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[bookworm2]

Are you a teacher who reads research? Increasing numbers do and more could. Reading a well-written research article can be as satisfying as reading a good short story.

If you are working in Oman (and want to know more about the culture of your students) or are thinking of doing your own research in the Sultanate, perhaps as part of a distance Masters degree, ELT research conducted here might seem particularly relevant. However, if these don�t apply, you might enjoy reading it anyway. There�s actually been quite a lot of good research produced in Oman in the last few years, if you know where to find it.

I�ve put together the following bibliography. It�s a list of research publications on ELT in Oman. What these publications have in common is that they are recent (published in the last six years) and open access; so you don�t need a library subscription to read them.

First on the list, there are a number of publications produced by the Ministry of Education. These include three collections of edited BA TESOL dissertations on a variety of topics, a collection of edited MA dissertations produced by Omani teachers who studied in Leeds in the UK and a collection of papers about the University of Leeds / Ministry of Education BA TESOL Project (1999-2009). These volumes are all available on the Ministry of Education portal.

Atkins, J., Lamb, M. & Wedell, M. (Eds.). (2009). International collaboration for educational change: The BA project. Muscat: Ministry of Education, Sultanate of Oman.
Borg, S. (Ed.). (2006). Classroom Research in English Language Teaching in Oman. Ministry of Education, Oman
Borg, S. (Ed.). (2008). Investigating English language teaching and learning in Oman. Ministry of Education, Oman.
Borg. S. (Ed.) (2009). Researching English language teaching and teacher development in Oman. Ministry of Education, Oman
Borg, S. (Ed.) (2009). Understanding English language teaching and learning in Oman. Ministry of Education, Oman
Wyatt, M. & Atkins, J. (Eds.) (2009). Research perspectives on education in Oman. Muscat: Ministry of Education, Sultanate of Oman.

Also, there are a number of articles focused on ELT in Oman that have been published in international open access journals in the last few years. These include the following:

Al-Husseini, S. (2006). The visible and invisible role of English foundation programmes: A search for communication opportunities within EFL contexts. Asian EFL Journal, 8 (4), 35-51.
Al-Issa, A.S.M. (2006). The cultural and economic politics of English language teaching in the Sultanate of Oman. Asian EFL Journal, 8 (1), 194-218.
Al-Issa, A.S.M. and Al-Bulushi, A. (2010). Training English language student teachers to become reflective teachers. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 35 (4), 41-64.
El-Okda, M. (2005). A proposed model for EFL teacher involvement in on-going curriculum development. Asian EFL Journal, 7 (4), 33-49.
El-Okda, M. (2005). EFL student teachers� cognition about reading instruction. The Reading Matrix, 5 (2), 1-18.
Moheidat, A.S. & Baniabdelrahman, A.A. (2011). The impact of Omani twelfth-grade students� self-assessment on their performance in reading in English. Asian EFL Journal, 13 (1), 48-84.
Wyatt, M. (2009). Practical knowledge growth in communicative language teaching. TESL-EJ, 13 (2), 1-23.
Wyatt, M. (2010). One teacher�s development as a reflective practitioner. Asian EFL Journal, 12 (2), 235-261.
Wyatt, M. (2011). Becoming a do-it-yourself designer of English language teaching materials. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12 (1), 1-38.

I repeat� these are open access articles. So, if you google them, they will come up.

If there are any gems I�ve missed, please let me know.

Cheers!

[Geronimo]

Thanks for providing this bibliography, bookworm2.

Some of the articles are easier to locate than others, though.

Here�s a link to one of those attributed to M. S. Wyatt in the above listing...
http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/viewArticle/1533/3138

It serves to underline the importance of the work undertaken by
Leeds University staff in developing Omani trainee English teachers.

