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From Pedagogy to Andragogy in Post COVID-19 ESP Courses: A Customized Blended Learning Model for English in Medicine at a Saudi University

  Ms. Amatul Hafeez Alvi presented her research paper she had previously presented at the 1st AEJ UKI SLA Research International Conference that aimed at bringing together English language professionals from around the world to share, learn, and further the English language. Her research was titled "From Pedagogy to Andragogy in Post COVID-19 ESP Courses: A Customized Blended Learning Model for English in Medicine at a Saudi University", and was presented at a webinar organized by the Language Research Center on October 11, 2021.   Alvi began the session by talking about a customized blended learning model for teaching English in Medicine at King Khalid University. In her research, she mentioned, she had tried to address the challenges which COVID-19 posed when teaching a subject like this. She shared her experience as she had done at the conference.   Alvi highlighted how COVID-19 affects health, the public, the entire society and most importantly the education system worldwide. Many countries around the world dramatically changed their policy with regard to education to ensure the proper safety of the people involved, she added.   Alvi emphasized that the education sector was so immensely disturbed that the attendance to universities, colleges, and schools was suspended almost globally. According to statistical data in 2021 from UNESCO, more than 94% of students around the globe were affected by this pandemic. She mentioned Saudi Arabia as one of the success stories in the world when it comes to coping with the impact of COVID-19 in the education sector.   Alvi pinpointed the fact that some courses were affected severely due to this pandemic. English for specific purposes (ESP), which has an "oriented focus", is one of those affected as face-to-face mode would be more effective. Such ESP courses, she added, are completely different from EFL and ESL courses in that they primarily focus on language in context. In ESP, the learners' knowledge of English reflects directly on their profession. Her research focused on English in Medicine. In the case of ESP, she added, they actually concentrated on the transfer from Pedagogy to Andragogy, the latter of which is more learner-centered.   Alvi concluded that we need to explore more methodologies and approaches to make ESP more effective.   The webinar was very interactive and a great success with the active participation of both male and female faculty members. Date: 10/14/2021 Source: Mohammad Adil Siddique
English

حفل استقبال الطلاب المستجدين

أقامت وحدة التوجيه والارشاد بكلية اللغات والترجمة يومنا هذا الأحد بتاريخ  5 /2 /1443، حفل استقبال الطلاب المستجدين.  حضر اللقاء سعادة عميد الكلية ووكلائه الكرام ورئيس قسم اللغة الإنجليزية والمشرف على وحدة التوجيه والإرشاد ومسؤول وحدة التعلم الالكتروني وعددا من أعضاء هيئة التدريس، وكان لقاءا إيجابيا قدم من خلاله سعادة العميد والوكلاء كلمات ترحيبية و توجيهية وحثوهم على الجد والاجتهاد و المشاركة في الأنشطة الطلابية المتنوعة، كما ألقى رئيس وحدة التوجيه والإرشاد بالكلية كلمة توجيهية عرّف من خلالها بأنشطة الوحدة وأهدافها وخدماتها وأهمية وجود مثل هذه الوحدات في الكليات، تلا ذلك تقديم مقدمة تعريفية عن استخدام منصة البلاك بورد من مسؤول وحدة التعلم الالكتروني.  وختاما، تم الرد على عدد من أسئلة واستفسارات الطلاب، ثم التقطت صور تذكارية بهذه المناسبة. Date: 9/12/2021 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation
English

