discourse community; as outsider, you cannot understand intricacies of the discourse community.
According to Schwandt, there are two types of voices in the crisis. The first one is the radically skeptical voice and the second one is the optimistic voice. The radical skeptics claim that texts are the only thing with which we are faced, which are inscriptions that create diverse accounts of lived experiences. There is no relationship between the inscriptions of the texts and the real experiences. All the attempts of describing and explaining are at best reductive, incomplete, insufficient, and at worst misleading, fraudulent, perverse, and deceptive. The language of representation is simply rhetoric, texts that refer to other texts. On the other hand, the optimistic responses recognize the significance of examining the rhetoric of representation but “are not willing to concede that the dilemma of representation dissolves the responsibility of social scientist to describe and explain the social world” (Schwandt,
2001, p.42).
Crisis of representation is mainly connected with representation and the crisis arises when a researcher represents an experience or subjects. The crisis is considered as a part of general ideas that challenge the beliefs about the role of encompassing and oversimplifying and generalizing the frameworks that guide empirical research in a discipline (Schwandt, 2001, p.41). There are many other concepts that the crisis is related to such as, Legitimation, Crisis of Legitiamtion, Authority, Grand Theory, and Post Modernism.
70

Cheri Williams calls the researchers “safe guardians”, who guard the “rights, interests, safety, and sensitivities of those who entrust information to them” (p. 45). They need to distinguish between their own goals to achieve academic success, their ethical behaviors and principles of representing others and their experiences. The researchers hold the power of representing a bigger group of participants for different goals and purposes. As Newkirk
(1996) puts it “those who turn other people’s lives into texts hold real power” (p.14). Thus, such power should appropriately be used to accurately portray the results of the study.
6.
Crisis of Representation
The phrase “Crisis of representation” came into the picture in the last decades of the twentieth century. It first appeared in feminist and some critical theories. It was coined originally by George Marcus and Michael Fischer to “refer to the uncertainty within the human sciences about adequate means of describing social reality” (Schwandt, 2001, p. 41).
Due to the diversity of this concept, it can have numerous interpretations and definitions, therefore there is no authority. This is connected with the concept of representation. The crisis of representation arises from the uncontroversial claim that there is no interpretive account that can successfully capture true lived experience directly or completely. Some indications of the crisis are: “borrowing methods and ideas across disciplines, questioning the dominance of post-World War II frameworks and theories that guided inquiry, and the turn away from developing theoretical models of social and natural order to debates about … forms of representation” (Schwandt, 2001, p. 41). As an insider, you cannot distance yourself to accurately analyze the discourse community; as outsider, you cannot understand intricacies of the discourse community.
According to Schwandt, there are two types of voices in the crisis. The first one is the radically skeptical voice and the second one is the optimistic voice. The radical skeptics claim that texts are the only thing with which we are faced, which are inscriptions that create diverse accounts of lived experiences. There is no relationship between the inscriptions of the texts and the real experiences. All the attempts of describing and explaining are at best reductive, incomplete, insufficient, and at worst misleading, fraudulent, perverse, and deceptive. The language of representation is simply rhetoric, texts that refer to other texts. On the other hand, the optimistic responses recognize the significance of examining the rhetoric of representation but “are not willing to concede that the dilemma of representation dissolves the responsibility of social scientist to describe and explain the social world” (Schwandt,
2001, p.42).
Crisis of representation is mainly connected with representation and the crisis arises when a researcher represents an experience or subjects. The crisis is considered as a part of general ideas that challenge the beliefs about the role of encompassing and oversimplifying and generalizing the frameworks that guide empirical research in a discipline (Schwandt, 2001, p.41). There are many other concepts that the crisis is related to such as, Legitimation, Crisis of Legitiamtion, Authority, Grand Theory, and Post Modernism.
70
7.
Representation, Legitimation, and Other Related Concepts
Representation appears in almost all fields and in even our everyday lives. It is related to most of the other foundational and nonfoundational concepts. The concept legitimation is correlated with representation. Legitimation is the act of providing legitimacy. It is the process of making something normative and acceptable to a group of people or a specific audience. In social science, legitimation refers to the process that an act or process becomes legitimate by the norms and values within a society that it is attached to. The relationship between representation and Legitimation is that the representation should be legitimate and acceptable to its audience. The relationship between them is that researchers should present what is legitimate, truth, and real meaning of any representation. By studying and claiming a representation to be legitimate, are the researchers creating its legitimacy?
There is also the crisis of legitimation which is related to the authority in general and authority of any ethnographic account (text authority). Authority is the claim that a text makes to be accurate and legitimate. The crisis of legitimation means the issues and concerns arise from examining the authority of the interpretive text through postmodernism and poststructuralism. The authority of the text is judged by the validity, accuracy, reliability, and honesty of the account it states (Schwandt, 2001, p.39). The validity here is defined as “the conditions of the legitimation of knowledge” (Lather, 1993, p. 673). The question that is related to this crisis is, what is the basis we use to discriminate between good or bad accounts? The answer of this question depends on the justification of different ways of persuading the audience of the legitimacy of the claimed account. Much debate still remains about the basis of discriminating between better or worst accounts.
There are of course other concepts connected with the term representation like Authority,
Description, Ethnographic Realism, Experience, Observation, Truth, Meaning, Realism,
Idealism, Subjectivity, Objectivity, Standpoint, and Validity.
At the end, I asked myself in how many ways I can represent what I just presented. And if I will represent it again, will I represent it the same way I just did?
Of course, the answer is no.
References
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Qualitative Research (chapter 8, pp. 146-165). London: Sage Publications.
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Clifford, J. & George Marcus. (1986). Writing Culture: The poetics and Politics of
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Clifford, J. (1983). On Ethnography Authority. The Scholarly Journal Archive.
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Introduction to Semiotics (Semaphores and Signs). New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
Martin’s Press.
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Fine, M. (1994). Working the Hyphens: Reinventing Self and Other in Qualitative Research.
In N.R. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds). Handbook of Qualitative Research (1st edition). California: Sage Publications, 70-82.
Gubrium, J., & Holstein, J. (1997). The New Language of Qualitative Method. Oxford:
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Lassiter, Luke. (2005). The Chicago Guide to Collaborative Ethnography. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press.
