Current Policy Trends

On December 8, 2018, the 4th Annual Forum was held which was titled Modern Methods in Teaching English as a Second Language in collaboration with Oxford University Press at Saudi German Hospital. The event was conducted under the supervision of the Faculty of Languages and Translation Dean, Dr. Abdullah Al-Melhi, and Dr. Mowafiq Al-Momani. The purpose of the forum was to raise awareness of modern concepts of English language teaching. Dean Abdullah Al-Melhi began the program with a welcome speech. In his speech, he explained how teaching methods could be improved through such a forum. He reiterated that it would help share innovative ideas about modern pedagogy. He suggested that we make greater use of such events. Faculty development through forums and the like are an integral aspect of our goal of continuous improvement in delivering a world-class language education, he added. The participants included both male and female faculty members working at King Khalid University. The morning session included a presentation by Mr. Zaid Ben Hamad from Oxford University Press titled Teaching ESP highlighting practical teaching with reference to English for Specific Purposes. He showed how to model a warm-up task, the importance of having proper knowledge of the specialism before designing an ESP course, and how to design a fact-sheet. The session included some activities with questions that actively involved the participants. The afternoon session included six presentations. Dr. Eman Alzaanin gave a presentation titled EFL Writing Instruction from a Cognitive Ecological Perspective. She highlighted pedagogical practices in L2 writing classrooms and L2 writing teacher cognition. She also explained the contribution of the cognitive-ecological model that gives insights into cognition networks, broader understanding types of knowledge, context, and stimulus for teacher cognition. The bottom line was the fact that in EFL writing instruction, a teacher must have a clear idea about ecology impact on the class. Dr. Munassir Alhamami spoke on the subject of Digital Presentations in EFL Classrooms that focused on various ways to use digital presentations in class. He emphasized the need of appropriateness of material we choose, and understanding copyright issues before applying them in class. He showed how digital presentations facilitate the learning process by making difficult ideas easy, playing the role of ice-breakers. Later he showed the steps of creating such presentations by understanding rubrics. Mr. Chris Harris spoke about Classroom Management in the context of Saudi Arabia that emphasized creating a rapport with students. Dressing appropriately may create a good impression, he added. Classroom management is successful, he said, if the lesson gives proper satisfaction and enjoyment in teaching. He also focused on how to address other related issues such as disruption, coming late, and not bringing books and pens. Some culturally sensitive topics, he said, must be avoided. He concluded that a happy teacher makes happy students. Mr. Stephen Sampliner’s presentation focused on giving accurate instructions. It was titled How do You Measure a Successful Day of Teaching?  The role of instructions might play an important role in determining how successful a lesson is, he said. He then highlighted some key aspects of giving instructions. He emphasized making use of visual demonstrations in giving instructions. He reiterated that instructions should be easy, direct and short. Mr. Michael Maschmeier's presentation was about Writing in the Classroom. He began by the benefits of writing in class – observing and replicating real-world text. He emphasized involving students in writing a complete unified piece of writing instead of just getting them involved in language-related tasks. He explained the process of writing – pre-writing, making the first draft, revising and editing, and publishing and feedback. He also focused on self-editing, practicing writing long essays, academic essays, articles, cover letters, and emails. Dr. Sara Sevinj Huseynova spoke about the Key Concepts in Language Assessment. She particularly highlighted the types of assessment and assessment principles. While talking about assessment principles, she explained reliability, validity, practicality, and washback. Teachers should have a clear idea about why, what, and how the assessment is done. She also focused on how feedback should be given to learners in a non-judgmental and unbiased way. The attendees greatly benefitted from all the presentations. Then there was a Q&A session after each session in which many participants raised important issues, and all benefitted from the discussion. Dean Abdullah Al-Melhi gave a concluding speech in which he emphasized sharing experience through such a forum. He thanked all of the participants, attendees and those working behind the scenes. The Faculty of Languages and Translation, he added, is committed to a culture of on-going improvement in language education and professional development in teaching. The dean, vice dean, and chairman are committed to holding forums such as this in support of this worthy objective. The event was worthwhile and well-attended. Date: 12-10-18 Source: Mohammad Adil Siddique and Mahmudul Haque Multimedia Source: Mohammad Taisir Albukaai