Top Students Honed Language Skills in First Online Summer Program

  Under the supervision of Dean Abdullah Al-Melhi, the 2021 Online Summer Language Program (OSLP) titled "English Across Cultures and Intercultural Awareness" ended on 19 August 2021. OSLP is a four-week, intensive program in language study designed specifically for the curriculum in applied linguistics taught with a focus on intercultural awareness and different models of teaching and learning English. OSLP, much like our summer language program at Swansea University in 2019, was designed as an in-person, intensive language program, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, OSLP ran synchronously online for the first time.   The OSLP team, led by Vice Dean for Academic Development & Quality, Dr. Abdulrahman Almosa, Chairman, Dr. Munassir Alhamami, and E-Learning Supervisor, Mohsin Raza Khan, sprung into action to co-develop — along with the team at Monash University — a fully online four-week summer language program for 63 of the best and brightest male and female students students in the Bachelor of Arts in English program.   Dr. Almosa noted, "This was the first time we held an online summer language program in cooperation with a leading international university. There were several technological and pedagogical challenges in developing an effective program that incorporates a social and cultural immersion experience that our students would get in person. Most of the modules were designed around language and culture concepts and instructional design, which are at the heart of recent developments in applied linguistics and related fields. I am pleased to report that our program was a success and among the first of its kind in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I sincerely thank Dr. Nizar Farjou, Dr. Raqib Chowdhury, Dr. Ruth Fielding, Susan Davis, Dr. Anna Podorova, Dr. Libby Tudball, Dr. Melissa Barnes, Dr. Dat Bao, Dr. Amber McLeod, and Ouahiba Zarzi at Monash University for their diligent collaboration and effort to make our joint program successful."   In his closing remarks, Dean Al-Melhi congratulated the students involved in the joint program and expressed his appreciation to all participating faculty members at Monash University and the Faculty of Languages and Translation at King Khalid University. The Bachelor of Arts in English program is committed to providing students with additional activities for their professional development, consistent with the intended learning outcomes and labor market developments. Date: 9/3/2021 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation
English

Brewing for Success: FLT Alumni Entrepreneur Brings Popular Brand to Asir

  Mubarak Saeed Al-Qahtani, class of 2021 graduate, has wanted to own a business since his freshman year in the Bachelor of Arts in English program, and that dream has become a reality. Al-Qahtani has brought an Al-Qassim touch to the Asir region with several drive-through coffee shops.   "College and coffee are a perfect match, and Kyan Cafe is no exception," said Al-Qahtani. While sitting in the King Khalid University parking lot before an exam, Al-Qahtani began to notice several rearview mirror air fresheners with the Kyan Cafe logo on it written English and the rest is history. He immediately began to research the brand and asked a few of his instructors in the Bachelor of Arts in English program what they thought about him becoming an entrepreneur. After receiving words of encouragement, he immediately formulated his idea, which revolved around quality, speed and convenience. Al-Qahtani credited much of his success in the operational side of the business to being able to use the language skills he picked up in the Bachelor of Arts in English program, which improved his ability to understand when to speak or write, who to deliver the message to, and what to say and how to say it. "I can honestly say that graduating with a degree in English has helped to use Foodics, which is the point of sales system we use. My dream is to launch new innovative ideas in cooperation with international companies and become a franchisor. I encourage all of the students from our program to contact some of the startup accelerators we have in Saudi Arabia to pitch their business ideas and obtain funding. There are some in Riyadh, Jeddah, and we have one in Asir," he said   The Bachelor of Arts in English program is dedicating to fulfilling its role in developing entrepreneurial leaders with the language competence necessary to take advantage of the new economic realities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by inculcating creativity and innovation in the learning process. Date: 6/28/2021 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation
English

Faculty Member Delivers Session on Annotated Translation

  Dr. Eyhab Bader Eddin has undertaken a fresh initiative for bringing "Annotated Translation" to light. Annotated Translation is a fascinating yet complex subject that has increasingly come to prominence and gained currency for being adopted as a major assessment method for Translation students in both undergraduate and graduate programs. Although a firm dividing line could be drawn between 'annotated translation' and 'translation commentary', they both have been used interchangeably in his session open to the public during the Spring 2021 semester. Dr. Bader Eddin delivered a 2-hour-long session — titled "Annotated Translation: Showing students the ropes — on the fundamentals of the subject", drawing attendees' attention to the seminal book, which was the first of its kind, fully devoted in a book-size work to this subject. Viz. Sewell's 2002 (Translation Commentary: The Art revisited). The session tackled such points as definition, How should an annotated translation look like? What should it include and exclude, desirable and undesirable features, marking criteria for translation commentary, steps to initiate a translation annotation project, and some illustrative practical examples. Some tangible examples have been offered to link theory to practice, as a rarely distinguished feature in translation. The session was followed by some assignments to ensure the attendees had grasped the content of the session.   To view all webinars, please click here. Date: 5/6/2021 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation
English