Lather, P. (1993). Fertile Obsession: Validity after Poststructuralism. The Sociological
Quarterly, 34(4), 673-693.
Lauer, Janice M., & William Asher. (1988). Composition Research: Empirical Designs. New
York: Oxford UP.
Lewis, Deane. (1999). World Owl Methodology. Last modified on August 9th, 2006, retrieved November 16, 2006, from, http://www.owlpages.com/articles.php?section=Owl+Mythology&title=World
Maanen, John. (1988). Tales of the Field: on Writing Ethnography. Chicago: University of
Chicago press.
Maanen, John. (1995). Representation in Ethnography. London: Sage Publications.
McKenzie, M. (2005). The ‘Post -Post Period and Environmental Education Research.
Environmental Education Research, 11(4), 401-412.
Newkirk, T. (1996). Seduction and Betrayal in Qualitative Research. In Mortensen, P., &
Gesa E. Kirsch (Ed.), Ethics and Representation in Qualitative Studies of Literacy
(pp. 3-16). National Council of Teachers of English: Illinois.
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Rosenau, P. (1992). Post-Modernism and the Social Sciences. Princeton: Princeton
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Schwandt, Thomas. (2001). Dictionary of Qualitative Inquiry (2nd Ed). London: Sage
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Sullivan, P. (1996). Ethnography and the Problem of the “Others”. In Mortensen, P., & Gesa
E. Kirsch (Ed.), Ethics and Representation in Qualitative Studies of Literacy (pp. 3-
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Williams, C. (1996). Dealing with the Data: Ethical Issues in Case Study Research. In
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Studies of Literacy (pp. 3-16). National Council of Teachers of English: Illinois.
72

Clifford, J. & George Marcus. (1986). Writing Culture: The poetics and Politics of
Ethnography. California: University of California Press.
Clifford, J. (1983). On Ethnography Authority. The Scholarly Journal Archive.
Representations, 2, 118-146.
Danesi, Marcel. (1999). Of Cigarettes, High Heels, and Other Interesting Things: An
Introduction to Semiotics (Semaphores and Signs). New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
Martin’s Press.
Denzin, N. K. (1991). Images of Postmodern Society. London: Sage
Fine, M. (1994). Working the Hyphens: Reinventing Self and Other in Qualitative Research.
In N.R. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds). Handbook of Qualitative Research (1st edition). California: Sage Publications, 70-82.
Gubrium, J., & Holstein, J. (1997). The New Language of Qualitative Method. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Lassiter, Luke. (2005). The Chicago Guide to Collaborative Ethnography. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press.
Lather, P. (1993). Fertile Obsession: Validity after Poststructuralism. The Sociological
Quarterly, 34(4), 673-693.
Lauer, Janice M., & William Asher. (1988). Composition Research: Empirical Designs. New
York: Oxford UP.
Lewis, Deane. (1999). World Owl Methodology. Last modified on August 9th, 2006, retrieved November 16, 2006, from, http://www.owlpages.com/articles.php?section=Owl+Mythology&title=World
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Chicago press.
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McKenzie, M. (2005). The ‘Post -Post Period and Environmental Education Research.
Environmental Education Research, 11(4), 401-412.
Newkirk, T. (1996). Seduction and Betrayal in Qualitative Research. In Mortensen, P., &
Gesa E. Kirsch (Ed.), Ethics and Representation in Qualitative Studies of Literacy
(pp. 3-16). National Council of Teachers of English: Illinois.
Representation. Wikipedia. Last modified on November 14th, 2006, retrieved November 17,
2006, from, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation
Rosenau, P. (1992). Post-Modernism and the Social Sciences. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
Schwandt, Thomas. (2001). Dictionary of Qualitative Inquiry (2nd Ed). London: Sage
Publications, Inc.
Sullivan, P. (1996). Ethnography and the Problem of the “Others”. In Mortensen, P., & Gesa
E. Kirsch (Ed.), Ethics and Representation in Qualitative Studies of Literacy (pp. 3-
16). National Council of Teachers of English: Illinois.
Williams, C. (1996). Dealing with the Data: Ethical Issues in Case Study Research. In
Mortensen, P., & Gesa E. Kirsch (Ed.), Ethics and Representation in Qualitative
Studies of Literacy (pp. 3-16). National Council of Teachers of English: Illinois.
72
Abstract
This eye opener study aims to investigate how office hours are perceived by the teachers and their students in the low levels of the English Foundation Program at the Language Center, Sultan
Qaboos University. It also explores how teachers and their students approach office hours during the semester. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments were used in this study. First, two questionnaires were used to explore teachers' and students' perceptions of office hours. In addition, a focus-group interview was conducted with five teachers to highlight their own practices to optimally use their office hours.
The results revealed that although both teachers and their students share similar understanding of office hours as a concept, they approach this concept differently which triggers major challenges that hinder better use of teachers' office hours among English as a
Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Based on the findings, major recommendations were suggested to better exploit office hours by both teachers and students in the low levels of the English
Foundation Program. First, teachers need to inform students about office hours and its importance in the orientation week using students' first language. Second, it is recommended that teachers make the first two visits compulsory. Other recommendations suggested that teachers should give students other alternatives to communicate with them. The most practical and effective recommendation was to create a common support room where students can meet with their teachers regularly. This solution has proved , during the implementation phase of the study, to be effective and practical.
Keywords: EFL , office hours, perception, , students, teachers
73

1. Introduction
The main goal of this research is to gain a better understanding of how teachers and students at the low levels of the English foundation program at Sultan Qaboos University perceive the use of office hours. The Language Center’s Staff Handbook requires all teachers to be available during their 8 office hours to mainly support their students and to carry on other duties ( Staff Handbook, 2014, p. 25). However, a general observation by the teachers in the low level courses is that the majority of students don’t make a good use of their teacher’s office hours to improve their low level of English. Looking back at schools, the out-of class interaction between teachers and students is relatively minimal and office hours as a concept does not exist, let alone the practice. This study aimed at exploring the reasons behind this situation. The literature on the use of office hours in educational contexts is scarce. It does not go beyond general tips for undergraduate college freshmen on how to make use of their professors' office hours. This study is the first of its kind at the Language Center ;therefore, it is an eye opener to the Language Center administration and especially to the academic staff working in the low levels of the English foundation programs in different institutes. Thus, this study would be a valuable addition to the literature in the EFL field.
