Teaching English in Oman

The education in Oman is undergoing continuous development since the blessed Nahdha, which has taken great interest in education. The Sultanate has been interested in learning the languages ​​of its neighboring countries such as English, French and German in light of the friendships between countries. The Sultanate has introduced their languages ​​to schools as basic materials.

The Sultanate has worked on developing the English language through methods of teaching language skills with new skills and new methods in teaching it using technology and using it to serve students and develop their language skills in all aspects of the English language . 

The Sultanate has prepared worthy teachers in this field, and the teachers have trained in all skills of the English language, and the Sultanate has attracted doctors from abroad to teach the English language. 

 

ردإعادة توجيه

https://youtu.be/xPXOYVZ484U

 

You are aware of the extent of the attention we accord to the development of human

resources in order to provide our young sons and daughters with wider and better

opportunities of education, training and employment. There can be no doubt that the

human being is the basic component and the cornerstone of any viable civilisation. We,

therefore, once again reaffirm the importance of this element in the development and

modernisation of society.

(From a speech of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said in 2006)

English language teaching (ELT) in Oman is a relatively new enterprise. It has been intro-

duced to the Omani education system in 1970, when His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said

came to the throne and started establishing the modern Omani nation-state. Oman has ever

since acknowledged the importance of English, a lingua franca and the only official for-

eign language in the Sultanate, as a tool that serves multiple purposes locally and globally.

English in Oman receives political, economic, and legislative support from the elite as repre-

sented in the government, which determines its place on the social hierarchy (Al-Issa 2002,

2006c). English in Oman has institutionalized domains like the business, education, and

media (Al-Busaidi 1995) and is central to Oman’s continued national development (Al-Issa

2002, 2006c, 2007b). People in Oman learn English for science and technology acquisition,

pursuing higher education, travelling to non-Arabic and English-speaking countries, finding

a white-collar job and cultural analysis and understanding (Al-Issa 2002, 2007b). The last

purpose is best interpreted through watching Hollywood films and other English language

programs and reading English language printed materials, which introduce Omanis to the

English-speaking countries’ cultures and help them see its different aspects through the tool

of language.

However, facts and figures about ELT in Oman show that the vast majority of the stu-

dents who leave Grade 12 and join different public and private higher education academic

institutions lack the ability to use language effectively and appropriately in all four skills

throughout the range of social, personal, school, and work situations required for daily living

in a given society. The same largely applies to the hundreds of students who are awarded

scholarships to English-speaking and non-Arabic speaking countries every year to study for

their First Degree. These students learn English in their respective foundation programs,

despite spending 9 years receiving formal instruction in English at their different schools

throughout the Sultanate (Al-Issa 2009b, 2010a).

Hence, the government decided to revolutionize ELT over a decade ago to meet the present

and future challenges and demands of the local and global market. This has been material-

ized in the form of introducing the Basic Education System (BES) in 1999, which introduces

English language from Grade 1, stresses Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), and

incorporates educational technology within ELT and the other subjects on the national cur-

riculum. This has come at the expense of the former General Education System (GES), which

completely phased out in June 2010 across the Sultanate.

1 Rationale

Barkhuizen and Gough (1996) stress that “the success of language-in-education policy is

measured by the effectiveness of its implementation” (p. 461). This article attempts to inves-

tigate the perceptions of the first BES graduates about the implementation of the system, any

perceived changes in their language, and the implications this can have to ELT in the neigh-

boring Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (GCCC)—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi

123

English language teaching reform in Sultanate of Oman 143

Arabia & the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.)—the Middle East and North Africa countries

and other “expanding circle countries” (Kachru 1986), which might be embarking on ELT

reform projects endeavours.

In addition, there has been scarcity of written and published research on the different

aspects of ELT policy and planning in Sultanate of Oman. The authors of this article hope to

make some significant contribution to this important, but overlooked area.

The writers of this article further hope to communicate the results of this study to the

stakeholders at the Ministry of Education to help them understand the factors disturbing the

implementation of ELT reform in Oman. By doing so, the stakeholders will be in a good situ-

ation to point to the source(s) of the problem and act accordingly. Discussion of the literature

on ELT in the subsequent sections will help to provide practical solutions to the current ELT

policy implementation problems in the Omani ELT system.