On December 8, 2018, the 4th Annual Forum was held which was titled Modern Methods in Teaching English as a Second Language in collaboration with Oxford University Press at Saudi German Hospital. The event was conducted under the supervision of the Faculty of Languages and Translation Dean, Dr. Abdullah Al-Melhi, and Dr. Mowafiq Al-Momani. The purpose of the forum was to raise awareness of modern concepts of English language teaching. Dean Abdullah Al-Melhi began the program with a welcome speech. In his speech, he explained how teaching methods could be improved through such a forum. He reiterated that it would help share innovative ideas about modern pedagogy. He suggested that we make greater use of such events. Faculty development through forums and the like are an integral aspect of our goal of continuous improvement in delivering a world-class language education, he added. The participants included both male and female faculty members working at King Khalid University. The morning session included a presentation by Mr. Zaid Ben Hamad from Oxford University Press titled Teaching ESP highlighting practical teaching with reference to English for Specific Purposes. He showed how to model a warm-up task, the importance of having proper knowledge of the specialism before designing an ESP course, and how to design a fact-sheet. The session included some activities with questions that actively involved the participants. The afternoon session included six presentations. Dr. Eman Alzaanin gave a presentation titled EFL Writing Instruction from a Cognitive Ecological Perspective. She highlighted pedagogical practices in L2 writing classrooms and L2 writing teacher cognition. She also explained the contribution of the cognitive-ecological model that gives insights into cognition networks, broader understanding types of knowledge, context, and stimulus for teacher cognition. The bottom line was the fact that in EFL writing instruction, a teacher must have a clear idea about ecology impact on the class. Dr. Munassir Alhamami spoke on the subject of Digital Presentations in EFL Classrooms that focused on various ways to use digital presentations in class. He emphasized the need of appropriateness of material we choose, and understanding copyright issues before applying them in class. He showed how digital presentations facilitate the learning process by making difficult ideas easy, playing the role of ice-breakers. Later he showed the steps of creating such presentations by understanding rubrics. Mr. Chris Harris spoke about Classroom Management in the context of Saudi Arabia that emphasized creating a rapport with students. Dressing appropriately may create a good impression, he added. Classroom management is successful, he said, if the lesson gives proper satisfaction and enjoyment in teaching. He also focused on how to address other related issues such as disruption, coming late, and not bringing books and pens. Some culturally sensitive topics, he said, must be avoided. He concluded that a happy teacher makes happy students. Mr. Stephen Sampliner’s presentation focused on giving accurate instructions. It was titled How do You Measure a Successful Day of Teaching?  The role of instructions might play an important role in determining how successful a lesson is, he said. He then highlighted some key aspects of giving instructions. He emphasized making use of visual demonstrations in giving instructions. He reiterated that instructions should be easy, direct and short. Mr. Michael Maschmeier's presentation was about Writing in the Classroom. He began by the benefits of writing in class – observing and replicating real-world text. He emphasized involving students in writing a complete unified piece of writing instead of just getting them involved in language-related tasks. He explained the process of writing – pre-writing, making the first draft, revising and editing, and publishing and feedback. He also focused on self-editing, practicing writing long essays, academic essays, articles, cover letters, and emails. Dr. Sara Sevinj Huseynova spoke about the Key Concepts in Language Assessment. She particularly highlighted the types of assessment and assessment principles. While talking about assessment principles, she explained reliability, validity, practicality, and washback. Teachers should have a clear idea about why, what, and how the assessment is done. She also focused on how feedback should be given to learners in a non-judgmental and unbiased way. The attendees greatly benefitted from all the presentations. Then there was a Q&A session after each session in which many participants raised important issues, and all benefitted from the discussion. Dean Abdullah Al-Melhi gave a concluding speech in which he emphasized sharing experience through such a forum. He thanked all of the participants, attendees and those working behind the scenes. The Faculty of Languages and Translation, he added, is committed to a culture of on-going improvement in language education and professional development in teaching. The dean, vice dean, and chairman are committed to holding forums such as this in support of this worthy objective. The event was worthwhile and well-attended. Date: 12-10-18 Source: Mohammad Adil Siddique and Mahmudul Haque Multimedia Source: Mohammad Taisir Albukaai