2. Review of Related Literature
Although there is no precisely an agreed-upon definition for office hours in educational institutes, the assigned time when teachers meet individual students outside the regular classroom to provide special assistance is the simplest way to define it. Schiller (n.d) defined office hours as " the posted days and times a professor can be expected to be in his/her office available to students. This is a job requirement for all instructors". It is believed that office hours are the "most academically effective use" of students' time (Nguyen , 2011). Many articles have listed for students the top reasons why they should make use of their teachers' office hours. The most common ones are to: introduce themselves at the beginning of the semester. remove confusion about the course and its requirements. discuss special needs. enhance learning experience. evaluate how students are doing and improve the way they study.
Yet, students usually feel hesitant to go through this one-to-one encounter with their teachers.
Multiple reasons for this lack of teacher-student interaction are investigated. For instance, some students feel afraid of asking stupid questions. Others have already missed so many classes, so they feel "out of the loop" (Nguyen, 2011). In language classes, reluctance to use office hours is one of the recurrent issues among EFL/ESL learners (Tips on Teaching ESL
Students, n.d.). Therefore, many learning centers in different universities and educational
74

1. Introduction
The main goal of this research is to gain a better understanding of how teachers and students at the low levels of the English foundation program at Sultan Qaboos University perceive the use of office hours. The Language Center’s Staff Handbook requires all teachers to be available during their 8 office hours to mainly support their students and to carry on other duties ( Staff Handbook, 2014, p. 25). However, a general observation by the teachers in the low level courses is that the majority of students don’t make a good use of their teacher’s office hours to improve their low level of English. Looking back at schools, the out-of class interaction between teachers and students is relatively minimal and office hours as a concept does not exist, let alone the practice. This study aimed at exploring the reasons behind this situation. The literature on the use of office hours in educational contexts is scarce. It does not go beyond general tips for undergraduate college freshmen on how to make use of their professors' office hours. This study is the first of its kind at the Language Center ;therefore, it is an eye opener to the Language Center administration and especially to the academic staff working in the low levels of the English foundation programs in different institutes. Thus, this study would be a valuable addition to the literature in the EFL field.
2. Review of Related Literature
Although there is no precisely an agreed-upon definition for office hours in educational institutes, the assigned time when teachers meet individual students outside the regular classroom to provide special assistance is the simplest way to define it. Schiller (n.d) defined office hours as " the posted days and times a professor can be expected to be in his/her office available to students. This is a job requirement for all instructors". It is believed that office hours are the "most academically effective use" of students' time (Nguyen , 2011). Many articles have listed for students the top reasons why they should make use of their teachers' office hours. The most common ones are to: introduce themselves at the beginning of the semester. remove confusion about the course and its requirements. discuss special needs. enhance learning experience. evaluate how students are doing and improve the way they study.
Yet, students usually feel hesitant to go through this one-to-one encounter with their teachers.
Multiple reasons for this lack of teacher-student interaction are investigated. For instance, some students feel afraid of asking stupid questions. Others have already missed so many classes, so they feel "out of the loop" (Nguyen, 2011). In language classes, reluctance to use office hours is one of the recurrent issues among EFL/ESL learners (Tips on Teaching ESL
Students, n.d.). Therefore, many learning centers in different universities and educational
74 institutes have written articles for their students to encourage them to get the most out of their teachers' office hours.
Many institutes have moved to the virtual office hours as a way to avoid the face-to-face interaction between students and teachers. One of the early empirical studies that explored the possibility of using virtual office hours was done by (Atamian and DeMoville, 1998). The authors introduced the study by asserting that traditional office hours may interrupt teachers when they are busy doing some professional development work. They added :
Have you ever felt momentary aversion at being interrupted by a student’s knoc k on your office door or by a student’s phone call while you were immersed in the contemplation of your research?’ Or have you ever wanted to put the following in your class syllabus: Office
Hours: None; Office Phone: Unlisted? (Atamian and DeMoville, 1998, p.31)
The question is : Are virtual office hours a good replacement for the traditional office hours?
We believe that language teachers should not avoid this physical interaction with their students as learners need to practice the target language in a purely authentic and fully communicative atmosphere.
Research questions
It is obvious that students in the English Foundation Program do not use their teachers' office hours effectively. The reasons might be related to a mismatch between teachers’ and stud ents’ understanding of the purpose of office hours or it might be related to practicality issues such as the lack of time.
The general questions of this research study were:
 How do the teachers and their students in the low Levels of the English
Foundation Program at the Language Center perceive office hours?
 How office hours are used in the low levels of the English Foundation Program?
 In order to answer the first main question of this study, the following specific questions were addressed:
 How much do s tudents know about their teacher’s office hours?
 How important office hours are to the students in the low levels from students’ point of view?
 What do students expect from their teachers during office hours?
 How important office hours are to the students in the low levels from teachers’ point of view?
 What are the main purposes of office hours from the teacher’s point of view?
 The following questions were investigated to answer the second question of this study:
 How often do students visit their teachers during their office hours?
75

 Why do students visit their teachers during office hours?
 How do teachers use their office hours?
3. Methodologies and data collection
Both quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments were used in this study. There we re teacher’s and student’s questionnaires with Likert scale and open -ended questions. In addition, a focus- group interview was conducted with 5 experienced teachers in the low level of the English Foundation Program. The student’s questionnaire was distri buted among 135 students who were enrolled in the low levels of the EFP (level one and two) and 10 core teachers of these sections completed the teacher’s questionnaire. Participating in the focus group interview was based on teachers' interest and willingness to share and discuss their beliefs and personal experiences.
4. Findings and discussions
This section discusses the findings from the students' and teachers' questionnaires in addition to the focus-group interview with the teachers. The final results have been presented and discussed around three themes. These are the concept of office hours, the usage of office hours and the challenges to optimally make use of office hours.