Geronimo

[bookworm2]

Thanks for the feedback, Geronimo. To help the reader, I�ve provided a few links:

Firstly, though, it�s amazing to think how far Oman has come in such a short time. In 1970, there were just three schools in the whole country; these were male-only primary schools. When education expanded rapidly in the 70s, tents were used as schoolrooms in many places until schools were built. According to the UNDP, Oman is the world�s most improved nation, in terms of health and education, in the last 40 years. Here are a couple of links to articles on the history:

Atkins, J. & Griffiths, D. (2009). Background to the BA (TESOL) programme and project. In: J. Atkins, M. Lamb & M. Wedell (Eds.). (2009), International collaboration for educational change: The BA project (pp. 1-10). Muscat: Ministry of Education, Sultanate of Oman.

http://www.moe.gov.om/Portal/sitebuilder/Sites/EPS/Arabic/IPS/Importa/tesol/4/Background%20to%20the%20BA%20Educational%20Studies%20(TESOL)%20Programme%20a.pdf

Rassekh, S. (2004). Education as a motor for development: Recent education reforms in Oman with particular reference to the status of women and girls. Geneva: UNESCO.

http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/archive/publications/innodata/inno15.pdf

Secondly, regarding learning on the Leeds/Oman BA programme you mention, here is what a few graduates thought about it:

Al-Bureikhi, M.A., Al-Shibli, S.S., Al-Tobi, Z.M., Al-Snaidi, F.S., Darwish, A.S. & Al-Jahdhmy, H.N. (2009). Being a student on the BA Educational Studies (TESOL) programme: Six graduates� perspectives. In: J. Atkins, M. Lamb & M. Wedell (Eds.). (2009), International collaboration for educational change: The BA project (pp. 48-59). Muscat: Ministry of Education, Sultanate of Oman.

http://www.moe.gov.om/Portal/sitebuilder/Sites/EPS/Arabic/IPS/Importa/tesol/4/Being%20a%20student%20on%20the%20BA%20Educational%20Studies%20(TESOL)%20Progra.pdf

Some of the Leeds staff have also written about the Omani teachers� development:

Arnold, E., Al-Balooshi, A., Al-Beloushi, J., Al-Rashdi, S., Al-Sa�adi, N., Al-Shiyakh, T. & Holmes, J. (2009). The impact of the BA Educational Studies (TESOL) programme on the writing skills of graduates from Batinah North Cohort 2. In J. Atkins, M. Lamb & M. Wedell (Eds.), International collaboration for educational change: The BA project (166-178). Muscat: Ministry of Education, Sultanate of Oman.

http://www.moe.gov.om/Portal/sitebuilder/Sites/EPS/Arabic/IPS/Importa/tesol/4/The%20impact%20of%20the%20BA%20Educational%20Studies%20(TESOL)%20Programme~1.pdf

Green, S. (2009). The construction of academic literacy on the BA Educational Studies (TESOL) programme: A case study. In J. Atkins, M. Lamb & M. Wedell (Eds.), International collaboration for educational change: The BA project (70-81). Muscat: Ministry of Education, Sultanate of Oman.

http://www.moe.gov.om/Portal/sitebuilder/Sites/EPS/Arabic/IPS/Importa/tesol/4/The%20construction%20of%20academic%20literacy%20on%20the%20BA%20Educational%20.pdf

Wyatt, M. (2009). Practical knowledge growth in communicative language teaching. TESL-EJ 13 (2), 1-23.

http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume13/ej50/ej50a2/

Wyatt, M. (2010). One teacher�s development as a reflective practitioner. Asian EFL Journal 12 (2), 135-161.

http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/June_2010_mw.php

The Omani English teachers in greatest need of professional help right now are probably the recent graduates of universities such as Ajman and Dhofar, although some SQU graduates need plenty of continuing support too (see links below).

