Table Of ContentLanguage, Identity and
Education on the Arabian
Peninsula
MULTILINGUAL MATTERS
Series Editor: John Edwards, St. Francis Xavier University and Dalhousie
University, Canada and Leigh Oakes, Queen Mary, University of London, UK.
Multilingual Matters series publishes books on bilingualism, bilingual educa-
tion, immersion education, second language learning, language policy, mul-
ticulturalism. The editor is particularly interested in ‘macro’ level studies of
language policies, language maintenance, language shift, language revival
and language planning. Books in the series discuss the relationship between
language in a broad sense and larger cultural issues, particularly identity
related ones.
Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications can
be found on http://www.multilingual-matters.com, or by writing to
Multilingual Matters, St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol BS1
2AW, UK.
MULTILINGUAL MATTERS: 166
Language, Identity and
Education on the Arabian
Peninsula
Bilingual Policies in a Multilingual Context
Edited by
Louisa Buckingham
MULTILINGUAL MATTERS
Bristol • Blue Ridge Summit
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Names: Buckingham, Louisa, editor.
Title: Language, Identity and Education on the Arabian Peninsula: Bilingual
Policies in a Multilingual Context/Edited by Louisa Buckingham.
Description: Bristol: Multilingual Matters, [2016] | Series:
Multilingual Matters: 166 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016030410| ISBN 9781783096596 (hbk : alk. paper) | ISBN
9781783096619 (epub) | ISBN 9781783096626 (kindle)
Subjects: LCSH: Multilingualism—Arabian Peninsula. | English
language—Arabian Peninsula. | Language and languages—Economic
aspects—Arabian Peninsula. | Language and languages—Social
aspects—Arabian Peninsula. | Language policy—Arabian Peninsula. |
Sociolinguistics—Arabian Peninsula. | Arabian Peninsula—Languages. |
English language—Arabian Peninsula—History—21st century.
Classification: LCC P115.5.A5 L37 2016 | DDC 306.44/60953—dc23 LC record available
at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016030410
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-78309-659-6 (hbk)
Multilingual Matters
UK: St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol BS1 2AW, UK.
USA: NBN, Blue Ridge Summit, PA, USA.
Website: www.multilingual-matters.com
Twitter: Multi_Ling_Mat
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/multilingualmatters
Blog: www.channelviewpublications.wordpress.com
Copyright © 2017 Louisa Buckingham and the authors of individual chapters.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means
without permission in writing from the publisher.
The policy of Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications is to use papers that are
natural, renewable and recyclable products, made from wood grown in sustainable for-
ests. In the manufacturing process of our books, and to further support our policy, prefer-
ence is given to printers that have FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certification. The FSC
and/or PEFC logos will appear on those books where full certification has been granted
to the printer concerned.
Typeset by Nova Techset Private Limited, Bengaluru and Chennai, India.
Printed and bound in the UK by the CPI Books Group Ltd.
Printed and bound in the US by Edwards Brothers Malloy, Inc.
Contents
Contributors vii
Multilingualism in the workplace: English and Bengali xi
Introduction 1
Louisa Buckingham
Part 1: M ultilingualism in Private Spheres and Public Spaces
1 Heritage, Heteroglossia and Home: Multilingualism in Emirati
Families 13
Gary T. O’Neill
2 Emirati Pre-Service Teachers’ Perspectives of Abu Dhabi’s Rich
Linguistic Context 39
Melanie van den Hoven and Kevin S. Carroll
3 Commercial Signs in Oman and Yemen: A Study of Street
Advertising in English 59
Louisa Buckingham and Anwar Al-Athwary
Part 2: The English Language and Arab Peninsula Identity
4 Emirati Cultural Identity in the Age of ‘Englishisation’:
Voices from an Abu Dhabi University 87
Sarah Hopkyns
5 A Phenomenological Study of Identity Construction in the
Education Sector of Qatar 116
Amir Abou-El-Kheir
Part 3: F orging Societal Bilingualism Through English
Medium Instruction
6 From ‘Late–Late’ to ‘Early–Early’ Immersion: Discontinuities and
Dilemmas in Medium of Instruction Policies and Practices 139
Kay Gallagher
v
vi Language, Identity and Education on the Arabian Peninsula
7 Revisiting the Suitability of the IELTS Examination as a
Gatekeeper for University Entrance in the UAE 161
Hilda Freimuth
8 English in the United Arab Emirates: Innocuous Lingua Franca
or Insidious Cultural Trojan Horse? 176
Anthony Solloway
Part 4: T he Position of English in Teaching and
Research Careers
9 Novice Practitioners’ Views on the Applicability of Post-method
and Critical Pedagogy in Saudi EFL Contexts 199
Kyle Nuske
10 Between the Covers: A Case Study of Scholarly Journal
Publishing in Oman 220
Louisa Buckingham and Kirankumar Ramachandran
Index 240
Contributors
Amir Abou-El-Kheir has lectured at English medium post-secondary insti-
tutions in the Middle East for over 14 years. His research investigates the
social development of Arab students and teachers with specific focus on the
dominance of English and the decline of Arabic use in education and its
implications on local culture and identity. He has authored a number of arti-
cles and chapters and has participated and presented his findings at confer-
ences internationally. He is also a consultant for various government bodies
and organisations in the Middle East.