The concept of office hours
It was clear from the teachers’ questionnaires and the focus-group interview that teachers understood the concept of office hours and they realized their importance to help their students. They reported that they used their office hours to help and support the weak students with course-related issues. They also made themselves available to the students who have personal or attendance problems. In addition to supporting their students, all the participating teachers reported using their office hours to do some course-related work such as preparing for class. They also used some of these hours to participate or attend professional development opportunities at the Language Center. The teachers also stated that they always shared their office hours with their students by posting them in the classroom and reminding students verbally to visit them during the semester. However, in the focus-group interview all teachers agreed that although students know about office hours, the concept itself doesn’t register with them until week 3 or 4 of the semester.
As for students, the results of their questionnaires showed that they perceived the importance of office hours to improve their English and to seek help from their teachers when they faced problems. The majority of students reported that their teachers had given them their timetables indicating their office hours. About 85% of the students stated that their teachers encouraged them to visit them during office hours. However, only 31% of students stated that they actually visited their teachers during office hours. That was an interesting finding.
76

 Why do students visit their teachers during office hours?
 How do teachers use their office hours?
3. Methodologies and data collection
Both quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments were used in this study. There we re teacher’s and student’s questionnaires with Likert scale and open -ended questions. In addition, a focus- group interview was conducted with 5 experienced teachers in the low level of the English Foundation Program. The student’s questionnaire was distri buted among 135 students who were enrolled in the low levels of the EFP (level one and two) and 10 core teachers of these sections completed the teacher’s questionnaire. Participating in the focus group interview was based on teachers' interest and willingness to share and discuss their beliefs and personal experiences.
4. Findings and discussions
This section discusses the findings from the students' and teachers' questionnaires in addition to the focus-group interview with the teachers. The final results have been presented and discussed around three themes. These are the concept of office hours, the usage of office hours and the challenges to optimally make use of office hours.
The concept of office hours
It was clear from the teachers’ questionnaires and the focus-group interview that teachers understood the concept of office hours and they realized their importance to help their students. They reported that they used their office hours to help and support the weak students with course-related issues. They also made themselves available to the students who have personal or attendance problems. In addition to supporting their students, all the participating teachers reported using their office hours to do some course-related work such as preparing for class. They also used some of these hours to participate or attend professional development opportunities at the Language Center. The teachers also stated that they always shared their office hours with their students by posting them in the classroom and reminding students verbally to visit them during the semester. However, in the focus-group interview all teachers agreed that although students know about office hours, the concept itself doesn’t register with them until week 3 or 4 of the semester.
As for students, the results of their questionnaires showed that they perceived the importance of office hours to improve their English and to seek help from their teachers when they faced problems. The majority of students reported that their teachers had given them their timetables indicating their office hours. About 85% of the students stated that their teachers encouraged them to visit them during office hours. However, only 31% of students stated that they actually visited their teachers during office hours. That was an interesting finding.
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It seems from the teachers’ and students’ feedback that the teachers and students approached office hours differently. The teachers had constantly encouraged and reminded their students to go and visit them during their office hours. Yet, students wanted something stronger than encouragement to visit their teachers. In the open-ended part of the questionnaire, students wanted their teachers to invite them to their offices and to give them fixed timings during the week to see them during office hours. Surprisingly, few students suggested that their teachers make their visits during office hours compulsory. In fact, looking at the school environment which most of these students come from, most of the time students are called to the teachers’ room for disciplinary reasons only. It is because they misbehave in the classroom, they do not do their homework or they miss a school day. This says a lot about the time students need to perceive the idea of office hours and realize office hours' positive effect on their studies.
The usage of office hours
When asked about the main reasons why their students usually visit them during office hours, the teachers said that the most popular reason was discussing attendance. Students would mainly visit them to ask about the number of hours they have already missed or to ask for an excuse to miss a class. Surprisingly, nearly half of the students stated that they rarely visited their teachers during office hours to discuss attendance. It seems that students felt embarrassed or insecure to admit that they had issues with their attendance which can explain this contradicting finding. In addition, about 70% of teachers mentioned that many of their office hours were dedicated to assess and help students with the portfolio which was the most problematic element of the course.
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The results of the students’ questionnaire were close to the teacher’s as about 64% of
Students indicated that portfolio was the main reason for visiting their teachers during office hours. Moreover, students mentioned in the open-ended questions that they talked to their teachers about their personal and academic problems during their office hours.
However, an experienced teacher in the focus-group interview interpreted the low percentage of students visiting their teachers seeking academic support as a positive sign. She explained that students were getting the support they needed in the Tutorial Center with their listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. They were offered this service on one-to-one basis and in a private atmosphere, so maybe students preferred going to the Tutorial Center instead of visiting their teachers. This also explains why most students visited their teachers to mainly discuss administrative issues such as attendance, Moodle registrations and assessment.
In summary, students are generally relaxed whenever the issue of office hours is brought into discussion while most teachers in the Language Center are disappointed from the fact that the majority of their students are not visiting them enough in the office to get the support that they need. The following findings might explain this contradiction. 70% of the participating students in this study believed that they effectively used thei r teachers’ office hours to progress in their study. However, half of the teachers could not confirm that they were using their office hours effectively to help their students’ progress in their studies. It seems that students would feel satisfied if they visit their teachers few times a semester to discuss attendance, course-related matters or even to say "Hi!". On the other hand, teachers expect their students to regularly make use of meeting them on one-to-one basis to work on their weak areas in English and to get extra practice.
4.3 Challenges to optimally use office hours
The low percentage of students (31%) reporting visiting their teachers during their office hours created an interesting discussion in the focus-group interview with teachers. Teachers
78

The results of the students’ questionnaire were close to the teacher’s as about 64% of
Students indicated that portfolio was the main reason for visiting their teachers during office hours. Moreover, students mentioned in the open-ended questions that they talked to their teachers about their personal and academic problems during their office hours.
However, an experienced teacher in the focus-group interview interpreted the low percentage of students visiting their teachers seeking academic support as a positive sign. She explained that students were getting the support they needed in the Tutorial Center with their listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. They were offered this service on one-to-one basis and in a private atmosphere, so maybe students preferred going to the Tutorial Center instead of visiting their teachers. This also explains why most students visited their teachers to mainly discuss administrative issues such as attendance, Moodle registrations and assessment.
