In order to achieve the academic and professional goals of King Khalid University (KKU), the faculty of languages and translation, in cooperation with the deanship of e-learning, has taken initiatives to organize a series of webinars for the teachers.
Pointing out the effectiveness of webinars, Abdullah Al-Melhi, dean, faculty of languages and translation, said: “Continuous academic or professional growth is important in order to achieve academic outcomes of an institution. This is the reason we have decided to conduct the webinars.”
Al-Melhi added: “In this age of technological advancement when there is no communication barrier, the utilization of technology can be best implemented through webinars in academic institutions in order to enhance the academic performance of the staff members.”
The first webinar was conducted on the theme of “Pronunciation Teaching Techniques in Academic Course” on Dec. 6. Prof. William Acton, professor, faculty of graduate studies and director, MATESOL, Trinity Western University, Canada, presented the webinar. This webinar focused on several useful techniques for improving key aspects of the English pronunciation of Arabic L1 students in academic courses. Prof. Acton suggested techniques that involve the systematic use of gesture in promoting learning and memory for English pronunciation. He also pointed out how these strategies can be implemented in the classroom.
The second webinar was conducted on the theme of “Approaches to Translation” on Sunday. Prof. Said M. Shiyab, department of modern and classical language studies, Kent State University, Kent, presented the webinar. He familiarized the participants with various definitions of translation and different translation approaches. He pointed out the effective methods and techniques that should be used in translation.
The next webinar will be conducted on the theme of “Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed-methods Research” on Jan. 3, 2018. Prof. James Dean Brown, department of second language studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa, will present the webinar.
Prof. Brown will discuss the characteristics of qualitative and quantitative research in applied linguistics research, and the continuum from which the mixed-methods research paradigm emerged. Mixed-methods research is explained in terms of its three main varieties, its differences from multi-methods research, and its capacity to combine the best features of qualitative and quantitative research by identifying connections and searching for convergence, divergence and elaboration.
King Khalid University’s faculty of languages and translation hosts academic webinars
King Khalid University’s faculty of languages and translation hosts academic webinars
