Teaching EFL in the context of Saudi Arabian Higher education is still perceived within the traditional myth of Standard American/British English. That is, the place for other varieties of English is still to be recognized and embraced in the Saudi higher education EFL curriculum. This is partly because teaching EFL in the Saudi higher education is, by and large, standardized and rule governed. That is, teachers should follow a prescribed curriculum and and teaching strategies in not only classroom instruction, but also in testing and evaluation practices which, in turn, tempt educational politicians to frame the EFL teaching within the American/British English variety for the sake of uniformity in language learning and teaching.
However, despite this strictly governed environment of teaching, there is still a room for resisting and including WE perspective in the EFL teaching within the higher education context of Saudi Arabia, namely, through designing classroom activities/tasks that contribute to raising students awareness of other Englishes. This can, also, be a first step towards transforming the common belief held by the EFL teaching policy in higher education (i.e. the belief that American/British variety is the only norm for teaching English) via conducting an action research that could help to show the educational politicians the significance of framing our EFL teaching within a WE perspective.
One framework that may have the potential to enable such resistance and change and within which WE awareness-raising activities/tasks can be designed is the Hasan's (2003) view of reflection literacy. Within reflection literacy, which entails to "create in a pupil an understanding of reading and writing [and hence language] as bearers of deep social significance" (Hasan, 2003, p. 446) I can help my students develop the critical sense needed to appreciate other varieties of English which, consequently, could serve as the bridge needed to fill the gap between the English our students learn and the different Englishes that are spoken around the world. Well, I know it is still confusing to understand how reflection literacy can be utilized in this sense. I understand that what Hasan (2003) meant is to help students function in the globalization era through helping them to achieve a deeper understanding of the role of reading and writing. Yet, it is still possible use reflection literacy to help our EFL students to build a deeper understanding of the English language role in the global and social milieu. such understanding will not only help to reify the WE concept for our EFL students, but also help our EFL students to develop the social and pragmatic skill needed to use English in a global and international setting.
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Nawwaf, I'm curious what you see ths future to be in Saudi Arabia. For example, what about your role? What is your role and your standing/prestige level in Saudi now? Will that change after you have received a higher education degree from the USA? And/or will perceptions of you remain the same? Do students perceive you the same way they perceive speakers who are from the USA or UK?
ReplyDeleteI guess Saudi universities are still suffering from the English varieties and each professor considers himself and the university that he came from as a strong and standard one.
ReplyDeleteI am really curious about the coming different varieties (Australian, Indian, the Philippines...etc) and how Saudi community deals with them? I guess after 10 years and after the students come from different part of the glob, there would be a huge debate and resistance, the one who hold the power and economic dimensions would win and hold the top position.