Authors:Marine Milad Pages: 1 - 11 Abstract: This paper aims at presenting an interactive approach that was implemented on Arab Open University (AOU) students to enrich their productive skills namely speaking, oral presentation and writing skills. The researcher aimed at establishing a community of practice through a blended learning environment which considers non-traditional multicultural leaner. This community of practice presents a combination of face-to-face facilitated learning, e-learning and self-study. The researcher applied “Present to Learn” approach on AOU students employing Johari Windows Model to develop the identified productive skills and break the students’ stage fright through collaboration in groups. An observation checklist was developed to check the students’ oral presentation and writing prompts. In addition, a questionnaire was developed to measure the students’ satisfaction towards the applied interactive approach and their assessment of the whole experiment. It was observed that cooperative work especially with having critical partners has improved the students’ performance achievement through learning from each other in one group and competing with other groups. The collected feedback from the questionnaire was in favour of applying this approach on more groups which was implemented across three consecutive academic semesters. Moreover, the students’ end results were statistically analysed and a correlation between high performance achievement and active participation inside and outside the class was drawn. The results have shown that students who participated by giving presentations reflecting their group work obtained higher grades than those who failed to work with others or did not give any presentations. PubDate: 2020-11-01 DOI: 10.5296/ije.v12i4.17898 Issue No:Vol. 12, No. 4 (2020)
Authors:Alexandra Christiane Daub, Tonya Huber Pages: 12 - 37 Abstract: Deficits in social interactions is one of the characteristics of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). There are numerous interventions that aim at establishing social skills--social stories being one of them. This review of professional literature focuses on the effectiveness of social stories on social skills of elementary-aged students with ASD. The authors identified nine peer-reviewed journal articles from the systemic review of three search engines and analyzed them through different categorizations that provide information on the methodologies used, effectiveness of social stories, the implementation of social stories, and demographic information provided on participants. Effectiveness and implementation of social stories were characterized by a large variability of findings. Effectiveness ranged from lasting behavior changes to no measurable change at all. Implementation differed regarding the mode of presentation, the use of guidelines for developing the stories, setting and reader, and other intervention strategies implemented alongside. The authors identified disparities regarding gender and racial/ethnic identity across studies, with a majority of participants being male and a lack of information concerning the racial/ethnic identity of participants. The potential gender and racial/ethnic/cultural bias needs to be addressed in further research to ensure that findings can be generalized to a larger and representative population. PubDate: 2020-11-12 DOI: 10.5296/ije.v12i4.17759 Issue No:Vol. 12, No. 4 (2020)
Authors:Nesreen Alzhrani, Miriam Alkubaidi Pages: 38 - 48 Abstract: The use of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Saudi Arabia does not appear to continue in the coming years on account of its strong commitment towards the 2030 vision that aims to reformulate and restructure the foundations of the social and economic fabric of the Saudi society. The Arabic language holds its significance in the society due to being a religious language. The current review has analyzed the paradigm shifts from EFL to ESL in higher education in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and predicted the future of English in Saudi Arabia. The major challenge that policymakers may encounter would be how to localize education of English language to meet the Saudi norms and standards of learning while at the same time modernize and internationalize the higher education through western theoretical knowledge and the English language. Suggestions regarding these aspects may direct individuals involved in language planning in Saudi Arabia. PubDate: 2020-11-13 DOI: 10.5296/ije.v12i4.17652 Issue No:Vol. 12, No. 4 (2020)
Authors:Christian Atabong Nchindia Pages: 49 - 72 Abstract: Underpinned by frameworks of intercultural interaction, representation and discourse analysis, this research aimed to explore ambiguities and examine salient factors in intercultural interaction in UK universities, from the perspectives of four BAME lecturers and a lecturer from mainstream British culture. Informed by interpretive qualitative methodology and convenient sampling, data was collected through individual semi-structured interviews and the Nvivo software was used for analysis. Findings revealed that the experiences of academics in intercultural interaction with students were homogeneous across the board irrespective of their racial backgrounds. Despite a high level of intercultural awareness, some students and academics were unable to deconstruct stereotypes in cultural representation. It seems that universities do little to help academics and students develop and sustain intercultural awareness. There is hardly any systemic, structural, and coordinated approach in addressing cultural issues that may emerge in the classroom, as academics are left to figure it out by themselves. Some implications for policy in the higher education contexts were identified and recommendations made. PubDate: 2020-11-13 DOI: 10.5296/ije.v12i4.17790 Issue No:Vol. 12, No. 4 (2020)
Authors:Abdulnaser A. Fakhrou, Sara A. Ghareeb Pages: 73 - 92 Abstract: The present study aimed to explore the relationship between the extent of having habits of mind and creativity among students of excellent academic achievement at Qatar University during the COVID 19 crisis. The researchers adopted a descriptive analytical approach. The researchers selected a sample that consists from 12 male students and 250 female students of excellent academic achievement. They were enrolled at the College of Education at Qatar University. They were selected through using the random stratified sampling method was used. Questionnaire forms were distributed to those students through using e-mail. However, 5 questionnaire forms were excluded due to having missing data and 7 questionnaire forms weren’t retrieved. Thus, the final sample consists from 250 female students. SPSS program was used to analyze data. It was found that extent of having habits of mind by students of excellent academic achievement at Qatar University is moderate. It was found that the creativity level of the students of excellent academic achievement at Qatar University is moderate. It was found that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between that extent of having habits of mind and creativity level at Qatar University during the COVID 19 crisis. The researchers recommend adding activities that requires using habits of mind to university curricula in Qatar. PubDate: 2020-12-07 DOI: 10.5296/ije.v12i4.18047 Issue No:Vol. 12, No. 4 (2020)
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