ELC (283)
The English Language Centre of UTAS-Ibri held a webinar titled How to use Masader to Write Literature Review? on February 3, 2022. The speaker Dr Laly Antoney shared a list of parameters to define a researcher and literature review as an art of expressing oneself through awareness of the know-how of the research process.
She highlighted the significance of literature review as it provides the basis upon which the researcher establishes the research context, formulate research problems and develop the research design and data collection tools. She cautioned the audience to look for credible scholarly sources and acquainted them with the list of indicators. A few tips on keeping track of citation through Refworks, Endnote, Zotero, Mendley were highly appreciated.
In her presentation, she shared the literature review process and ways to search for scholarly literature in Masader, the virtual library database of the University. Both amateurs and experienced research scholars were immensely benefitted as the information shared was of immediate use.
According to Dr Laly a committed researcher is aware of the established school of thoughts, current knowledge, proven research methods, and tools prior researchers have adopted to address the current or similar research topics. She further stated that researchers ought to be conversant with the skills to search for credible scholarly sources to synthesize and portray the relevant literature's current status in their chosen field of study. The English Language Centre thanked her immensely for her efforts and contribution.
Profile
Dr. Laly Antoney is a faculty member of the Business Studies Department, UTAS –Ibri, and has more than 24 years of international teaching experience (India, Bahrain and Oman) in Business education. Dr Laly holds a doctorate in Commerce from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India. Dr Antoney's professional philosophy is to continually develop teaching and research expertise through active engagement with professional bodies. She also aspires to utilize these skills to positively impact and constructive changes in education, research, academic fraternity, students and the larger community.
UTAS-Ibri conducted an online workshop titled Unlearn Online Teaching by Rozan Kuryyim with the collaborative efforts of the English Language Centre and the Business Studies Department on February 3, 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered significant changes in education systems worldwide, and it was challenging for the teaching community. Teachers worldwide are yet to gain a strong foothold to make their virtual classes appealing to the student community. Although online teaching started as a medium to survive and continue during the pandemic, it proved to be an appreciated and prized possibility in challenging situations where in-class teaching might have failed to take place. The workshop drew the participants' attention to misunderstood notions and beliefs associated with online classes facilitated them to understand new prospective insights in remote teaching.
Profile
Rozan Kuryyim is a graduate teaching assistant at the ELI, University of Jeddah. She holds a master's degree in Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from the University of Sydney. Rozan has almost nine years of experience in teaching English as a foreign language. She is passionate about innovative teaching and curriculum design that suits language learners' continuously changing interests and needs.
Assessment is a crucial element in enhancing the overall quality of teaching and learning in higher education. What and how students learn depends to a major extent on how they think they will be assessed. Online academic programs are becoming more prevalent across the world. All assessments lead to student learning, but a fundamental challenge lies in stimulating the right kind of learning. Therefore, assessment practices must be designed to send the right signals to students in shaping the effectiveness of student learning – about what they should learn and how they should learn.
The English Language Centre of UTAS-Ibri hosted a webinar titled Adopt, Adapt, Improve on January 27 2022. The guest speaker Kinda Abd Al Rahman highlighted the pivotal role of assessment in online academic programmes in her presentation. She emphasized the importance of assessment and considered it an important means of measuring a student's progress, achievement, and feedback while pursuing online credit courses. She underlined the significance of summative and formative assessment, interactive assessments and self-assessment. Challenges like academic integrity, high workload, technical issues and students' isolation were also discussed. The audience could relate and found the know-hows effective and practical.
Profile
Kinda Abd Al-Rahman is an Authorized Imperial UK English teacher. She is an English teacher with a BA in English Literature, and she has ten years of experience in teaching English to different ages of students. She has conducted various communicative workshops and designed teaching materials for personalized courses.
Mr Dennis Primne Corbita delivered a presentation on Sustaining During Covid-19: Exploring Mobile Applications to Prevent Plagiarism in teaching English Academic Writing at The University Of Technology And Applied Sciences-IBRI at the 5th Sohar University Research Conference (SURC2022) on Promoting Human Well-Being on 19 January 2022.
