Department of English

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https://hdl.handle.net/11073/8391

Work by the faculty and students of the Department of English

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Adapting to transnational education: students’ experiences at an American university in the UAE
(Emerald Group Holdings Ltd., 2021) Munday, Susan
Purpose – Despite the increasing number of transnational universities around the world, little attention has been paid to students who attend foreign universities in their own countries and their adjustment to the new learning environment. This study aims to examine some of the adaptations freshmen students have to undergo while studying at an American university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Design/methodology/approach – This study is conducted at an American university in the UAE and involved 152 freshmen students, investigating their challenges to adapting to the university academically and socially. The target respondents were first-year students, typically 18–19 years old men and women of various majors and nationalities who completed high school in the country. Questionnaires were emailed to students; a total of 184 surveys were completed (with prior permission), but only 152 of those fitted the criteria and were used in the study. Findings – Findings indicate that although these students study at home, by attending a foreign university many of them rely heavily on the support of peers, especially co-nationals. They require similar academic and emotional support from teachers as many first-year students at university do. Research limitations/implications – The findings have limitations as data were collected at a single point in time through surveys. Being a single researcher, the study did not opt for breadth to answer the research questions but aimed to find out freshmen students’ challenges in adapting to the university. Despite the limitations of the study, several issues were raised that can be investigated in future studies. Originality/value – The study provided insights into the challenges first-year students face at a transnational university in the UAE. It identifies the support that could be provided by the university to facilitate students’ successful adjustment process to the educational and socio-cultural environment of the university. Although this was small-scale research and cannot be generalized to a larger population, the findings could be transferable to other, similar settings in transnational universities in the region. Findings might be compared and contrasted to other, related cases, as the structural aspects could be noticed in similar cases or situations.
World Literature in the World? Kahf ’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf and the Transnational Reading Public
(BRILL, 2021) Aghasi, Maya
Criticized for being too Euro- and Americentric, world literature scholarship tends to center on the American implications of this shortcoming, with little discussion of world literature beyond these centers. This paper thus addresses the function of world literature beyond these centers, particularly in the lingua franca of global business: English. Drawing from my experience in the United Arab Emirates, I argue that because students in the region come from places with fraught colonial histories, migrant, Anglophone literature is critical in the world literature classroom because it allows them to see their own experiences articulated in the global literary vernacular. Using Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf as an example, I show how its transnational scope addresses both the hegemonic, Euro-American gaze, but also the students’. Thus, Anglophone literature is not necessarily the extension of an imperialist project or a flattening of differences; rather, it becomes an articulation of them.
Dynamic properties of language anxiety
(Adam Mickiewicz University, 2020) Gregersen, Tammy
This article begins by examining previous empirical studies to demonstrate that language anxiety, or the negative emotional reaction learners experience when using a second language (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1999), is a dynamic individual difference learner variable. I show that it forms part of an interconnected, constantly-in-flux system that changes unpredictably over multiple time scales. While at certain times this system might settle into an attractor state that accommodates contradictory conditions, perturbations that arise may lead to development and change with the curious possibility that minor disruptions generate large effects while major alterations go unnoticed. In essence, language anxiety (LA) is part of a continuous complex system in which each state evolves from a previous one. After I establish LA as a dynamic variable using the aforementioned criteria, I outline the implications and challenges for researching LA using a dynamic paradigm, which include focusing on individuals, transforming LA research questions, designing interventions and re-thinking data gathering methodologies. I conclude with implications for language teaching that emphasize: 1) raising awareness of the importance of decoding nonverbal behavior to identify moment-by-moment shifts in learner emotion; 2) remaining vigilant concerning variables that are interacting with LA that make this factor part of a cyclical process; 3) understanding that anxiety co-exists with positive emotions to varying degrees and that language tasks are not unanimously enjoyed or universally anxiety-provoking; and 4) incorporating positive psychology activities that proactively encourage buoyancy and resilience for moment-by-moment daily perturbations as well as debilitating disruptions that result in long-lasting influences.
The relative effects of isolated and combined structures input and structured output on the acquisition of the English causative forms
(De Gruyter, 2017) Benati, Alessandro; Batziou, Maria
The present study explores the effects of structured input and structured output when delivered in isolation or in combination on the acquisition of the English causative. Research investigating the effects of processing instruction and meaning output-based instruction has provided some interesting and sometimes conflicting results. Additionally, there are a number of issues (e. g., measuring a combination of structured input and structured output, measuring discourse-level effects) that have not been fully and clearly addressed. To provide answers to the questions formulated in this study, two classroom experiments were carried out. In the first study, fifty-four Chinese university students (age 18–20) participated. The participants were randomly assigned to four groups: structured input only group (n=13); structured output only group (n=15); combined structured input and structured output group (n=16); control group (n=10). In the second study, thirty school-age Greek learners (age 10–12) participated. The participants were randomly assigned to three groups: structured input only group (n=10); structured output only group (n=10); combined structured input and structured output group (n=10). Only subjects who participated in all phases of each experiment and scored lower than 60 % in the pre-tests were included in the final data collection. Instruction lasted for three hours. The control group received no instruction on the causative structure. Interpretation and production tasks were used in a pre-test and post-test design. The design included a delayed post-test battery (3 weeks after instruction) for both experiments. In the first study, the assessment tasks included an interpretation and production task at sentence-level, and an interpretation task at discourse-level. In the second study, an additional discourse-level production task was adopted along with the interpretation discourse-level task. The results indicated that learners who received structured input both in isolation and in combination benefitted more than learners receiving structured output only. These two groups were able to retain instructional gains three weeks later in all assessment measures.