Faculty Member Leads 3-Part Series on the Parts of Speech

  In a continuous series of sessions aimed at advancing and deepening understanding of graduate students, Dr. Eyhab Bader Eddin started to offer an advanced free intensive course on the Parts of Speech. Students at the graduate or doctoral level who are in the process of writing their thesis, dissertations, or research papers face unique challenges. These papers indicate whether or not they understood the concepts clearly. For this reason, Dr. Bader Eddin held a 3-part webinar series on the 8 parts of speech open to the public during the 2020-2021 academic year. The webinar, tailored to graduate students, attracted hundreds of attendees from different parts of the world. High on the target list came graduate students and English teachers for the purpose of addressing any problems related to parts of speech and to fill any gap in their linguistic knowledge so as to clamber up the rung of their mental ladder aplomb.   "While it may seem that having a detailed understanding of the parts of speech is not needed, it is imperative that graduates of the Faculty of Languages and Translation present their papers in the right manner with proper sentence structure," said Dr. Bader Eddin. He then explained that Dean, Dr. Abdullah Al-Melhi, and Vice Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Dr. Munassir Alhamami, were highly supportive of his 3-part webinar series, which was launched to engage the community, alumni, and currently enrolled students at the undergraduate and graduate levels.   The topics discussed included, but were not limited to the following: Language components Detailed Overview of the parts of speech Grammatical hierarchy Sentence types according to A) structure and B) communicative function Syntactic theory Language universals Semantic classes Typology of parts of speech systems Language components Overview of parts of speech Grammatical hierarchy Sentence types according to A) structure and B) communicative function Nouns as a part of speech Noun types and characteristics Noun plural formation Noun plurals Noun gender Noun Case Noun genitive and -of phrase Meanings of genitive and –of phrase   These sessions were followed by assignments handed out to ensure the attendees' thorough understanding of the topics covered. Questions were always welcomed to clear away any fog of misunderstanding during the course of the sessions. It is worth mentioning that we have come to know that new sessions are to be held soon in a bid to complete the series.   To view all webinars, please click here. Date: 5/6/2021 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation
English

Faculty Member Leads Project to Enrich Arabic Wiki Content

  Supervised by Dr. Fahad Otaif, Assistant Professor of Critical Discourse Analysis and Translation, a team of postgraduate female students from the Faculty of Languages and Translation (FLT) participated in the "WikiDowen" project during the Spring 2021 semester. The WikiDowen Project, under the administration of the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah), aims to enrich and increase the Arabic content on Wikipedia; although Arabic is the fourth most popular language in the world, the Arabic content on Wikipedia still ranks 25th in terms of volume.   Dr. Otaif praised the postgraduate students who worked hard, saying that: "the students were really motivated to take part in this initiative, they worked hard to translate more scientific content. The initiative resulted in 50 articles translated from English into Arabic. The translated topics ranged from medical topics, to psychology, Artificial Intelligence as well as engineering. The translated articles were compiled in a digital booklet to document the scientific outcomes of the initiative".   Dr. Otaif added, "the WikiDowen's Project manager, Dr. Zuhair Al-Shehri, and his deputy Ms. Reem Al-Mutairi also played a vital role in helping the new Wikipedians (translators) to post and edit their translations on the Arabic Wikipedia; this cooperation lasted for two months and was really fruitful for both parties."   Vice Dean for Postgraduate Studies, Dr. Munassir Alhamami, added, "we are excited to be a part of this national volunteer initiative for the second year in a row; it provides our FLT students the opportunity to participate in a field experience activity that is aligned with the learning outcomes we target in our language and translation programs."   Dr. Otaif added, "such initiatives and projects will grant our students valuable experience and help them in mastering the translation profession through which they will improve their professional background and job readiness; I do thank our Dean Dr. Abdullah Al-Melhi and the vice dean for postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Language and Translation for their endless support in this initiative and will continue to encourage similar initiatives at the FLT in the near future en shaa' Allah." Date: 5/4/2021 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation
English