Al-Balooshi, A.S. (2009). Beginning teachers� perceptions of their first year�s teaching experience. In M. Wyatt & J. Atkins (Eds.), Research perspectives on education in Oman (pp. 89-104). Muscat: Ministry of Education, Sultanate of Oman.

http://www.moe.gov.om/Portal/sitebuilder/Sites/EPS/Arabic/IPS/Importa/tesol/5/Beginning%20teachers%E2%80%99%20perceptions%20of%20their%20first%20year%E2%80%99s%20teachi.pdf

El-Okda, M. (2005). EFL student teachers� cognition about reading instruction. The Reading Matrix 5 (2), 1-18.

http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/okda/article.pdf

Martin, R.A. (2011). Service projects and women�s agency in Salalah, Oman: A portrait of pre-service Dhofari English teachers. International Journal of Educational Development. Advance online publication. doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2011.05.002

http://caocao.myipcn.org/science/article/pii/S0738059311000903

Cheers!


[/quote]

[kuberkat]

Good call, bookworm!

Incidentally, the publications edited by Simon Borg encourage participation from Omani researchers, which is an excellent step for giving visiting educators an inside perspective.

There also seems to be a race among Oman's tertiary institutes to publish their own journals. Many of these have only been available in print, but please add links if any online editions are available. One online journal featuring teacher perspectives was recently launched by Salalah College of Technology. Find the first edition at http://issuu.com/salalahcollegeoftechnology/docs/sct_elc_journal_volume1_2011_a5. (There is also a PDF version on the college website, but the site is not always available during server maintenance.)

Looking forward to more!

[bmfus]

Thanks for the info regarding ELT research in Oman, Bookworm....They are all definitely of interest.

Just wanted to add that more generally the Cambridge Journal 'English Today' has a few interesting articles on English use in the Gulf region:

Martin, A. (2003) 'An experience of teaching in the United Arab Emirates', English Today, 19 (2).

Randall, M. & Samimi, M.A. (2010) 'The status of English in Dubai', English Today, 26 (1).

Poole, B. (2006) 'Some effects of Indian English on the language as it is used in Oman', English Today, 22 (4).

While there articles are not available via 'open access' if you go to the website for 'English Today', new readers are given a free grace period to access articles online. I think this is still the case.

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=ENG

As a person interested in research myself, a paper that I compiled (while teaching in Sohar) will also be published in the upcoming December issue of 'English Today'. This article is titled 'The local flavour of English in the Arabian Gulf' and was written as part of my Master's research with the University of England in Australia.

Two other articles that I strongly recommend to anyone interested in the status of English in the Gulf are:

Onley, J. (2005) 'Britain's informal empire in the Gulf, 1829-1971', Journal of Social Affairs, 22 (87).

Karmani, S. (2005) 'Petro-linguistics: The emerging nexus between oil, English, and Islam', Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 4 (2).

Happy reading to all!

[bookworm2]

English Today's a good international journal, and there's some excellent reading here! Thank you!

[bookworm2]

The article on Gulf English referred to above has appeared in English Today. A very interesting read it is, too!

[veiledsentiments]

[bookworm2]

It must have been amazing to work in Oman in the late 80s, VS. Omanis can be so lovely to teach and at SQU you would have found so much eagerness in your students to learn (though not necessarily in all) as well as humility.

The traffic must have been an awful lot lighter too, then, and the city less built up; Seeb would have seemed further from Muscat because of the space inbetween, but quicker to reach.

It's nice to see Omani researchers, some of the generation you taught, presenting at TESOL Arabia soon (in about 10 days).

http://tesolarabia.org/conference/schedule.php

[veiledsentiments]

It was a great experience living and working in Oman at that time. It was a quiet backwater... no tourists... few expats... and a shiny new university that was the first and only in the country at the time. The students were so proud of it and excited about the opportunity. It was the third year when I arrived.

I encountered two of my students from then in the late 90s. One was a woman doctor in Kuwait - one of my few non-Omani students at SQU in the 80's. And at one of the last TESOL Arabia conventions that I attended, one of my few male students in the English Education major appeared at my side to tell me that he was now working in the Ministry of Education in Muscat.