2 Educational reform

Educational reform is intellectually, physically and financially demanding and challenging

and driven by political, cultural, economic and ideological reasons. Effective educational

reform, according to Oliver (1996), must involve the establishment of new targets, strategies

and stake holders.

2.1 Public education

Oman, a young nation-state and an oil-producing country in the Gulf, established a national

mass education policy and invested heavily in education over the past 40 years or so through

formal schooling and successfully improved the level, quantity and quality of human capital.

As a result, literacy rates of males and females have increased significantly over the four

decades. Education has been free for all since His Majesty the Sultan came to power on 23

rd

July 1970. This has contributed to reducing literacy rates significantly.

According to the data retrieved from the Ministry of Education database in 2010, the

number of schools rose from three schools of about 900 students in 1970 to 207 schools

and about 55,752 students in 1975/1976 and to 953 schools and 488,797 students in 1995.

However, schools then were equipped with chalk and blackboards and basic furniture (chairs

and desks, ceiling fans and lights). Classrooms were barrack-like (35–50 students in each

classroom) and schools were equipped with libraries that included some printed materials.

Schools operated according to two shifts—morning 7:30–11:30, and afternoon 12:00–4:00.

Textbooks and other relevant educational printed materials were mainly imported. Formal

tests dominated the assessment scene.

Moreover, the Ministry of Education trained a number of inspectors during the 1970s.

These inspectors visited the different schools throughout the Sultanate on a regular basis

and reported their observations to a central authority at the Ministry. Such reports had an

important impact on the career paths of the inspected academic and administrative staff.

In addition, expatriate teachers outnumbered their Omani counterparts. However, some of

these teachers lacked proper academic and educational qualifications and training, and hence

would travel all the way from their respective regions (sometimes for up to 400 km) to attend

in-service training sessions in Muscat. The case was not very different with regard to the

Omani teachers, who too lacked proper training and qualification, as many of them were grad-

uates of the Teacher Training Institutes (TTI), which were opened in 1977, and transformed

into Intermediate Teacher Training Colleges (ITTC) in 1984, and eventually transformed into

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144 A.S. Al-Issa, A.H. Al-Bulushi

Colleges of Education in 1995. The difference between the three institutions is substantial

and lies in the academic and administrative structure and quality and quantity of types of

knowledge presented to the prospective teachers.

Oman has witnessed seven 5-year educational plans starting since 1976–1980, which at-

tempted to achieve a balance between quality and quantity. Today, the number of schools

throughout the Sultanate has exceeded 1,050 and the number of students has exceeded

560,000, out of which only less of one quarter of this number find seats in the (free) public

higher education institutes available throughout the country.

A large number of schools throughout the Sultanate have been equipped with a resource

centre, which include computers with access to the Internet, LCD projectors, slides projec-

tors, OHPs, printers, scanners, videos, video cameras, digital cameras, different computer

software, and a wide range of printed and educational materials.

Moreover, textbooks and other pertinent printed materials are produced in-house. Class-

rooms, which have become relatively smaller in size, are equipped with a whiteboard and

markers and are air-conditioned, as the temperature in summer (May–August) sometimes

exceeds 50

◦

C.

In addition, Omani teachers have gradually started to outnumber their expatriate coun-

terparts in most disciplines, especially in the female sector. Furthermore, teachers who have

graduated from the TTI and ITTC were enrolled in special programs to help them upgrade

their skills and knowledge about their respective fields. Also, teachers have been attending

different in-service training programs in their respective regions and senior/master teachers

have been appointed to assist the less experienced, new arrivals to the system and fresh grad-

uates in developing to become better teachers. These senior/master teachers are trained to

do action research and keep portfolios. Moreover, experienced and qualified Omani teacher

trainers have been appointed in the different regions of the Sultanate.

In 1998–1999, the Ministry of Education introduced the BES as an “ambitious” scientific

and pedagogic education development project, which consists of 10 years of schooling and

covers substantial changes in areas such as the school system, curriculum content, textbook

development, means of assessment and teacher training.

This is followed by the introduction of the Post-Basic or Secondary Education, which lasts

for 2 years of schooling (Grades 11 and 12), and is designed to continue developing basic

skills like proper communication skills, problem solving skills, use of mathematics skills,

personal and social skills, and information technology literacy. These skills are important

for employment and career planning and are set to be achieved through adopting student-

centred learning, internationally recognized curriculum and assessment standards based on

learner outcomes and authentic assessment of student performance, problem-solving teach-

ing approach, development of individual differences, and development of employability skills

and universal competencies (Ministry of Education 2008).