In summary, students are generally relaxed whenever the issue of office hours is brought into discussion while most teachers in the Language Center are disappointed from the fact that the majority of their students are not visiting them enough in the office to get the support that they need. The following findings might explain this contradiction. 70% of the participating students in this study believed that they effectively used thei r teachers’ office hours to progress in their study. However, half of the teachers could not confirm that they were using their office hours effectively to help their students’ progress in their studies. It seems that students would feel satisfied if they visit their teachers few times a semester to discuss attendance, course-related matters or even to say "Hi!". On the other hand, teachers expect their students to regularly make use of meeting them on one-to-one basis to work on their weak areas in English and to get extra practice.
4.3 Challenges to optimally use office hours
The low percentage of students (31%) reporting visiting their teachers during their office hours created an interesting discussion in the focus-group interview with teachers. Teachers
78 realized that few students visited them during office hours despite the fact that they encouraged and waited them in the office which was disappointing for some of them. They thought that there were many factors preventing students from using the office hours.
The first challenge was the students’ level of English proficiency. With the basic English skills that they have, students are intimidated to confront their teachers. Many students asked their teachers in the questionnaire to be easy with them because they do not have good
English. They also mentioned that when the teacher is not strict, students would visit him/her during office hours. The English barrier was realized by both teachers and students. For example, the teachers in the focus-group interview mentioned that the weak students would always come with a classmate or a friend to help them communicate with their teachers. In addition, the students’ questionnaire showed that nearly 73% of students went with a friend when they visited their teachers during their office hours. This shows that the low level of
English can demotivate students from visiting their teachers during office hours. This proves that there is a need for a proper place for teachers to meet their students at the Language
Center or preferably in each teaching block.
The second challenge facing teachers to optimally use office hours was space. The teachers said that students did not have privacy when they visit them during office hours which defeated the whole purpose of this process. The weak students who are shy to speak in class and come to their teacher for help in private feel uncomfortable talking in front of the other teachers sharing the office with their class teacher. A teacher said that sometimes she has to take her students outside her office and sit with them in a corner to give them the privacy they need to talk about their problems. Another teacher sharing a small office with a colleague has to ask her students to come individually to see her during her office hours because she cannot accommodate more than a student at a time. Some teachers mentioned that students also find it difficult to come to the Language Center to see their teachers during their break because of the distance between their classes and the Language Center.
5. Conclusion and recommendations
Based on the findings of this research, it is obvious that there are three areas associated with office hours as practice. The following sections offer some recommendations on how to ensure better understanding and use of office hours and how to reduce the challenges students encounter when visiting their teachers during office hours.
5.1 The concept of office hours
In order to help students better perceive the concept of office hours, the following are suggested:
Talk to the new students joining the university about office hours in Arabic during the orientation week.
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Explain the concept of office hours and their importance to the academic progress of students in the students’ handbook .
Avoid using the abbrevia tion ‘OH’ to indicate office hours in the teachers’ timetables especially with the students at the low levels of the English Foundation Program.
5.2 The use of office hours
The researchers believe that students need to know about the specific tasks and activities which they can do with their teachers in their office hours. However, the low percentage of students who usually use the office hours is a challenge. As mentioned earlier, some students asked their teachers to invite them to their offices and to give then fixed timings to visit them.
This suggestion was discussed with the teachers in the focus-group interview. Some teachers felt that office hours should be made compulsory only for the weak students. However, there was the fear of stigmatizing office hours that they are only available for low achievers which will prevent the high achievers from visiting their teachers in their offices to get extra help.
However, there was an agreement among teachers to make the first two visits to the teacher’s office compulsory at the beginning of the semester to enable students to understand the concept of office hours. Hopefully, they will make their own decision to visit their teachers again after knowing the kind of support which they can get during office hours. Therefore, teachers should be ready and well-prepared for these initial visits to leave a good impression on their students.
Another suggestion to help both teachers and students use office hours effectively is giving the students other alternatives to communicate with their teachers regarding administrative issues such as attendance. For example, a teacher mentioned in the interview that she gives her students the choice of calling her in the office when they have some questions instead of coming to her office. Two students of another teacher would send e-mails in English to their teacher seeking for her help instead of visiting her physically in the office. Observing students using these ways instead of visiting their teachers during office hours can be interpreted as follow. Maybe these students feel more secure to write e-mails and check their accuracy than making mistakes when talking to their teachers face-to-face. Phone calls are also more convenient to inform their teachers that they will miss a class than walking under the sun heat to the teachers' offices.
5.3 The challenges
It was suggested in the focus-group interview to have a venue to meet students in each teaching block where teachers can meet their students and spend some of their office hours there. Since this research was conducted at the end of the Fall semester, one of the researchers who is also the Course-Coordinator of the lowest two levels of English in the
Foundation Program provided a venue for teachers in the program in the teaching block being used in the Spring semester to meet their students. Teachers dedicated some of their office
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Explain the concept of office hours and their importance to the academic progress of students in the students’ handbook .
Avoid using the abbrevia tion ‘OH’ to indicate office hours in the teachers’ timetables especially with the students at the low levels of the English Foundation Program.
5.2 The use of office hours
The researchers believe that students need to know about the specific tasks and activities which they can do with their teachers in their office hours. However, the low percentage of students who usually use the office hours is a challenge. As mentioned earlier, some students asked their teachers to invite them to their offices and to give then fixed timings to visit them.
This suggestion was discussed with the teachers in the focus-group interview. Some teachers felt that office hours should be made compulsory only for the weak students. However, there was the fear of stigmatizing office hours that they are only available for low achievers which will prevent the high achievers from visiting their teachers in their offices to get extra help.
However, there was an agreement among teachers to make the first two visits to the teacher’s office compulsory at the beginning of the semester to enable students to understand the concept of office hours. Hopefully, they will make their own decision to visit their teachers again after knowing the kind of support which they can get during office hours. Therefore, teachers should be ready and well-prepared for these initial visits to leave a good impression on their students.
