English Education in Oman

Rahma Al-Mahrooqi is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Postgraduate Studies and Research at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, where she has worked for more than 20 years. In addition to her current position overseeing research and postgraduate studies at Oman’s only public university, she has also coordinated tertiary-level English courses and programs, been the director of one of the largest English language centres in the region, and published widely on English language teaching and learning in Oman, including such topics as reading, literature, and English communication skills. She has also acted as the principal investigator in a number of funded research projects, including investigations related to Omani students’ English-language communication skills and public school graduates’ weaknesses in English. In addition, she reviews for a number of international journals, including TESOL Quarterly, System, and the International Students’ Journal.Christopher Denman is a researcherat the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Postgraduate Studies and Research at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. He was previously affiliated with the university’s Humanities Research Centre and was also an instructor at its Language Centre, after teaching English at the secondary and tertiary levels in Australia, South Korea, and Japan. He has published in international journals and edited books, in addition to being a co-editor of two volumes dealing with employment and education and English education in the Arab world. He has been involved in several funded research projects concerning various aspects of education in Oman, and was the principal investigator on a project that explored issues related to English-medium instruction at the tertiary level in the sultanate.

• Introduction.- Part I Teacher-centered Issues.- Professionalism by whose Model? Professionalism and Professionalisation of TESOL Teachers through Autonomy or Accountability.- Developing Texts that match Readers' Abilities in the Sciences: Seeking an Appropriate Instructional Level.- Teachers' Attitudes towards Alternative Assessment in the English-language Foundation Program of an Omani University.- Teachers Doing Research with their own Students: A Blessing or a Curse?.- Incorporating Intercultural Research into ELL/ELT in Oman.- Part II Student-centered Issues.- Student Evaluation of their English Language Teachers in Omani Basic Education Schools.- Learning for Real-Voices from the Classroom.- An Exploration of the English-language Reading Habits of Omani University Students.- Remediation in College: Some Preliminary Considerations for Establishing Support Schemes for Omani At-risk Students.- English Language Proficiency and Communicative Competence in Oman: Implications for Employability and Sustainable Development.- Understanding Attrition in English-medium University Programs in Oman: Identifying Push, Pull and Fallout Factors at an Arab Gulf University.- Readiness for Autonomy among EFL Students in Oman.- Part III Teaching-centered Issues.- Integrating Content Based Instructions in a Foundation Program for Omani Nursing Students.- Tasks: Effective Ways of Accomodating Learners' Identities in Higher Education Oman.- Comics in the Omani EFL Classroom: Boosting Student Vocabulary, Reading, and Motivation.- Teaching Sound-Spelling Coordination as a part of Productive Skills: A Case of Arabic-Speaking Undergraduate Students.- Corpus Linguistics and the Classroom: Avenues for Innovation.