An example of the curriculum reform adopted is offering a host of optional courses for stu-

dent to choose from such as English Language Skills, Graphic Design, Economic Geography,

Artistic Skills, Computer Business, Computer science, Geography and Modern Technology,

Musical Skills, Physical Education and some others, from where each student should choose

three. Another example is asking all students to study research methodology and complete a

project during the 2 years of the Post-Basic Education (Ministry of Education 2008).

The Ministry of Education further allocated the Best Teacher Award some years back

to honour distinguished individual teachers from all public schools across the Sultanate,

provided they satisfy a certain set of criteria. For example, 250–300 teachers representing

different schools and subjects were declared recipients of the award from across the country

in 2010 and honoured with a Certificate and a Laptop.

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English language teaching reform in Sultanate of Oman 145

Certain criteria such as a minimum of 4 years teaching experience, adherence to rules

and regulations, punctuality and attendance, professional efficiency, skill and competence in

using computers, professional innovation and creativity, effort made to pursue professional

development, students’ attainment and ability to cope with pressure have been specified to

help determine the best teacher.

2.2 Public Higher Education

Pollock (2007) acknowledges that the GCCC have started to diversify their economies to

relinquish dependency on oil revenues, as industry in the region is demanding increasingly

skilled labour to meet human resource needs. Oman, more specifically, and according to

Gonzalez et al. (2008) “...is dealing with a less than certain economic future because its oil

reserves ... are quickly being depleted” (p. 147).

Hence, the Omani government has made substantial efforts to diversify higher education

to produce citizens that can contribute to a knowledge-based and diverse economy in order

to meet the requirements and challenges of higher education, the local labour market and

globalization. One important achievement has been the opening of Sultan Qaboos University

(SQU), the only public university in the country, which at present consists of nine colleges,

has nine research centres, and includes 15,000 students enrolled in the different Bachelors,

Master and Ph.D. programs. English is the medium of instruction in the science-based col-

leges and some humanities-based courses like Translation, English Language Literature, ELT

and Commercial Law, for example.

Furthermore, seven Higher Colleges of Technology have been opened throughout the Sul-

tanate offering a Bachelors degree in different technology-based programs like surveying,

networking, oil and gas, human resources, data bases, etc.

There are also further 16 institutes for health sciences throughout Oman, which offer

different programs in health-related disciplines such as physiotherapy, medical records, lab-

oratory sciences, nutrition, general nursing, etc.

There is further one campus for the College of Banking and Financial Studies in Mus-

cat, which offers a Bachelors degree if programs related to banking and finance such as

Accounting, Banking, Business, Computing, and Insurance.

Moreover, in 2005–2006 five out of the six Colleges of Education were converted to Col-

leges of Applied Sciences and started to offer four major programs: Communication Studies,

Information Technology, Design and International Business Administration. English is once

again the medium of instruction in all the aforementioned colleges and institutes.

In addition, the Ministry of Higher Education offers over 100 fully and partially-sponsored

scholarships available annually for students to read for their Bachelors, Master and Ph.D.

degrees mainly in the English-speaking countries in disciplines not on offer in the existing

functioning colleges and universities in the Sultanate. Many of these students, especially at

the undergraduate level, require a language improvement component prior to embarking on

their respective academic program. The cost of these English courses (tuition fees) ranges

from US$ 5,000–10,000 per calendar year. There are also additional fees paid by the govern-

ment to the students on these scholarships. These include living, airfare tickets, books and

clothes. Each student in each of the English-speaking country costs the Omani government

approximately between US$ 23,000–27,000 per academic year.

As part of the electronic Oman government initiative, applications for higher education—

public and private—places have been merged under one unified online system—Higher

Education Admissions Centre. Each higher education institute publishes the minimum entry

requirement for each of its degrees and the student selects his or her choices in order of

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146 A.S. Al-Issa, A.H. Al-Bulushi

preference. When the Ministry of Education publishes Grade 12 results in mid July, these

results are fed automatically into the system and offers are made in early August.