The First Annual Forum on the English language titled Teaching English in the 21st Century was held on April 15, 2017, at Saudi German Hospital in Abha, Saudi Arabia. The forum was organized under the supervision of Dean, Dr. Abdullah Al Melhi, in cooperation with Quality Education Holding Company and Oxford University Press. The aim of the forum was to train language teachers for professional development that would emphasize the enhancement of teaching competence regarding classroom management, activities, and handling overall language teaching. The program included two training sessions and four presentations on English Language Teaching (ELT). The participants included both male and female faculty members working at King Khalid University. The program began with a welcome speech by Dr. Abdullah Al Melhi.  In his speech, he emphasized the significant value of holding Forums which aim to advance the field of ELT. He reiterated such importance by focusing on the fact that forums of this nature always bring beneficial changes in language teaching and help to discuss new teaching concepts. He suggested there be more frequent language forums in the future for professional development. Terrie Craddock from Oxford University Press conducted two training sessions. In her first session, which was titled Motivating Students, she shared ideas about how to motivate language learners. During the session, the participants took part in an interactive discussion, where they exchanged their views on motivation. She highlighted different ways to make language tasks more interesting and engaging. Craddock’s second session, Differentiated Teaching and Learning, looked at dealing with groups of mixed abilities. Despite the challenges involved in handling diverse skill groups, she said, it is manageable if the teacher knows how to engage fast learners. She also highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of combining fast learners with slow ones. Overall, both the sessions were very interactive and informative.   What followed was Mohammad Adil’s presentation titled Exploitation and Adaptation in EFL Teaching. His presentation was based on a case study he had conducted on the usefulness of course materials used in skills and language courses. He pinpointed some issues associated with the use of published course materials. He emphasized that teacher’s creativity, control, and choice (McGrath 2013: 22-23) can make a difference.  He showed how a boring or monotonous lesson could be changed into an interesting and engaging one if the teacher uses his or her creativity. Adil concluded that it is illogical to believe that the course books are useless and at the same time, it is not logical either to depend strictly on published course books while teaching. In his session, the participants also exchanged their valuable thoughts. The next presenter was Dr. Eyhab Bader Eddin who spoke about Second Language Acquisition (SLA). His presentation titled Theoretical Approaches to Second Language Acquisition was primarily centered on theories about language learning and acquisition such as Krashen’s (1982) Monitor model, behaviorism, and innatism. During his session, he showed some funny movie clips to highlight challenges involved in language learning and acquisition. Dr. Eyhab, through these video clips, also wanted to highlight how a learner’s mother tongue influences second language learning. He concluded that SLA theories are closely related to their counterparts in the mother tongue. Also, prior knowledge of mother tongue, usually acquired from the parents, may or may not be an advantage depending on the similarities and differences between the pair languages in question. Dr. Abdul Wahed Al Zumor’s presentation was centered on his study based on challenges encountered by King Khalid University Science faculty students, as a result of English Medium Instruction (EMI). The study revealed that the identified approach results in a failure in that it deteriorates lecture comprehension, understanding content, and communication with their instructors due to lack of adequate English proficiency. Dr. Al Zumor concluded that the additive bilingualism approach could enrich their learning environment. This presentation was worthwhile in that it successfully raised awareness among the participants of the drawbacks of English Medium Instruction (EMI) in teaching courses other than English.    Mohammad Sirajul Islam concluded the sessions by presenting about issues related to the use of e-learning. This was also based on a case study that aimed at investigating students’ attitude towards e-learning. Interestingly, students enrolled in language courses showed a positive attitude towards online learning. On the other hand, content course students’ attitude towards e-learning was negative. He pinpointed another crucial issue related to teachers’ expertise in using Blackboard. Many teachers fail to follow the rubrics while designing online courses. He concluded that there is a need for proper e-learning training for teachers so that they can enhance their expertise in teaching online. In the end, there was a closing speech by Dr. Abdullah Al Melhi, who thanked the organizing committee for arranging such a program. He congratulated those who had worked behind the scenes to make the forum a real success.    We would like to recognize the following organizing committee members for their efforts in this event: Dr. Mwafaq Momani Mr. Javed Ahmed Mr. Mohsin Raza Khan Mr. MD Sirajul Islam Mr. Saleh Hokash Mr. Naser Alhawamdeh Mr. Mazharul Islam     Date: 04-17-2017 Source: MD Adil Multimedia Contribution: MD Sirajul Islam