Another suggestion to help both teachers and students use office hours effectively is giving the students other alternatives to communicate with their teachers regarding administrative issues such as attendance. For example, a teacher mentioned in the interview that she gives her students the choice of calling her in the office when they have some questions instead of coming to her office. Two students of another teacher would send e-mails in English to their teacher seeking for her help instead of visiting her physically in the office. Observing students using these ways instead of visiting their teachers during office hours can be interpreted as follow. Maybe these students feel more secure to write e-mails and check their accuracy than making mistakes when talking to their teachers face-to-face. Phone calls are also more convenient to inform their teachers that they will miss a class than walking under the sun heat to the teachers' offices.
5.3 The challenges
It was suggested in the focus-group interview to have a venue to meet students in each teaching block where teachers can meet their students and spend some of their office hours there. Since this research was conducted at the end of the Fall semester, one of the researchers who is also the Course-Coordinator of the lowest two levels of English in the
Foundation Program provided a venue for teachers in the program in the teaching block being used in the Spring semester to meet their students. Teachers dedicated some of their office
80 hours to meet their students there and informed their students about these timings. The ongoing feedback from the teachers who used this venue was positive. Teachers reported that almost all students attended, maybe because it was more convenient for students to meet their teachers before or after their class in the same teaching block. In addition, both students and teachers found the privacy wh ich they cannot find in the teacher’s offices at the Language
Center.
It is also advised that teachers should be patient with the weak students who visit them in the office and try to help their students communicate their ideas and thoughts successfully when they meet them in the office. Praising students and giving them positive feedback make them come back again. With non-Arabic teachers, it is suggested to pair the weakest student in a group with a high achiever and always invite them to the office together. This will more likely make the student with low English proficiency feel secured and encouraged to make use of the teacher’s office hours.
Since the literature of the use of office hours in the EFL context is scarce, further research should be conducted to verify the results of this research and to explore other areas associated with the use of office hours as an integral part of the learning and teaching process in all educational institutes.
References
Atamian, R.,& DeMoville, W. (1998). Office Hours — None: An E-Mail Experiment.
Nguyen, R. (2011). Make The Most Out Of Office Hours. Retrieved from http://collegeinfogeek.com/make-the-most-out-of-office-hours/
Schiller, E. (n.d). Taking Advantage of Office Hours. Retrieved from http://www.back2college.com/officehours.htm
Staff Handbook. (2014). Language Centre, Sultan Qaboos University. Routledge, 46:1, 31-
35
Tips on Teaching ESL Students. (n.d). The Writing Center: University of North Carolina.
Retrieved from http://writingcenter.unc.edu/faculty-resources/tips-on-teaching-eslstudents/tips-on-teaching-esl-students/
81

The language instinct. 1994. Harper Perennial. New York. Steven Pinker
ISBN: 0-688-12141-1. P. 483
Dr. Rashid Al-Balushi
Sultan Qaboos University
“ The Language Instinct ” provides several arguments that language is innate, that it is acquired by a specific mental faculty that only handles language, called the Language Faculty or Universal Grammar (UG). As such, argues Pinker, language is an instinct, that is, a distinct piece of the biological structure of our brains. This position is based on his views of language, how its acquired, and the brain.
For Pinker, language is a discrete combinatorial system.
1 This notion is explained by his analysis of the different linguistic elements: sounds, words, and sentences. First, after showing that our brains have the features that enable us to produce the sounds, he demonstrates that our implicit knowledge of sound structure (sounds and phonotactics) can be represented as a (mental) tree composed of the components that allow us to generate many outputs. He argues that speech production and perception are important components of the language instinct since even the sophisticated speech production and recognition machines fail to tackle the complexities handled by the human brain.
Second, Pinker demonstrates how the notion of ‘generativeness’ can explain how words are acquired and mentally represented and formed to express thought. He shows that the human mind is able to handle the complexities of word acquisition through the distribution of stems, affixes, and morphological and phonological rules necessary for word formation. He also shows how these word elements can be represented as a mental tree , and argues that words are like sentences in that they are infinite and cannot be generated by a chaining device.
Third, Pinker argues that our brains have innate knowledge of rules, transformations and lexical properties of words. He demonstrates how sentence elements are organized in the
1 That language is a discrete combinatorial system means that:
1. language units are separate from one another; 2. language combines small units into larger ones to create meaning, and 3. and the combinations start with the smallest units of language (sounds) and become progressively larger – sounds grouping into words, words into sentences, and sentences into discourse. All combinations are rule-governed and systematic, i.e., realized according to the rules of the language (McMenamin, 2002, p. 56) .
82

The language instinct. 1994. Harper Perennial. New York. Steven Pinker
ISBN: 0-688-12141-1. P. 483
Dr. Rashid Al-Balushi
Sultan Qaboos University
“ The Language Instinct ” provides several arguments that language is innate, that it is acquired by a specific mental faculty that only handles language, called the Language Faculty or Universal Grammar (UG). As such, argues Pinker, language is an instinct, that is, a distinct piece of the biological structure of our brains. This position is based on his views of language, how its acquired, and the brain.
For Pinker, language is a discrete combinatorial system.
1 This notion is explained by his analysis of the different linguistic elements: sounds, words, and sentences. First, after showing that our brains have the features that enable us to produce the sounds, he demonstrates that our implicit knowledge of sound structure (sounds and phonotactics) can be represented as a (mental) tree composed of the components that allow us to generate many outputs. He argues that speech production and perception are important components of the language instinct since even the sophisticated speech production and recognition machines fail to tackle the complexities handled by the human brain.
Second, Pinker demonstrates how the notion of ‘generativeness’ can explain how words are acquired and mentally represented and formed to express thought. He shows that the human mind is able to handle the complexities of word acquisition through the distribution of stems, affixes, and morphological and phonological rules necessary for word formation. He also shows how these word elements can be represented as a mental tree , and argues that words are like sentences in that they are infinite and cannot be generated by a chaining device.
Third, Pinker argues that our brains have innate knowledge of rules, transformations and lexical properties of words. He demonstrates how sentence elements are organized in the
1 That language is a discrete combinatorial system means that:
1. language units are separate from one another; 2. language combines small units into larger ones to create meaning, and 3. and the combinations start with the smallest units of language (sounds) and become progressively larger – sounds grouping into words, words into sentences, and sentences into discourse. All combinations are rule-governed and systematic, i.e., realized according to the rules of the language (McMenamin, 2002, p. 56) .