Oman Accreditation Council (OAC) was also established recently to monitor and supervise

accreditation and quality control of higher education institutes in Oman. It is thus noteworthy

that based upon international literature and international benchmarks, OAC decided in 2007

that students enrolling in any of the aforementioned institutes are required to attend a General

Foundation Program (GFP) as a compulsory entrance qualification for Omani degree pro-

grammes for one 6–12 months in which they study English Language, Maths, Computing and

General Study Skills as these four areas provide a comprehensive intellectual base relevant

to all further study, and to the development of broad thinking and life skills in general.

However, a student is exempted from undertaking a component of a GFP if s/he has already

met the required learning outcomes for that area of learning. If a student satisfies the standards

for English (an IELTS score of at least 5.0 with none of the four areas of writing, speaking,

listening and reading below 4.5, or a TOEFL score of at least 500), math and computing

during entry testing then s/he will be awarded the certificate of attainment for the entire GFP.

It is noteworthy that almost 1,900 students out of 2,700 students accepted at SQU in

2010–2011 were required to join the GFP English Language component due to failing to

pass the Exit test administered by the Language Centre at SQU. The exit test is equivalent to

5.0 on IELTS.

2.3 Private education

In 1972–1973, there were only two private schools with 115 students. Today, the number

of schools grew to over 150 private schools with over 30,000 students. All private schools

teach English from Kindergarten 1 and Science and Maths in English. All these schools

use imported materials. There is a kind of reliance on the private schools to provide more

advanced education services, as in the case of teaching English using imported materials and

teaching Math and Science through English from Grade One. Besides, private schools in

Oman enjoy greater autonomy than the public schools.

2.4 Private higher education

It is interesting to note that Qatar and the U.A.E., which have imported and invited high

quality universities to establish branch campuses as an innovative solution to the problem

of providing an internationally competitive education without having to build local capacity

from scratch (Pollock 2007). However, Oman has witnessed the opening of seven private

universities and 19 colleges since 1995 with a student enrolment exceeding 33,000 in all col-

leges. These colleges and universities are affiliated with internationally-recognized academic

institutions in the English-speaking countries and offer mostly science-based programs like

Medicine, Engineering and Applied Sciences, which are all taught in English.

2.5 Educational reform implications

 

 

This book is based on the premise that, although many professional organizations and the public are concerned about how teachers are prepared for their profession, this concern is not reflected in research about teaching methods classes. By presenting findings about the educational experiences of preservice teachers, the book aims to generate initial knowledge about methods courses, to provide English educators with alternatives for preparing their undergraduate secondary English methods courses, and to furnish the foundation for future discussions of how the methods course can be taught. Based on deep analysis of nearly 100 syllabi (syllabi were solicited from over 300 public universities of all sizes and types), the book reports that the largest number of syllabi took a survey approach to teaching methods, covering many issues and topics in a single semester. The book discusses alternatives to the survey approach, including workshop, experience-based, theoretical, and reflective approaches. The book analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches, activities and assessments, and theories and issues represented in secondary English methods course syllabi. Three appendixes contain: (1) examples of five syllabi, (2) a list of colleges and universities contributing syllabi, and (3) a survey of teachers of methods courses 

 

 

 Curriculum Research, English Instruction, English Teacher Education, Higher Education, Methods Courses, Methods Research, Methods Teachers, Secondary Education, Teacher Student Relationship, Teaching Methods, Theory Practice Relationship, Undergraduate Students

 

 

1. Task-based Approach

Traditional curriculum design and class planning revolved around the topics considered useful for students. This meant students were to learn the grammar and vocabulary that educators thought students needed to know.

Student input was minimal to say the least.

What we learned from this is why it’s imperative to build lesson plans around activities that all students can feel comfortable with and relate to.

The task-based approach represents a significant paradigm shift since the focus on content has shifted to skills and competencies. So, planning and design aren’t about what’s taught, but why it’s taught.

This approach isolates individual skills and competencies in order to teach material students actually need to know to meet their goals and objectives.

Sample tasks could be ordering in a restaurant, booking a hotel room, or perhaps more advanced tasks like critiquing a movie or voicing their opinions about politics. In this approach, the language taught revolves around the task itself, not the other way around.

For this method to work, teachers must understand their students’ needs and expectations in order to design lessons that help their students succeed. Grammar, vocabulary and language skills are just the vehicles that enable students to achieve their final outcomes.

