Making 12 years of effective English learning at schools is important
Observer round table on Standard of English in Omani Schools -By Hasan Kamoonpuri -
A roundtable conference on Standard of English in Omani Schools organised recently by Oman Daily Observer explored the issue as to why are high school graduates of public education are weak in English and what can be done to remove this weakness?
The six-member expert panel suggested that Oman needs to find new teaching and learning practices and delivery mechanisms for English language. The panellists expressed disquiet on the continued observance of customary norms and practices that hinder progressive learning.
The round table held under the auspices of Abdullah bin Salim al Shueili, Oman Observer’s Editor-in-Chief, welcomed the ongoing study at Sultan Qaboos University entitled Public School Graduates and their Weaknesses in English: Stakeholders’ Perspectives as a tool to find evidence-based decisions about the teaching and learning of English, teacher education and continuing professional development opportunities for teachers.
The panel speakers at the roundtable included Salim bin Muhammad al Kharousi, Deputy Director, Curricular Development for English Language, Ministry of Education, Paul Steele, Director, Training for AMIDEAST, Dr Rahma al Mahrooqi, Sultan Qaboos University Hammal al Balushi, SQU, Syed Muhammad Anzer, Mazoon College and Abdullah bin Salim al Shueili, Editor-in-Chief, Oman Daily Observer.
Fatima Muneer, Observer’s online editor, conducted the debate.
The roundtable was held to provide a wider lens through which one might view the significant challenges in the education of English in schools that affect students and community in the country. The panellists focused on challenges facing teacher education, recruitment, and quality as well as students’ attitude, level of motivation and role of parents.
Research Study
Dr Rahma al Mahrooqi said, “Around 80 per cent of public school graduates joining higher education require a foundation programme in English”.
She shed light on a study covering 8,000 students launched in May 2012 to find out the root causes of weak English language skills of school graduates.
Funded by a grant from His Majesty the Sultan’s Trust Fund for Strategic Research, the study entitled Public School Graduates and their Weakness in English: Stakeholders Perspectives” is being conducted by Dr Rahma al Mahrooqi (Principal Investigator), Dr. Faisal al Maamari (Co-Principal Investigator), Dr. Christopher Denman (Investigator), and Jamila al Siyabi (Investigator), Sultan Qaboos University.
She says the government of Oman attaches great importance to English in the education of Omani youth, their preparation for a global job market, and their integration into the world community. Hence, it has invested heavily in supporting English language teaching and learning in state-run schools, colleges and universities.
Unfortunately, this major investment (involving, for example, qualified manpower, free textbooks, computer laboratories and classroom aids) has not yielded satisfactory results.
School students continue to graduate with weak English language skills, and thus a majority, before tertiary level study, requires foundation courses in the language. Yet, even with such courses, lasting possibly two years at SQU, the Colleges of Higher Technology, and the Colleges of Applied Sciences, student competence in English remains inadequate for success in their majors.
If studying English for 12 years at school fails to produce satisfactory results, doing so for extra years in a foundation programme is hardly likely to prove any better, argues Dr. Rahma. Hence, investigating how the language is taught at the school level, and correcting problems there, would seem a better prospect than providing extra tuition later on. Though there has been speculation on the causes of this problem, to the researchers’ knowledge no comprehensive investigation has yet been mounted.
The proposed study, therefore, aims to address this issue in depth and especially from the perspective of stakeholders concerned — high school students, high school graduates, teachers, supervisors, school administrators, and ministry officials.
The study’s findings, to be released in near future, will pinpoint key problems in English language teaching and learning and provide a basis for recommendations to the Ministry of Education on how to address them. Thus, in the long term, the study’s results could include a reduction in student numbers requiring enrolment in foundation English programmes and a significantly lower level of government investment.
Teacher licensing
She shed light on a study covering 8,000 students launched in May 2012 to find out the root causes of weak English language skills of school graduates.