The presentation highlighted some thought-provoking aspects of the following three objectives:
- How to strengthen academic integrity in student writing output
- To promote sustainable learning in Education
- To inform lecturers about the common apps used in academic writing
The speaker had an interesting exchange of perspectives and obliged to the questions with convincing and conclusive responses.
Profile of the Speaker
Mr Dennis Primne Corbetta works as an English Lecturer at the English Language Centre UTAS-Ibri, Oman. He has obtained his undergraduate degree, AB –English Language and Literature, as well as his Masters of Arts in English at Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan. He has published textbooks on Art Appreciation and Reading and Writing. Currently, he is pursuing his doctoral degree.
About 150 students attended IELTS courses offered by the ELC, UTAS-Ibri, from November 21, 2021, to December 22, 2021. Employees, students, job seekers, and students from other higher educational institutions joined the courses and were hugely benefitted.
A team of highly trained teachers conducted the courses. They employed customized teaching methods and strategies to facilitate the participants to clear the IELTS. The teachers trained the aspirants to develop an ear for details to improve listening skills and equipped them with the tips and techniques to clear their IELTS writing test.
IELTS instructors provided essential tips and techniques to become proficient in listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. Models of question types and handouts with concept check questions were given for all four skills and were like ready reckoners for the students. Practical and helpful online links were also shared with the participants.
ELC, UTAS-Ibri, announced that it will continue to offer IELTS courses in future and has plans to conduct English language proficiency courses to prepare the aspirants for the challenges of the job market.The programme ended with positive feedback that mirrored their confidence and readiness.
The students thanked the ELC and requested the college management to conduct similar courses in the future. They also stated that they were grateful to their teachers for helping them with new techniques and tips to develop vocabulary.
Dr Abdulsalam Al Manthari, Head of the ELC, said: “This is part of the ELC’s commitment to providing high-quality educational services to the community.” The statement instilled confidence among the IELTS aspirants, and it was evident that the student community was helped. Certificates of Participation were given to all students who attended the IELTS course.
The English Language of UTAS- Ibri, has always been at the forefront in rendering services to the local community. As part of the novel initiative, the ELC conducted a General English Course for more than 20 students from the Public Authority of Consumer Protection, General Directorate of Agriculture Wealth & Water Resources, Administration of Heritage & Tourism, Al Dhahira Municipality, Administration of Culture, Sports & Youth, Civil Defense & Ambulance Authority, General Directorate for Social Development, Wali's Office (Ibri) and the ROP in the Dhahira region.
A five-day introductory English language course was offered from January 9 to January 13, 202 and was conducted by Ms Adeebah Mohammed Salim Al Sawafi, Mr Shaikh Muhmmed Waheed and Dr Mohsen Amiri. Based on the data gathered from needs analysis, Ms Sharon Ruth Devaneson created and designed the teaching materials for all four English language skills (LSRW) that catered to the student's language needs. The learning materials were compiled in a booklet that served as a ready reckoner to the students and helped them enhance their functional English and ESP.
The English language instructors engaged the students with interactive activities in a stress-free environment, instilled confidence, and encouraged them to learn the language further. Dr Mohsen and Ms Adeebah used popular classroom activities like role-playing, pantomime, and Kahoot to make the language tangible and exciting.
The course ended on an impressive note, and the feedback was highly encouraging. The students described it as an enjoyable experience and requested the team for more. They also thanked the management for encouraging them to take this course and benefit from it. Some of the students were IbriCT's alumni and walked down memory lane with some of their senior teachers. Dr Sultan Al Ghafri, Head of Sections -ELP, congratulated the students on completing the General English course and wished them the best in their future endeavours. He distributed Certificates of Participation to the students. He also appreciated the teachers for their efforts and dedication.
The Students’ Activities Committee conducted two Writing workshops for level one and two students on the 1st and 4th of January 2022. The workshops aimed share some useful tips with the students to prepare them for the final writing exam. More than 140 students attended the workshops.