Before adopting the task-based approach, educators must ask themselves, “Why are my students learning English?”

Educators must then look at ways to help their learners achieve their personal and/or professional goals.

The answers to these questions will help create a program that’s relevant to your students.

2. Project-based Approach

Much like the task-based approach, the project-based approach is meant to address students’ real needs by adapting language to the skills and competencies they truly need personally and/or professionally.

The application of this approach begins by determining the one, global objective that the individual or group of students have.

For example, if you’re teaching a business English class, you should look at why students are in the class to begin with and plan accordingly. One time when working for a corporate client, I taught a room full of accountants who were all vying for promotions up for grabs in their company.

Naturally, I taught them differently than I would students interested in learning casual English conversations because of the nature of their jobs. They had to produce specific monthly reports in English for multiple departments in their office. So, we broke one sample report into sections and analyzed each segment. Each student prepared the sections as if they were the real thing.

In class, discussed the difficulties my students encountered, in addition to covering all the vocabulary and grammar needed to complete each section. Their final project was a finished report they could submit to their boss for approval, and the criteria we used to create the report was based their company handbook. It was a lot of work, but we had fun with it.

But what if you have a class full of teenagers who don’t want to be in class to begin with? Start by doing a needs assessment, looking at what they’re interested in and what topics they really need to know.

This assessment will lead to the design of one overarching project that will become the end result of the class, term or course. This project can be anything from an oral presentation to a large-scale production such as a class play. Whatever the case, the project must be comprised of individual tasks that lead students to the goals in the assessment.

Think of the project as their final, comprehensive assessment. Whereas small tests or the completion of individual tasks are cumulative assessments. Just remember, your evaluation criteria must be clear so students know what they’re being graded on.

Oh, and one more thing. The project-based approach works best with a lot of relevant supplemental material like the resources found on FluentU. By adding a mixture of real-world videos, natural dialogues and relevant course content, you can revitalize your English lessons and give your students the learning material they need to succeed.

 

3. Lexical Syllabus

While the previous two approaches focus heavily on the skills and competencies that students need to develop, this approach focuses on what language students actually need to produce. In particular, the actual words that students need to understand in order to conduct specific tasks.

This approach is based upon the core language that students need to know given their needs. Again, professional students need very specific vocabulary pertaining to their field. For instance, “profit” is an essential term for business students, much the same way “scalpel” is to medical students.

Moreover, any other language taught outside of this core language is meant to be supplementary and intended to enable students’ communication within their respective fields. Topics such as movies and hobbies may take a back seat to things like booking a hotel or describing work experience. Nevertheless, there are common skills in all fields, such as saying your name or providing personal information.

Since this approach focuses on content, tasks and homework assignments should focus on students’ true needs. Therefore, assessment should be based upon what students actually achieved. Examples of these assessments include writing an email for a job application or arranging a time for an interview.

This approach requires teachers to understand what students really need right away, focus on that, and then expand students’ horizons as their communication skills develop. The good news is that there’s quite a bit of research on this topic, leading to word lists teachers can focus on.

Since these lists can be quite long, it’s good to categorize them into sections like “weather and seasons” so lessons can focus on this specific vocabulary. For beginners, 10 words would make for a great lesson.

Activities can range from matching pictures and definitions to working with dialogues. An advanced twist could be to describe their favorite seasons, or even speculate about what they could do in the summer or winter. The sky truly is the limit.

4. Using Smartphones in the Classroom

Since just about everyone has some sort of internet access or data plan, banning smartphones may end up being a lost opportunity to further enhance learning experiences.

Love them or hate them, smartphones are a part of modern life. Many teachers consider them to be a distraction since most students hate to part with them. Is there a common ground?

Smartphones provide many useful tools for students such as dictionary, translator and grammar reference apps. Much like computers, students need to understand that their phones aren’t for play or personal use, but to be used as learning tools.

A great dictionary/translator/grammar reference tool is WordReference.com mobile app, available on Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store. Aside from translations, WordReference has a thesaurus, English dictionary and a forum where other users can comment on difficult words or expressions.

A good example of how smartphones enhance classroom learning is the scavenger hunt exercise. Here, students must go through websites to find the information they need to fill out a worksheet. Students can also use their devices to access free, online exercises that reinforce language and/or skills seen in class.