The First Annual Forum on the English language titled Teaching English in the 21st Century was held on April 15, 2017, at Saudi German Hospital in Abha, Saudi Arabia. The forum was organized under the supervision of Dean, Dr. Abdullah Al Melhi, in cooperation with Quality Education Holding Company and Oxford University Press. The aim of the forum was to train language teachers for professional development that would emphasize the enhancement of teaching competence regarding classroom management, activities, and handling overall language teaching. The program included two training sessions and four presentations on English Language Teaching (ELT). The participants included both male and female faculty members working at King Khalid University. The program began with a welcome speech by Dr. Abdullah Al Melhi.  In his speech, he emphasized the significant value of holding Forums which aim to advance the field of ELT. He reiterated such importance by focusing on the fact that forums of this nature always bring beneficial changes in language teaching and help to discuss new teaching concepts. He suggested there be more frequent language forums in the future for professional development. Terrie Craddock from Oxford University Press conducted two training sessions. In her first session, which was titled Motivating Students, she shared ideas about how to motivate language learners. During the session, the participants took part in an interactive discussion, where they exchanged their views on motivation. She highlighted different ways to make language tasks more interesting and engaging. Craddock’s second session, Differentiated Teaching and Learning, looked at dealing with groups of mixed abilities. Despite the challenges involved in handling diverse skill groups, she said, it is manageable if the teacher knows how to engage fast learners. She also highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of combining fast learners with slow ones. Overall, both the sessions were very interactive and informative.   What followed was Mohammad Adil’s presentation titled Exploitation and Adaptation in EFL Teaching. His presentation was based on a case study he had conducted on the usefulness of course materials used in skills and language courses. He pinpointed some issues associated with the use of published course materials. He emphasized that teacher’s creativity, control, and choice (McGrath 2013: 22-23) can make a difference.  He showed how a boring or monotonous lesson could be changed into an interesting and engaging one if the teacher uses his or her creativity. Adil concluded that it is illogical to believe that the course books are useless and at the same time, it is not logical either to depend strictly on published course books while teaching. In his session, the participants also exchanged their valuable thoughts. The next presenter was Dr. Eyhab Bader Eddin who spoke about Second Language Acquisition (SLA). His presentation titled Theoretical Approaches to Second Language Acquisition was primarily centered on theories about language learning and acquisition such as Krashen’s (1982) Monitor model, behaviorism, and innatism. During his session, he showed some funny movie clips to highlight challenges involved in language learning and acquisition. Dr. Eyhab, through these video clips, also wanted to highlight how a learner’s mother tongue influences second language learning. He concluded that SLA theories are closely related to their counterparts in the mother tongue. Also, prior knowledge of mother tongue, usually acquired from the parents, may or may not be an advantage depending on the similarities and differences between the pair languages in question. Dr. Abdul Wahed Al Zumor’s presentation was centered on his study based on challenges encountered by King Khalid University Science faculty students, as a result of English Medium Instruction (EMI). The study revealed that the identified approach results in a failure in that it deteriorates lecture comprehension, understanding content, and communication with their instructors due to lack of adequate English proficiency. Dr. Al Zumor concluded that the additive bilingualism approach could enrich their learning environment. This presentation was worthwhile in that it successfully raised awareness among the participants of the drawbacks of English Medium Instruction (EMI) in teaching courses other than English.    Mohammad Sirajul Islam concluded the sessions by presenting about issues related to the use of e-learning. This was also based on a case study that aimed at investigating students’ attitude towards e-learning. Interestingly, students enrolled in language courses showed a positive attitude towards online learning. On the other hand, content course students’ attitude towards e-learning was negative. He pinpointed another crucial issue related to teachers’ expertise in using Blackboard. Many teachers fail to follow the rubrics while designing online courses. He concluded that there is a need for proper e-learning training for teachers so that they can enhance their expertise in teaching online. In the end, there was a closing speech by Dr. Abdullah Al Melhi, who thanked the organizing committee for arranging such a program. He congratulated those who had worked behind the scenes to make the forum a real success. We would like to recognize the following organizing committee members for their efforts in this event: Dr. Mwafaq Momani Mr. Javed Ahmed Mr. Mohsin Raza Khan Mr. MD Sirajul Islam Mr. Saleh Hokash Mr. Naser Alhawamdeh Mr. Mazharul Islam     Date: 04-17-2017 Source: MD Adil Multimedia Contribution: MD Sirajul Islam