JEDDAH, 28 April — A number of English language teaching institutions in the United States are facing closure due to the low level of enrollment from the Middle East and Gulf regions.
“The reason they are on the verge of closure is that they were largely dependent on students from this part of the world, who are not interested in studying in the West after the Sept. 11 events,” Dr. Elizabeth England, associate professor at the English Language Institute at the American University in Cairo, told Arab News at the US Consulate General in Jeddah yesterday.
England, together with Stephen Hanchey, regional director of English language programs for the Middle East-Africa region, conducted a workshop organized by the Ministry of Education for teachers in the morning. She said that she found local teachers were well qualified and had a great deal of experience, but their teaching lacked sophistication and technological savvy.
Some 200 English language teachers from the Kingdom’s schools and King Abdul Aziz University participated in the workshop.
England said the use of English on the World Wide Web and e-mail had generated tremendous interest among young Saudis to learn English.
“Our interaction with teachers and students over the past three days shows that there is eagerness to learn the language; but we find that they need to be very closely guided,” she added.
Last Thursday, England and Hanchey joined seven local teachers in giving presentations on the current trends in teaching and English language acquisition at the annual conference of Saudi Association of Teachers of English (SATE) 2002 at the SAIS-NCS (American School).
England emphasized English teachers could additionally play the role of developing skills to promote cultural and social bonds between people of the two countries.
Hanchey said that the emergence of English as the world’s first language has led to newer ways of using it as an effective medium of communication among nations.
“This linguistic democracy affects the way we teach or learn English. Considerations of formal correctness and communicative flexibility are rapidly undergoing a revolution. During our latest interaction with local teachers, we examined how teachers and students are adapting to this reality,” a local teacher said.
England, who has been an active TESOL professional in a number of academic and professional settings in the US and overseas, explained: “The future of the English language is in no small way linked to our knowledge and skills related to technology. In fact, there will be no sustained and effective English language teaching in the Middle East, or elsewhere in the world, in the next millennium that does not include technological skills and knowledge.”
“Students will learn to use technology only if they study in classrooms where teachers use sound pedagogy, and new pedagogical models and techniques,” she added.