Indigested in the Scenes: Hamlet's Dramatic Theory and Ours
(Modern Language Association, 2018-01) Keegan, Daniel
Faculty use of the course management system (CMS) iLearn at the American University of Sharjah
(Zayed University Press, 2013) Prescott, David; Gunn, Cindy; Alieldin, Walid; Botter, Kathleen; Baghestani, Shireen; Saadat, Hamed
That course management systems (CMS) are relevant to higher education is beyond question. Tertiary institutions invest significant resources in developing CMS and promoting their use by faculty members. Considerable research has been undertaken with respect to cost-effectiveness, to the buy as opposed to build quandary and also to CMS product rating. Far fewer studies have been devoted to examining how course management systems are being used in higher education, whether such use is effective and what views the faculty members who use/do not use the technology have about such systems. The American University of Sharjah (AUS) has a strong commitment to CMS through investment in iLearn (Blackboard) as a future teaching and learning medium. This paper reports on initial findings from an investigation, conducted by a cross-disciplinary, cross-generational, research team of faculty, staff and students. The study seeks to gain a clear appreciation of how iLearn is being used at AUS and to recognize the faculty members’ opinions and perceptions of the CMS iLearn.
Helping students take control of their learning through the use of focused weekly review sheets
(TESOLANZ, 2001) Gunn, Cindy
This paper reports on work done with students enrolled in a Level 4 Certificate of Attainment in English (CAEL) class at the University of Waikato Language Institute in Auckland. The original purpose was to help raise the students' awareness of the role they are taking to learn English through the use of weekly review sheets. However, ongoing analysis of the data revealed that in addition to focusing the students on reflecting on what they had learned and how they learned, the weekly review sheets became a vehicle for student-teacher dialogue.
Emerging Pedagogies in the Middle East: Enhancing Student Autonomy Using Weblogs (Blogs)
(The University of Buckingham Press, 2008) Raven, John; Gunn, Cindy
Students in the Middle East have typically been taught English following traditional, rote learning methods. There has been little time, or little room, within the set curriculum for teachers to enrich their students’ learning experience. However, especially in the UAE, reforms are being implemented to change the way English is being taught. This paper illustrates how student autonomy can be fostered through the use of an on-line web application. The authors argue that weblogs (blogs), which allow students to publish their work on-line and allow for others to comment on the published work, support a new approach to teaching writing. Feedback from a group of students involved in a small study at the Higher Colleges of Technology support the authors’ claims.
Climbing Grammar Mountain: An Interactive Learning Experience
(United States Department of State, 2005) Gunn, Cindy; McCallum, Ann
This article describes a grammar game that is an enjoyable way for students to correct sentences. In Climbing Grammar Mountain, best suited for secondary and university students, learners compete in teams to "climb" a game board. They earn needed equipment in the form of sentences. If a student can correctly state whether a sentence is grammatical, s/he is able to proceed, with bonus points for correcting an incorrect sentence. The game board, sample sentences, and instructions for teachers and students are included along with suggestions for adaptations.
Investigating the inclusion of online discussions to enhance students' learning in general education undergraduate classes
(Asociación Europea para la Enseñanza de Idiomas Asistida por Ordenador = European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning, 2010-03) Gunn, Cindy
Discussion of class material has many educational benefits. In today's modern computerized society, these discussions no longer need to be confined to the classroom setting. This paper discusses students' reactions to the inclusion of online discussions at the undergraduate level. In addition, the author illustrates how the students' comments and concerns have been incorporated over three semesters to improve the assignment for future students.
Women, Gender, and Women's Fiction: the United States
(Brill, 2016) Aghasi, Maya
Arab and Arab American women writers today are embedded in a political, social, and ethical complex that, whether explicitly or not, affects their writing. Using the metaphor of invisibility to describe the state of their existence and that of their work, their efforts are directed toward writing themselves and their experiences into visibility. Uniquely positioned as transnational subjects, their subjectivities are forged across multiple, often global vectors of identification, providing them with multiple consciousness. Their writing thus not only to attests to their presence, but also critiques and questions what exactly it means to be Arab, American, and Arab American. The works and experiences of Laila Lalami, Samia Serageldin, Suheir Hammad, Dima Hilal, Nathalie Handal, Mohja Kahf, Diana Abu-Jaber, and Susan Abulhawa can serve as examples of how Arab American women explore the multiplicity of subjectivity as they are uniquely formed in the U.S. landscape.
Complex anaphora with this: variation between three written argumentative genres
(Edinburgh University Press, 2017) Crompton, Peter
The concept of complex anaphora - ‘nominal expressions referring to propositionally structured referents’ (Consten et al., 2007) - makes a useful distinction between a text-structuring function, one important to argumentative text, and the forms used to accomplish the function. Because complex anaphors often contain the demonstrative this, the contexts of all this tokens in three corpora of written argumentation – research articles, editorials, and student essays – were analysed in order to identify instances of complex anaphora. While the frequencies of pronoun use for complex anaphora were similar, the frequencies of determiner use varied, as did placement of anaphors within their host sentence, determiners appearing non-initially much more often than pronouns in all corpora, particularly editorials. Overall, there was greater variation between the patterns of use in research articles and editorials than between these and student essays.

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