Funded by a grant from His Majesty the Sultan’s Trust Fund for Strategic Research, the study entitled Public School Graduates and their Weakness in English: Stakeholders Perspectives” is being conducted by Dr Rahma al Mahrooqi (Principal Investigator), Dr. Faisal al Maamari (Co-Principal Investigator), Dr. Christopher Denman (Investigator), and Jamila al Siyabi (Investigator), Sultan Qaboos University.
She says the government of Oman attaches great importance to English in the education of Omani youth, their preparation for a global job market, and their integration into the world community. Hence, it has invested heavily in supporting English language teaching and learning in state-run schools, colleges and universities.
Unfortunately, this major investment (involving, for example, qualified manpower, free textbooks, computer laboratories and classroom aids) has not yielded satisfactory results.
School students continue to graduate with weak English language skills, and thus a majority, before tertiary level study, requires foundation courses in the language. Yet, even with such courses, lasting possibly two years at SQU, the Colleges of Higher Technology, and the Colleges of Applied Sciences, student competence in English remains inadequate for success in their majors.
If studying English for 12 years at school fails to produce satisfactory results, doing so for extra years in a foundation programme is hardly likely to prove any better, argues Dr. Rahma. Hence, investigating how the language is taught at the school level, and correcting problems there, would seem a better prospect than providing extra tuition later on. Though there has been speculation on the causes of this problem, to the researchers’ knowledge no comprehensive investigation has yet been mounted.
The proposed study, therefore, aims to address this issue in depth and especially from the perspective of stakeholders concerned — high school students, high school graduates, teachers, supervisors, school administrators, and ministry officials.
The study’s findings, to be released in near future, will pinpoint key problems in English language teaching and learning and provide a basis for recommendations to the Ministry of Education on how to address them. Thus, in the long term, the study’s results could include a reduction in student numbers requiring enrolment in foundation English programmes and a significantly lower level of government investment.
Teacher licensing
Salim al Kharousi said the Ministry of Education is planning to introduce shortly a teaching license programme wherein after every five years a teacher would sit for an exam to pass. In case a teacher fails in the examination, he/she would have to undergo intensive training.
The teaching license system will motivate the teachers to develop themselves professionally. It is no longer enough to just have some years of experience for teaching.
Under teacher license system, the Ministry of Education will issue an initial license for teachers which will be valid for five years and renewable after five years through an exam, said Al Kharousi at a recent Observer roundtable conference on Standard of English in Omani Schools.
This measure will ensure that teachers are lifelong learners. The exam every five years for license renewal will be in addition to further improving the existing professional development programmes in the form of workshops, seminars and training courses, helping teachers stay up-to-date with new trends and learn fresh strategies, techniques and methods for classroom challenges.
The overriding idea behind teacher licensing and professional development programmes is that increased knowledge helps teachers improve student achievement. The exam every five year will help identify what each teacher needs to fine-tune his or her classroom practice. License renewal for teachers helps to continue their education.
To be sure, good teachers are thinkers and problem solvers. They know when children aren’t learning and can adjust instruction appropriately; they know how to work with parents to bring out the best in a child. The quality of teachers leaves the greatest influence on student learning in schools.
Teacher quality has long been an important issue for parents, educators, and policymakers, to the extent that the plan to introduce teacher licensing vindicates this feeling.
According to Paul Steele, a lot of key issues found in Omani schools are not necessarily very different from issues you can find in other schools around the world that teach English. Some of the common issues are about number of students per teacher, financial budgets, and more time and smaller classes. In Oman teachers need more support and there should be more teachers. Paul would like to see more schools. He also stressed the importance of greater parent involvement in school education.
Hammal al Balushi says teachers’ training and preparation programmes need streamlining. Working environment in schools and work load is not encouraging for teachers. Merit-based encouragement for teachers needs to be introduced. Students do not find learning English important except for passing the exam. The English curriculum is not designed to prepare the students to read and write. It is mostly conversational English.
Dr Rahma says teaching English involves not just the teacher and students, but also the family, and the community at large. Other factors including assessment and supervision system need to be taken into account for identify the root causes and addressing them.