82 brain as tree constituents that express proper chunks of thought. He states that language is independent from cognition since our brains can detect grammaticality in the ungrammatical, the ambiguous, and the anomalous sentences. He argues that the behavior of language exerts great demands on the processing ( generating ) device that only human brains are able to handle such complexities. This unique property of human language differentiates it from animal communication systems, which is why all the attempts to teach human language to animals failed.
Pinker also argues that our thinking is conducted by a silent medium or language of the mind, mentalese . As our thoughts are vocalized, they get clothed in words of the respective languages. Therefore, language does not shape thought because thought can exist before and/or without language and also because thoughts decide which language better conveys them, and often thoughts bring words into existence. Pinker further argues that humanity speaks one language because all the languages of the world employ the same symbolmanipulating machinery (having infinite linguistic forms created by a discrete combinatorial system). He presents compelling evidence for his claim that the languages of the world share a lot of their categories, and have undergone similar changes caused by the processes of learning, variation, and migration. He also argues that the rules of language and writing should reflect the natural workings of the language system, not the experts’ prescriptions , because the innovations, exceptions and conventions are rule-governed, systematic and have psychological and logical bases, and so they should be welcome to serve communicative intents.
Although he acknowledges that the biology of the brain is not totally understood, Pinker states that the front of the perisylvian region is responsible for grammar, and its rear part is responsible for sounds, words, and some aspects of meaning. Believing in grammar genes, he thinks that the brain is organized in areas each of which is dedicated to handle a grammatical function, but we still do not have sufficient evidence for that. Along the same lines, Pinker argues for a universally structured human mind. To illustrate, for anything to be learned there should be some innate mechanism or a genetic basis. Though he acknowledges the roles of heredity and environment, he stresses the innateness aspect of learning. Pinker argues that all infants come into the world with linguistic skills. This is because they show speech perception in any language, pay attention to supra-segmental features of speech, recognize phonemes and allophones, and learn sound articulation skills, as early as one year of age, and segment speech, understand and differentiate types of words, and show knowledge of the word-order of their first language as early as eighteen months of age. He argues that grammar is wired into the child’s brain and show s how a child’s utterances are accommodated and bound by UG.
Furthermore, Pinker argues that we have a grammatical parser that analyzes the structure of sentences as we hear them (employing lexical and grammatical knowledge). This helps us understand the sentences by building their tree structures and filling in terminal and phrasal slots, thus reconstituting the meanings of the sentences. Compared to computer programs,
83

argues Pinker, our parser is much more effective because of its decision-making facility. He also provides evidence for the dissociating language from the other cognitive and analytical abilities, by discussing cases of Williams syndrome individuals whose linguistic abilities are normal, and some linguistically retarded patients who can display organized and sound thinking.
Through his discussion of some of the issues that he presents, Pinker provides different alternatives (e.g. the word-chain system, the artificial neural networks, the speech production and recognition programs, etc…) and shows their shortcomings in comparison to the human brain. His arguments for the recognition of innovations, conventions, and exceptions as linguistically accepted operations are plausible. He presents a convincing case when he argues that animals cannot learn our language (or grammar), since, to do so, they must exhibit the same linguistic behavior that we show.
Despite this largely convincing case, it seems that Pinker ignored some equally plausible explanations for some of the phenomena that he discusses. For example, when discussing our phonological abilities, he does not consider categorical perception as being a general auditory capacity since animals like chinchilla (Kuhl & Miller, 1975), nonhuman primates (Ramus,
Hauser, Miller, Morris, & Mehler, 2000), birds (Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch, 2002), and dogs
(Fukuzawa, Mills, & Cooper, 2005) have it, and also because children can perceive nonspeech sounds. In addition, he does not consider statistical probabilities as a speech segmentation strategy; that is, speech segmentation is done on an experience-dependent basis, using sequencing and transitional probabilities (Saffran, Aslin, & Newport, 1996, Smith &
Yu, 2008, Pelucchi, Hay, & Saffran, 2009). Furthermore, since prosodic cues are more meaningful for infants than language, then there might not be mental grammatical rules, but rather general cognitive auditory capabilities (Fernald, 1989:1497, Gervain & Werker, 2013, de Diego-Balaguer, Rodríguez-Fornells, & Bachoud-Lévi, 2015). In addition, he does not discuss the finding (or possibility) that mutual exclusivity (or generally the social/pragmatic/cognitive cues/constraints children employ in word acquisition) is a general cognitive skill and not language-specific (Clark, 1990, Diesendruck & Markson, 2001, de
Marchena, Eigsti, Worek, Ono, & Snedeker, 2011). Similarly, Pinker does not consider datadriven learning of grammatical structures (as opposed to parameter-setting) when discussing grammar acquisition (Akhtar, 1999, Matthews, Lieven, Theakston, & Tomasello, 2005).
Moreover, when discussing Williams Syndrome individuals as evidence for the modularity of language, he does not discuss their linguistic deficits, which, correlating with their cognitive disabilities, might be evidence for a link between language and cognition (Karmiloff-Smith,
Klima, Bellugi, Grant, & Baron-Cohen, 1995, Brock, 2007). Besides, when discussing the uniqueness of grammar, he does not mention the link between lexical and grammatical development (Bates, 2003, Moyle, Ellis Weismer, Evans, & Lindstrom, 2007). Furthermore, he does not consider the finding that the two hemispheres are involved in language development (Bryan, 1988, Lindell, 2006) since frontal damage to the left hemisphere and right hemisphere produces expressive language delays, and damage to the right hemisphere
84

argues Pinker, our parser is much more effective because of its decision-making facility. He also provides evidence for the dissociating language from the other cognitive and analytical abilities, by discussing cases of Williams syndrome individuals whose linguistic abilities are normal, and some linguistically retarded patients who can display organized and sound thinking.
Through his discussion of some of the issues that he presents, Pinker provides different alternatives (e.g. the word-chain system, the artificial neural networks, the speech production and recognition programs, etc…) and shows their shortcomings in comparison to the human brain. His arguments for the recognition of innovations, conventions, and exceptions as linguistically accepted operations are plausible. He presents a convincing case when he argues that animals cannot learn our language (or grammar), since, to do so, they must exhibit the same linguistic behavior that we show.