The sessions were mutually conducted by Dr Mohsen and Ms Adeebah Al Sawafi. The feedback was encouraging, and there were requests from students for similar workshops. It was a much-needed initiative for the foundation students and tips and tricks shared by the teachers instilled immense confidence in the students.
The Research and Consultancy Committee of the ELC, UTAS-Ibri, hosted a webinar on December 23, 2021, on Translingualism and Translanguaging Pedagogy in ELT.
Dr Maria Luisa Saministrado introduced the term "translanguaging" as the process whereby multilingual speakers use their language as an integrated communication and "languaging" as the term used to refer to the activity of mediating cognitively complex ideas using language.
The speaker stressed the importance of translingualism to bilinguals and multilingual communities. She also shared how power politics influenced the country's language policy and the status of minority languages. She also stated that language minorities in most countries continue to be educated in the dominant language without leveraging their home language practices.
The topic was novel and interesting enough to make language teachers think about integrating new methods and practices in language teaching.
Profile
Dr Maria Luisa Saministrado holds two doctorate degrees: A PhD in English at the University of Newcastle, Australia and a PhD in Educational Management from Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan. She was the former head of the English Language And Literature Department of XU-Ateneo, where she served for seven years and was also the Director of the English Communication Development Institute ( ECDI ). She has produced several English textbooks for tertiary and high school students, which are used in various universities in the Philippines. Also, she has published papers in peer-reviewed journals on language and literature.
The Research and Consultancy Committee of the ELC, UTAS-Ibri, hosted a webinar titled How to get Poetry Published on December 16. Dr Zola Gonzalez introduced the audiences to different ways of getting poetry published in international research journals of repute(both paid and unpaid). She demonstrated submitting poems to Griffel, a journal of international repute. Dr Zola shared an interesting observation and said that when a poem is submitted for publication, its just not just for publishing but also to people, biases, preferences, readers, screeners and editors who project themselves as gatekeepers by establishing their values when it comes to poetry and other forms of writing. She also shared the latest norms of publishing poetry. The session was interesting to those who had a penchant for poetry.
Profile
Dr Zola Gonzalez-Macarambon is a writer and teacher from Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines. Her works are published in various national and international publications, including Gasher (USA), Poets Choice (India), Loch Raven Review (USA), Cordite (Australia), Peril (Australia), Asian Cha (Singapore), among others. In 2021 she received the Pandemic Writers Grant from the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing (the USA. She received the Ninja Arts Grant for ‘Sendong’, a suite of poems ranked 1st by judges of the Hawker Prize for Poetry 2019. She has a PhD in Communications from Monash University (Australia), an institution ranking among the world’s top 100.
UTAS-Ibri hosted a webinar on “Modern Interactive Apps for Online Teaching” on December 16, 2021. The presenter Ms Aybüke Demet ÖREN, from Turkey, shared her insights and acumen of modern interactive apps for online teaching.
Due to recent developments in technology, evolving needs of our learners and especially the pandemic affecting every nation globally, online teaching has become more widespread than ever worldwide. With this paradigm shift, teachers are expected to catch up with the latest trends and developments in education, making it impossible to overlook the online tools utilized in teaching.
She came up with an exciting list of interactive apps for Math, IT and ELT. For language teachers, she suggested Wordwall, Padlet and Live worksheets.
She also shared a colourful description of the qualities of a good teacher, and the audience could easily relate to the visual.
Profile
Aybüke Demet ÖREN, Turkey, is an EFL teacher of 17 years from Turkey who believes in life-long learning. She holds a BA from Marmara University and an MA from Bahçeşehir University in the English Language Teaching Department, located in İstanbul, Turkey. She has published articles and translations in the field of ELT. She is also a Cambridge certified teacher trainer, a DELTA candidate by Cambridge University, and an İstanbul University-Cerrahpaşa CEARC certified Turkish as a Foreign Language teacher. Currently, she works at İstanbul Atatürk High School of Science.