The key issue here is to be creative with the use of smartphones. Other uses for smartphones in the classroom could be polling apps, surveys or even recording, yes, recording! Students can record themselves in action, which is perfect helping them receive feedback on specific tasks and activities.

Survey Monkey is another fun app to add to your English classroom. It lets you create surveys, which students can conveniently access from their phones and answer right away. This can be used as an assessment tool or as part of a portfolio of activities. For example, students could even design survey questions, fill them out, analyze results and then create a presentation of those results.

One other use that I personally find appropriate for smartphones and tablets is going paperless. If there are PDF versions available for the textbooks or materials you’re using, this could allow you to simplify students’ lives while being environmentally friendly.

Again, it’s important to make sure that students use their technology for classwork and not becoming distracted by it.

Bringing It All Together

While traditional approaches do provide a solid foundation for effective language teaching, it’s important to understand that these techniques don’t always address students’ current needs. In fact, the communicative approach, still widely preached as the latest and greatest approach, is already due for a makeover of its own.

Next time you’re preparing for a new group of students, or want to change the way you teach your current ones, consider the following:

• The task-based approach focuses on the skills and competencies students actually need.

• The project-based approach builds on the task-based approach using specialized activities.

• The lexical syllabus provides students with the content they will need straight out of the gate.

Combine that with effective use of technology in the classroom, and you’ve got a winning formula no teacher can ignore

 

Education is developing rapidly over time. There is regular reform going on in different places which can include

developing teaching styles and methods, curriculum design and better understanding of the learning process.

Educationalists intend to develop different aspects of education including curriculum development.

Continuous development of the curriculum is taking place in all over the world. In some places, governments

have their own curriculum officers and basically develop their own curricula. However, there are other countries

that depend on different publishers who intend to write, revise and develop the curriculum over a period of time.

In both these cases, a need to evaluate the curriculum is significant in order to update the methodology utilized,

the content and other curriculum features (Al-Jardani, 2011).

The field of Curriculum Evaluation is still developing and when looking closely at the Curriculum Evaluation

books and articles, it shows that the aspects covered in this area if compared to other issues in Education are still

not enough (Al-Jardani, 2011). This important aspect of Curriculum Evaluation is vital and needs a lot of work,

especially in developing a systematic approach for Curriculum Evaluation in the long-term.

A lack of a framework for Curriculum Evaluation in the Ministry of Education in Oman for the public has been

observed (Al-Jardani, 2011). This has resulted in a miscommunication between the curriculum departments and

the practitioners in the field. Building and publicizing a framework helps to show the role and responsibility of

each in developing and evaluating the curriculum.

2. Literature Review

In this section, the concept of Curriculum Evaluation will be discussed. It will cover the some aspects of

curriculum evaluation. This starts with a definition of curriculum evaluation.

Different definitions of Curriculum Evaluation are found in the existing literature about the topic. It can be defined

as a systematic process for collecting and analyzing all relevant information for the purpose of judging and

assessing the effectiveness of the curriculum to promote improvement (Nichols et al., 2006; Simons, 1987 in

Marsh, 2004: 106; Brown, 1989: 223 in Brown, 1995: 218). The definition consists of key words such as

systematic, process, collect and analyse, relevant information, curriculum effectiveness’ assessment, and to

improve.

Curriculum Evaluation can be either a small-scale task involving a very limited number of participants if it is

classroom based, or a massive large-scale task involving a number of schools, teachers, parents, officers and some

community members. An action research exercise conducted by a teacher in his/her class with learners can also be

part of Curriculum Evaluation. On the other hand, an internal or external evaluator evaluating a whole curriculum

covering several schools, a large number of teachers and learners, and which may additionally cover the schools’

surroundings, may also constitute Curriculum Evaluation.

www.ccsenet.org/ijel International Journal of English Linguistics Vol. 2, No. 5; 2012

41

There are some common characteristics of different types of Curriculum Evaluation. It starts with needs analysis

which is on-going as it never finishes (Brown, 1995). This shows that there is a need for Curriculum Evaluation

within any curriculum system and within any teaching and learning process. It cannot be merely one short task and,

although that can be a part of the overall evaluation, it cannot be all of it. Generally, Curriculum Evaluation helps

to connect all other elements of curriculum and also to highlight positive and negative issues related to these

elements, such as the aims, goals and purpose of different subjects, guidelines for course design, teaching and

learning principles and others. Brown (1995: 217) says that the absence of Curriculum Evaluation will result in the

other elements lacking cohesion.