Dr. Abdulkhaleq Al-Qahtani Shares Sabbatical Leave Research Experience

  Dr. Abdulkhaleq Al-Qahtani, associate professor of the Department of English at the Faculty of Languages and Translation, presented a paper titled "Reading comprehension and strategies of Saudi Arabian learners in two learning contexts: EFL vs. ESL" at a webinar hosted by Department of English Chair, Dr. Munassir Alhamami, on April 8, 2021. As a visiting professor for the University of Southern Indiana on sabbatical leave from King Khalid University, Dr. Al-Qahtani obtained data from five different universities across the Midwestern United States, a region that contains the largest population of Saudi students.   In this talk, Dr. Al-Qahtani presented evidence of a significant difference between EFL and ESL students in the strategies they use. ESL students were found to favor Global Reading Strategies (GLOB), which can be explained as universal techniques that we all use when reading. Dr. Al-Qahtani noted that he used the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) instrument developed by Kouider Mokhtari and Ravi Sheorey in 2002. SORS measures three categories of reading strategies, namely global reading strategies, problem solving strategies, and support strategies. At the macro level, Dr. Al-Qahtani highlighted that the findings of the 141 participants in his study indicate a predominant use of problem solving strategies, followed by global strategies, and support strategies.   "Saudi Arabia is traditionally an EFL context. Students usually have friends around the globe and use English as their preferred language of communication. English is no longer limited to the classroom," he said. Dr. Al-Qahtani then went on to mention that although the USA was traditionally a pure ESL context, that is no longer the case for many Saudi students, who through technology, communicate with friends and family in Saudi Arabia as if they were face to face. This observation, he noted, supports the notion that the ESL learning environment does not always lead to better acquisition of the target language in comparison to the EFL context.   Dr. Al-Qahtani informed the audience that his paper is accepted for publication in the near future, and he looks forward to collegial dialogue on the implications of his study and the potential for further research. Date: 4/12/2021 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation
English

FLT Delivers Test Preparation for IELTS to Ministry of Education Teachers

  On 31 March 2021, Hassan Costello and Dr. Sayyed Rashid Ali Shah delivered an in-service teacher training webinar to 145 participants. The webinar, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education in Asir and Rijal Alma on "IELTS Listening and Speaking" by Hassan Costello and "IELTS Preparation: Reading & Writing!" by Dr. Sayyed Rashid Ali Shah, provided both male and female teachers with exam-specific tips and how to answer different question types.   After introductions by Vice Dean for Academic Development & Quality, Dr. Abdulrahman Almosa, Costello began the webinar by reviewing the content of the IELTS Listening Test, and then he moved on to provide a lot of useful tips. He explained that the IELTS Listening Test is not only about listening to the recording but also about understanding the content and finding answers at the same time. "When you have your test, you need to listen to the recording, read the questions, and at the same time write down your answers. At one time, you are listening, reading, and writing. You really are multitasking during this listening test. It can be quite difficult, and it's something that you do need to practice." He then explained that concentration is the biggest challenge for test-takers. He noted that test-takers really need to concentrate during the IELTS Listening test because if focus is lost at any time, test-takers will miss an answer and lose their place in the recording. He then moved on to discuss how test-takers can do well on the 3 parts of the IELTS Speaking Test. He encouraged test takers to avoid yes or no responses in part 1 and expand their answers through examples. "The speaking task has three different parts to it: part one, part two, and part three. In part two, candidates are expected to speak for about two minutes, and there is no interruption. In part 3, it's more like an interview. If the examiner asks you some sort of question, you respond and they ask you another question, or they might ask you to go deeper into the first question. Sometimes they'll ask you to predict something, you might compare, and they might ask you to give your opinion. Remember that part 3 is based on a theme. In part 2 you're given something to describe and it might be a historical building, it might be a teacher you really liked, it might be an object precious to you. Part 3 continues from part 2, so whatever you talked about in part 2 you're going to talk about in part 3 but at a more abstract level." Towards the end of his part of the webinar, Costello advised potential test-takers not to worry about accents or about mistakes. "It's okay if you have an accent in terms of your pronunciation mark. The main thing they're looking for is that you speak clearly and they can understand what you're saying. Don't worry if you make mistakes. Treat this almost like a conversation."   Dr. Shah then began by noting a lot of the strategies covered on the IELTS Listening Test are applicable to the IELTS Reading Test, and he will provide 10 reading strategies and 6 writing strategies that candidates often need to remember. "I'll try to share my personal experience with you because I went through these different stages in my academic life. I took IELTS as a student, and more than twice I moved on, and at the end, I reached the target of becoming an IELTS examiner," he said. Dr. Shah then highlighted that there are 11-14 various types of questions, explaining that awareness of the types of questions along with identifying the types of questions will help candidates to score well. Dr. Shah then emphasized the importance of skimming and scanning long passages. He related that it would be difficult to answer all 40 questions without efficient skimming and scanning techniques. "Candidates are usually not very much familiar with the types of texts included in the IELTS academic module or general training. Reading articles online will help to widen reading skills and develop familiarity with complex texts and passages," he said. Towards the end of his part of the webinar, Dr. Shah highlighted Task 2 of IELTS Academic Writing, explaining that techniques can be applied to writing a letter in the general training module or to describe a graph or pie chart, which is Task 1 in IELTS Academic Writing. After, he explained that the IELTS Writing rubric evaluates four different aspects of your responses: Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Task Response. Dr. Shah then provided examples of each of the 4 aspects, noting that they should not be ignored. "It is important that you understand the question. Understanding questions solves half of the problem," he said.   The Bachelor of Arts in English program at the Faculty of Languages and Translation is committed to participating in community partnership activities as part of its role in the community partnership plan at King Khalid University. Date: 4/7/2021 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation
English