Many of the secondary school graduates come to the university ill-equipped with English language. As many as 80 per cent of the students from public schools require foundation course in English while joining the SQU, although they are the top five per cent students. This shows ineffectiveness in the school education system.
There is now a growing awareness among students that English is important for their career development, for higher education and for their future. She stressed that students’ attitude and motivation towards the language is important as well.
Salim al Kharousi says English is taught to Omanis as a foreign language and not as a second language and this is in itself one of the challenges. Other factor such as school resources, including multimedia labs, teacher training, and community involvement are important. Often there is no piloting before introducing English curriculums. The curriculums are directly applied without finding out their strong and weak points. Feedback from the field is important to improve curriculums, he adds.
“During the past six years we have noticed that teachers coming from countries where English is taught as a foreign language are often found not fit for the job”.
Teachers who studied English as a foreign language are sometime not found effective in teaching English. Teachers are one of the corner stones in a good education. “We need to be selective when we recruit teachers. We need to revise our recruiting criteria. We are introducing licensing for teachers”.
The Ministry of Education has started several projects to promote English and other subjects. One of them is Curriculum Standard Project to restructure curriculums from grade I to 12, says Al Kharousi.
The ministry is keen to develop teachers and sends them abroad for workshops and further training. “We need specialised curriculum developers in Oman. Engaging teachers in developing curriculum is not a good practice.
After a Royal Order from His Majesty the Sultan to evaluate the education system, a comprehensive report was produced and sent to UNICESCO for review. It is expected to be released in near future.
Syed Muhammad Anzer says students joining the college lack a lot in writing as well as communication skills. Lack of motivation is a problem. Parents can also play an important role in motivating the students. Study culture needs to be developed. To this end, students should be given story books to read in free time. There should be a mini library in the class room with small story books. It worked very well in the past.
But it is not seen in classrooms now. Also we need to put mobile libraries in place to lend books in different parts of the country and collect the same after a week or month. If 10 to 15 per cent people get interested in English they will develop a good learning culture.
Since 1988 when basic education was introduced, English is taught from grade 1 as compared to grade 4 in the past. Dr Rahma says students in government schools learn English for 12 years. After this when they join the university their language skills are assessed and categorised in six levels. Level 1 student do not know alphabet.
Good education at schools would call for only level 5 and 6 English teaching, which imparts content-specific vocabulary to students. Schools need to create the link between English and other subjects so that ESP courses (English for specific purposes) can be abolished at the university level.
Salim al Kharousi says a majority of students going for higher education would not need a foundation course in English if the 12 years of language teaching at schools was effective.
The ministry’s Curriculum Standard project is looking to introduce integrated curriculum so as to link English to different subjects. From the next academic year, there will be a classroom library in all schools. The Learning Resource Centres will have more e-initiatives for tech-savvy students with e-applications to learn English, he adds.
Syed Anzer says motivating teachers is also important. There should be a weekly school-based workshop for teachers to participate effectively. He also suggests more frequent parent-teaching meetings.
Dr Rahma says teachers need to impart knowledge and inspire students to motivate them. Some private colleges in the GCC region are interested in profits only so they accept weak students and push them through the system. That explains why sometime teachers have to undergo foundation courses and have to be retrained.
Dr Rahma says classroom involvement of students is limited which needs to be looked into. Methodology needs improvements. Textbooks are not appealing and challenging. Lexical load is not progressive.
She underlines the need for extracurricular activities for practicing English conversation. Teachers can ask students about the professions they want to go in for and take them accordingly on field trips to organsations where those professions are practiced such as medicine, engineering, information technology, etc so that they see the value of English in their future profession.
In response to a question, Salim al Kharousi informs that Omanisation is 100 per cent in female schools. In other schools, Omanisation is not more than 25 per cent.
“It was Oman’s first roundtable on trends in English learning performance. By sharing their experiences and expertise, the panel speakers made a real difference to the roundtable outcome, said Observer’s Editor-in-Chief.