A need for both internal (insider) and external (outsider) evaluation is necessary. Moreover, evaluation should

cover both the result of the curriculum and the planning of it, too. (Nation & Macalister, 2010: 123; Marsh, 2004).

These points and others will be discussed in the coming sections of the Curriculum Evaluation section of this

thesis.

3. Method

The paper utilized a document analysis method to highlight some of the key issues to English and English

Curriculum development and evaluation in Oman. Document analysis as a method, is used to study the common

document within the area of research (Krippendorff, 1980: 21, 112; Bell, 1999). The document which is used for

this paper is the English Language Curriculum Framework and some other relevant documents.

The English Language Curriculum Framework published by the English Section is produced by the English

section in the Human Sciences department. It included sections related to curriculum development. It covers the

aims of the curriculum in general and each levels aims and specific objectives. It also covers the coursebook

components.

4. English in Oman

English in Oman is seen as an important foreign language. It is utilized in both government and private

organizations. However, it is used more in private associations, as they are linked more closely to international

organizations. From this perspective, people in Omani society see the need to focus more on how English is taught

in classrooms. They also see the importance of teaching English as a means for communication and develop

children’ abilities to use it authentically—for example, filling in English forms and writing e-mails. Parents see the

target language importance for their children as a tool or as a gate to the future. 

 

 

 

This was the focus of the International Conference of English Language Teacher Educators held in Hyderabad, India from 3 to 5 March 2012.

The central focus of the Conference was on the importance of assessing and evaluating ideas and practices in the training classroom as well as the efficacy of teacher education programmes and models. Against this backdrop, the Conference focused on five themes – all of which are represented in this selection of papers:

• Programme Evaluation
• Assessing Language Capability
• Assessing and Evaluating Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
• Evaluating Teacher Performance
• Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE)

This collection of papers will give the reader a flavour of the spread of topics explored at the Conference, and offer an overview of ideas that continue to influence contemporary research in teacher assessment and programme evaluation. We hope this publication will encourage teachers of English and language teacher educators to contribute to the development of reliable monitoring and evaluation systems and thereby influence quality and accountability.

 

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/assessing-evaluating-english-language-teacher-education-teaching-learning

 

this book for evaluation 

https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-3-319-58542-0 

 

 

At the end of writing my research, God Almighty has guided me by highlighting all the information related to the research, and we have brought out the scientific aspect, as well as the theoretical side of the research. These aspects may require more effort, in addition to a thorough study on the subject of the research. And after this study, we have some matters suggesting that the researcher benefit after that which is (Teaching English curriculum ), and we recommend the researchers after that with a number of recommendations and topics that are not closely related to the subject of the research, which works to enrich the science.

 

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED379674.pdf

https://books.google.com.om/books?hl=ar&lr=&id=X7qgBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED379674.pdf&f=false

 

list of teacher - selected    websities     for learns  to teaching  english :

• The CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) is the most widely recognised TEFL (Teaching

•  

• English as Foreign Language) qualification in the world.

• The CELTA qualification is recognised by the British Council and will enable you to teach in English language schools across the globe.

• The CELTA is accredited by Cambridge English Language Assessment, part of the University of Cambridge, which makes it prestigious and schools looking to employ you know you have been trained to a high standard.

• The CELTA is the teaching qualification asked for by 9 out of 10 English language teacher employers in the UK and 7 out of 10 worldwide (source: Cambridge English).

• The CELTA is an intensive course, with our graduates qualified and confident to teach anywhere in the world.

• The CELTA doesn’t expire so you will be a qualified English language teacher for life.

 

Resources for English teachers

https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/teaching-english/resources-for-teachers/

English tutor and teacher online - English classes online

https://preply.com/en/skype/english-tutors

 

The Cambridge English Digital Framework

https://thedigitalteacher.com/

 

list of teachers using webquset for learning 

1. Yaarob Mohamed Ghabis  Jamil 
2. Mohamed Amer said Tabuk
3. Abdullah Ahmed khamis Rajeeboon 
4. Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed Awad Beit Habbah
5. Yousef Hilal bin Abdul Khair Mubarak 
6. Hussein Saeed Mohammed Al-Nakhabi Al-Yafei