Despite this largely convincing case, it seems that Pinker ignored some equally plausible explanations for some of the phenomena that he discusses. For example, when discussing our phonological abilities, he does not consider categorical perception as being a general auditory capacity since animals like chinchilla (Kuhl & Miller, 1975), nonhuman primates (Ramus,
Hauser, Miller, Morris, & Mehler, 2000), birds (Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch, 2002), and dogs
(Fukuzawa, Mills, & Cooper, 2005) have it, and also because children can perceive nonspeech sounds. In addition, he does not consider statistical probabilities as a speech segmentation strategy; that is, speech segmentation is done on an experience-dependent basis, using sequencing and transitional probabilities (Saffran, Aslin, & Newport, 1996, Smith &
Yu, 2008, Pelucchi, Hay, & Saffran, 2009). Furthermore, since prosodic cues are more meaningful for infants than language, then there might not be mental grammatical rules, but rather general cognitive auditory capabilities (Fernald, 1989:1497, Gervain & Werker, 2013, de Diego-Balaguer, Rodríguez-Fornells, & Bachoud-Lévi, 2015). In addition, he does not discuss the finding (or possibility) that mutual exclusivity (or generally the social/pragmatic/cognitive cues/constraints children employ in word acquisition) is a general cognitive skill and not language-specific (Clark, 1990, Diesendruck & Markson, 2001, de
Marchena, Eigsti, Worek, Ono, & Snedeker, 2011). Similarly, Pinker does not consider datadriven learning of grammatical structures (as opposed to parameter-setting) when discussing grammar acquisition (Akhtar, 1999, Matthews, Lieven, Theakston, & Tomasello, 2005).
Moreover, when discussing Williams Syndrome individuals as evidence for the modularity of language, he does not discuss their linguistic deficits, which, correlating with their cognitive disabilities, might be evidence for a link between language and cognition (Karmiloff-Smith,
Klima, Bellugi, Grant, & Baron-Cohen, 1995, Brock, 2007). Besides, when discussing the uniqueness of grammar, he does not mention the link between lexical and grammatical development (Bates, 2003, Moyle, Ellis Weismer, Evans, & Lindstrom, 2007). Furthermore, he does not consider the finding that the two hemispheres are involved in language development (Bryan, 1988, Lindell, 2006) since frontal damage to the left hemisphere and right hemisphere produces expressive language delays, and damage to the right hemisphere
84 results in language problems. Finally, he does not consider the finding that deaf children born for hearing parents, thus having linguistic problems, have an increased risk of academic
(cognitive) problems. Compared to late acquirers, the native speakers of American Sign
Language show enhanced spatial and cognitive skills as well as academic advantages. I think that it is an extreme position to propose that everything that we learn has a specialized innate biological basis. If this were the case, then why do other parts take over some functions when their respective modules get damaged?
In general, “ The Language Instinct ” is a very interesting and beneficial book. The author’s discussion, together with the examples he provides, is illustrative. Most of the time, he provides sufficient and convincing evidence for his claims, though he sometimes ignores some alternatives the evidence for which had already been available. Overall, I think that he makes a good case in an enjoyable, artistic, and well-planned argumentation style.
References
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Bates, E. (2003) . On the nature and nurture of language. In E. Bizzi, P. Catissano, & V.
Volterra (Eds.), Frontiere della Biologia [Frontiers of biology]. Il Cervello di Homo
Sapiens [The brain of homo sapiens]. Roma: Giovanni Trecani.
http://crl.ucsd.edu/~bates/papers/pdf/bates-inpress.pdf
Brock, J. (2007). Language abilities in Williams syndrome: A critical review. Development and Psychopathology, 19 (1), 97 – 127.
Bryan, K. (1988). Assessment of language disorders after right hemisphere damage. The
British Journal of Disorders of Communication, 23 (2), 111 – 125.
Clark, E. (1990). On the pragmatics of contrast. Journal of Child Language, 17 (2), 417 – 431. de Diego-Balaguer, R., Rodríguez-Fornells, A., & Bachoud-Lévi, A.-C. (2015). Prosodic cues enhance rule learning by changing speech segmentation mechanisms. Frontiers in Psychology , 6, 1478. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4588126/ de Marchena, A., Eigsti, I.-M., Worek, A., Ono, K., & Snedeker, J. (2011). Mutual exclusivity in autism spectrum disorders: testing the pragmatic hypothesis. Cognition,
119 (1), 96 – 113.
Diesendruck, G., & Markson, L. (2001). Children ’ s avoidance of lexical overlap: A pragmatic account. Developmental Psychology, 37 (5), 530 – 641.
Fernald, A. (1989). Intonation and communicative intent in mothers ’ speech to infants. Child
Development, 60 (6), 1497 – 1510.
Fukuzawa, M., Mills, D., & Cooper, J. (2005). The effect of human command phonetic characteristics on auditory cognition in dogs. Journal of Comparative Psychology,
119 (1), 117 – 120.
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Gervain, J., & Werker, J. (2013). Prosody cues word order in 7-month-old bilingual infants.
Nature Communications, 4 (1490), 1 – 6.
Hauser, M., Chomsky, N., & Fitch, T. (2002). The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? Science, 298 (5598), 1569 – 1579.
Karmiloff-Smith, A., Klima, E., Bellugi, U., Grant, J., & Baron-Cohen, S. (1995). Is there a social module? Language, face processing, and theory of mind in individuals with
Williams Syndrome. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 7 (2), 196 – 208.
Kuhl, P., & Miller, J. (1975). Speech perception by the chinchilla: Voiced-voiceless distinction in alveolar plosive consonants. Science, 190 (4209), 69 – 72.
Lindell, A. (2006). In your right mind: Right hemisphere contributions to language processing and production. Neuropsychology Review, 16 (3), 131 – 148.
Matthews, D., Lieven, E., Theakston, A., & Tomasello, M. (2005). The role of frequency in the acquisition of English word order. Cognitive Development, 20 (1), 121 – 136.
McMenamin, G. (2002). Forensic linguistics: Advances in forensic stylistics . CRC Press.
Moyle, M., Ellis Weismer, S., Evans, J., & Lindstrom, M. (2007). Longitudinal relationships between lexical and grammatical development in typical and late talker children.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50 (2), 508 – 528.
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