In his speech, this reporter said English is important for everyone’s career development and that restoring English language teaching and learning to its rightful place assumes special significance in the present age of information and knowledge explosion. English is the official language in many countries. Over two billion people in the world use English to communicate on a regular basis. English is the dominant business language and it is like a passport to enter a global workforce.
More than 50 per cent of the content produced on the Internet is in English. English is the language of science, media, computers, diplomacy, and tourism.
The issue of English language at Omani schools assumes special significance now in view of the increasing globalisation wherein young people want to have access to global workplaces. This is however not to say that English should be taught at the cost of mother tongue of the Sultanate.
Supported by the Studies and Research Centre of Oman Establishment for Press, Publications and Advertising (OEPPA), publishers of Oman Daily Observer and the Arabic daily Oman, the number of roundtable participants is normally limited to about five, in addition to a number of Observer journalists and students from different colleges. The participants are invited based on their specialised expertise and/or their comprehensive knowledge of the issue in question.
— Pictures by Shamsa al Harthiya
The teaching license system will motivate the teachers to develop themselves professionally. It is no longer enough to just have some years of experience for teaching.
Under teacher license system, the Ministry of Education will issue an initial license for teachers which will be valid for five years and renewable after five years through an exam, said Al Kharousi at a recent Observer roundtable conference on Standard of English in Omani Schools.
This measure will ensure that teachers are lifelong learners. The exam every five years for license renewal will be in addition to further improving the existing professional development programmes in the form of workshops, seminars and training courses, helping teachers stay up-to-date with new trends and learn fresh strategies, techniques and methods for classroom challenges.
The overriding idea behind teacher licensing and professional development programmes is that increased knowledge helps teachers improve student achievement. The exam every five year will help identify what each teacher needs to fine-tune his or her classroom practice. License renewal for teachers helps to continue their education.
To be sure, good teachers are thinkers and problem solvers. They know when children aren’t learning and can adjust instruction appropriately; they know how to work with parents to bring out the best in a child. The quality of teachers leaves the greatest influence on student learning in schools.
Teacher quality has long been an important issue for parents, educators, and policymakers, to the extent that the plan to introduce teacher licensing vindicates this feeling.
According to Paul Steele, a lot of key issues found in Omani schools are not necessarily very different from issues you can find in other schools around the world that teach English. Some of the common issues are about number of students per teacher, financial budgets, and more time and smaller classes. In Oman teachers need more support and there should be more teachers. Paul would like to see more schools. He also stressed the importance of greater parent involvement in school education.
Hammal al Balushi says teachers’ training and preparation programmes need streamlining. Working environment in schools and work load is not encouraging for teachers. Merit-based encouragement for teachers needs to be introduced. Students do not find learning English important except for passing the exam. The English curriculum is not designed to prepare the students to read and write. It is mostly conversational English.
Dr Rahma says teaching English involves not just the teacher and students, but also the family, and the community at large. Other factors including assessment and supervision system need to be taken into account for identify the root causes and addressing them.
Many of the secondary school graduates come to the university ill-equipped with English language. As many as 80 per cent of the students from public schools require foundation course in English while joining the SQU, although they are the top five per cent students. This shows ineffectiveness in the school education system.
There is now a growing awareness among students that English is important for their career development, for higher education and for their future. She stressed that students’ attitude and motivation towards the language is important as well.
Salim al Kharousi says English is taught to Omanis as a foreign language and not as a second language and this is in itself one of the challenges. Other factor such as school resources, including multimedia labs, teacher training, and community involvement are important. Often there is no piloting before introducing English curriculums. The curriculums are directly applied without finding out their strong and weak points. Feedback from the field is important to improve curriculums, he adds.
“During the past six years we have noticed that teachers coming from countries where English is taught as a foreign language are often found not fit for the job”.
Teachers who studied English as a foreign language are sometime not found effective in teaching English. Teachers are one of the corner stones in a good education. “We need to be selective when we recruit teachers. We need to revise our recruiting criteria. We are introducing licensing for teachers”.