Muscat was still a small town and the university was pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. There was little or nothing between it and Seeb or the airport or between the airport and Al-Khuwair/Madinet Qaboos. It was a place where you left the keys in your ignition and never locked the door of your on-campus townhouse. The traffic was nearly staid... ... and the Omani drivers were mostly polite and patient. It was like America in the 50s.

I bought a new car from the Nissan dealer with a postdated check less than a week after I arrived... left with the car and a request to call them when the check was covered. And that took a couple months for the official signatures on the contract from the Minister and for the bank loan to then be approved.

Ah... the good old days...

VS

[Nolan Chance]

It's always encouraging to see ELT research getting a mention. However, along with the worthwhile there is the puerile. A case in point is some 'research' that has been brought inadvertently to my attention by another thread on the Oman forum, namely 'This article makes HCT, Muscat, sound very bad. Is it?' by Oman Man.

This thread provides a link to an 'article' outlining what is claimed to be 'action research' at the Higher College of Technology in Muscat by a C Smith.
(http://www.sct.edu.om/web/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=301&Itemid=117)

Upon reading the 'report' it immediately becomes apparent that is not so much research as rather a confessional piece by an obvious relative neophyte in ELT displaying his total cluelessness to his peers, and yet doing so with such absence of awareness that it is startling. Moreover the piece is so badly composed that one is never sure whether Mr Smith is expressing an opinion or ham-fistedly and incorrectly attributing a source. If the former is the case, then the article amounts to possible defamation of lecturing staff at the Higher College of Technology. Regardless of the intention, one is struck with bewilderment at how any academic institution could possibly publish such an oddity masquerading as scholarship.

Were this the only article in the journal worthy of caution, then perhaps it could be dismissed as an unfortunate editorial oversight. However, this is not the case. There are others which although not exhibiting quite the same degree of abysmal writing as Mr Smith's article, nevertheless hardly deserve inclusion in a scholarly journal. When time permits , I shall return to those if I may be allowed to do so.

(MOD edit for names)

[veiledsentiments]

Based on his posts, I suspect that Oman Man was probably the author of that piece.

VS

[Nolan Chance]

[Nolan Chance]

Idiocies abound in another article from the same Salalah College of Technology journal mentioned above:

http://www.sct.edu.om/web/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=301&Itemid=117

This time we have a Mr A Solloway in a paper with the homely title of Omani ESL Students� Knowledge of Co-Reference: A Snapshot


" Little is known about the knowledge of [pronoun referents] by ESL students anywhere in the world, though data seems to be strikingly scant when it comes to Arabic-speaking students in the Gulf. Indeed, the present writer is not aware of � and has not been able to find � a single paper on this subject in relation to learners in the Gulf region. It should not, however, be assumed that this acute absence of relevant previous studies indicates that such points are irrelevant to EFL students in Oman, or, for that matter, their teachers."

I challenge anyone to come up with a sillier statement than this. We are in effect asked to seriously consider that EFL students in Oman (or for that matter their teachers) might conceivably not need to understand the job of pronouns because 'researchers' had not yet condescended to 'study' if this was the case or not! Oman may not be quite geographically part of the home of the wheel, the Fertile Crescent, but it is in the vicinity, and I think Mr Solloway might be reassured that Arabs are just as likely to find the suggestion that one might put the cart before the horse, or have the tail wag the dog, as laughable as any other normal person apart from an EFL 'researcher' bent on getting 'papers' published, irrespective of their inanity.

(MOD edit for names)

[ETG]

I wonder how many "pen names" the infamous Solloway has. Anyone interested in starting a pool? Nolan Chance - do you want to cast the first vote?

Does Dave keep track of such details? Perhaps there's an award for the
user with the most noms de guerre. Spill chaps!

We all need some distraction before the third semester starts, bring on the heat.

Cheers
E.