Course Design: The Backwards Model

  On March 21, Dr. Sheila Simpkins delivered an in-service instructor training webinar to almost 500 attendees in cooperation with the Ministry of Education Directorate in the Asir region and Rijal Alma entitled "Course Design: The Backwards Model". She began the webinar by asking participants to reflect on the question "What is your role in the classroom?" According to Dr. Sheila, the answer to this question is fundamental to course design.   She indicated that best practices in educational research tells us that we need to shift from the direct transmission view of the teacher's role towards the constructivist view. She introduced Bloom's taxonomy as a powerful tool to help teachers plan lesson/unit/course/program objectives that are in line with constructivist views of teaching/learning where the teacher is a facilitator, and the students are actively engaged and involved in learning. Best practices in teaching encourage teachers to set learning objectives that require higher-order thinking skills such as analyzing, evaluating, and creating.   Having introduced these two principals Dr. Sheila shared the backwards model of course design. She indicated that teachers should plan 'backwards' beginning with the end in mind. Teachers should ask themselves three questions.   Where do I want my students to 'be' by the end of this sequence of work? How will I know whether they have gotten there? What are the best strategies to support students on this journey?   Dr. Sheila indicated that all course design should take the constructivist view of teaching/learning into consideration.   With that in mind, she indicated that   Course learning objectives/outcomes should be student-centered, concrete, and observable/measurable. Bloom's taxonomy should be used here. Assessment/assignments should be aligned with the learning objectives and they should be authentic. This means the assignments/activities that students are engaged in to learn the material are also used to evaluate their accomplishments. Assessment/assignments should be student structured, and direct evidence. Examples of this kind of assessment are role play, drama, student portfolios, journals, debates, and presentations. Rubrics should be used to measure performance. In the constructivist view, traditional paper-based measurement should be kept to a minimum. Teaching strategies should match assessment. In other words, how you assess is how you teach. Conversely, how you teach is how you assess. Then you plan course content and select course materials—what textbook/film/speaker will speak to the topics and help accomplish learning objectives. The last step is to create the course schedule and sequencing. Activities must be organized to provide sufficient practice, skills must build upon another, and there must be sufficient time for feedback. Date: 3/28/2021 Source: Faculty of Languages and Translation
English