The Ministry of Education has started several projects to promote English and other subjects. One of them is Curriculum Standard Project to restructure curriculums from grade I to 12, says Al Kharousi.
The ministry is keen to develop teachers and sends them abroad for workshops and further training. “We need specialised curriculum developers in Oman. Engaging teachers in developing curriculum is not a good practice.
After a Royal Order from His Majesty the Sultan to evaluate the education system, a comprehensive report was produced and sent to UNICESCO for review. It is expected to be released in near future.
Syed Muhammad Anzer says students joining the college lack a lot in writing as well as communication skills. Lack of motivation is a problem. Parents can also play an important role in motivating the students. Study culture needs to be developed. To this end, students should be given story books to read in free time. There should be a mini library in the class room with small story books. It worked very well in the past.
But it is not seen in classrooms now. Also we need to put mobile libraries in place to lend books in different parts of the country and collect the same after a week or month. If 10 to 15 per cent people get interested in English they will develop a good learning culture.
Since 1988 when basic education was introduced, English is taught from grade 1 as compared to grade 4 in the past. Dr Rahma says students in government schools learn English for 12 years. After this when they join the university their language skills are assessed and categorised in six levels. Level 1 student do not know alphabet.
Good education at schools would call for only level 5 and 6 English teaching, which imparts content-specific vocabulary to students. Schools need to create the link between English and other subjects so that ESP courses (English for specific purposes) can be abolished at the university level.
Salim al Kharousi says a majority of students going for higher education would not need a foundation course in English if the 12 years of language teaching at schools was effective.
The ministry’s Curriculum Standard project is looking to introduce integrated curriculum so as to link English to different subjects. From the next academic year, there will be a classroom library in all schools. The Learning Resource Centres will have more e-initiatives for tech-savvy students with e-applications to learn English, he adds.
Syed Anzer says motivating teachers is also important. There should be a weekly school-based workshop for teachers to participate effectively. He also suggests more frequent parent-teaching meetings.
Dr Rahma says teachers need to impart knowledge and inspire students to motivate them. Some private colleges in the GCC region are interested in profits only so they accept weak students and push them through the system. That explains why sometime teachers have to undergo foundation courses and have to be retrained.
Dr Rahma says classroom involvement of students is limited which needs to be looked into. Methodology needs improvements. Textbooks are not appealing and challenging. Lexical load is not progressive.
She underlines the need for extracurricular activities for practicing English conversation. Teachers can ask students about the professions they want to go in for and take them accordingly on field trips to organsations where those professions are practiced such as medicine, engineering, information technology, etc so that they see the value of English in their future profession.
In response to a question, Salim al Kharousi informs that Omanisation is 100 per cent in female schools. In other schools, Omanisation is not more than 25 per cent.
“It was Oman’s first roundtable on trends in English learning performance. By sharing their experiences and expertise, the panel speakers made a real difference to the roundtable outcome, said Observer’s Editor-in-Chief.
In his speech, this reporter said English is important for everyone’s career development and that restoring English language teaching and learning to its rightful place assumes special significance in the present age of information and knowledge explosion. English is the official language in many countries. Over two billion people in the world use English to communicate on a regular basis. English is the dominant business language and it is like a passport to enter a global workforce.
More than 50 per cent of the content produced on the Internet is in English. English is the language of science, media, computers, diplomacy, and tourism.
The issue of English language at Omani schools assumes special significance now in view of the increasing globalisation wherein young people want to have access to global workplaces. This is however not to say that English should be taught at the cost of mother tongue of the Sultanate.
Supported by the Studies and Research Centre of Oman Establishment for Press, Publications and Advertising (OEPPA), publishers of Oman Daily Observer and the Arabic daily Oman, the number of roundtable participants is normally limited to about five, in addition to a number of Observer journalists and students from different colleges. The participants are invited based on their specialised expertise and/or their comprehensive knowledge of the issue in question.
— Pictures by Shamsa al Harthiya
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