Anwar Al-Athwary is an assistant professor in Sana’a University, Yemen,
and currently works at Najran University (Saudi Arabia). Contact linguistics
and linguistic landscapes in Yemen and Arab Gulf states are his areas of cur-
rent research interest. His particular focus is on loan phonology, lexical and
grammatical borrowing, and what may be called ‘cultural borrowing’. The
transfer of foreign cultural elements is clearly manifested in the public spaces
within a given region. In his co-authored chapter on the linguistic landscape
of Sana’a and Muscat, he examined and compared the language of commer-
cial advertising from structural and cultural perspectives.
Louisa Buckingham previously lectured at the University of Nizwa (Oman).
She has conducted research into the rich diversity of cultures, languages and
dialects throughout Oman. This has included three studies on attitudes held
by teachers and students towards accents in English commonly heard in the
Gulf region. A subsequent project involved a nationwide study of English
language use on commercial signage informed by linguistic landscape meth-
odology. Insights from research collaboration with colleagues prompted her
to investigate the place of English in the academic careers of lecturers in
Oman from the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. The latter two projects
formed the basis of her two chapters in this book.
Kevin S. Carroll, an associate professor at the University of Puerto Rico,
Mayagüez, previously worked at Emirates College for Advanced Education
in Abu Dhabi, UAE. While in the UAE, he used an electronic language survey
vii
viii Language, Identity and Education on the Arabian Peninsula
to document language practices among Emiratis and he published on tertiary
language policies and their impact on the use of translanguaging practices
within this unique context. His current writings focus on literacy instruc-
tion in Arabic and the need for children’s books to be published in Emirati
Arabic to promote L1 literacy in the country.
Hilda Freimuth has worked at two different universities in the United Arab
Emirates over the last 13 years. She first conducted research on the cultural
bias of the reading component of the IELTS examination for her PhD studies
in South Africa. Her interest grew in the notion of cultural bias in interna-
tional English examinations as a result of her findings and the significant gap
in the literature. In her study, she argues that the use of the IELTS or TOEFL
examinations for gatekeeping purposes at universities in the Emirates is cause
for concern.
Kay Gallagher is an Abu Dhabi-based educational leader, teacher educator
and researcher in English language education. Her own bilingual schooling
in Ireland resulted in a lifelong interest in medium of instruction practices
and policies, and this has been further informed by her experiences as a lan-
guage teacher educator in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates. The
recent introduction of English as an additional medium of instruction along-
side the traditional medium of Arabic provided an opportunity to examine
pedagogical issues in medium of instruction in the UAE, and to investigate
the attitudes of Emirati educators towards bilingual education.
Sarah Hopkyns has taught English in Japan, Canada and the United Arab
Emirates, and is at present a faculty member at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi.
She is currently completing her Doctorate in Education at the University of
Leicester, focusing on English as a global language and its effect on Emirati
cultural identity. Her interest in this area stemmed from teaching Arab
students in Canada and intensified once she became fully immersed in
the Arab Gulf context herself. Her research relates closely to pivotal themes
in local public and scholarly discourse and the media. She is interested in
investigating the views of stakeholders.
Kyle Nuske specialises in critical teacher education in TESOL and Applied
Linguistics. One major domain of his research is investigating how linguisti-
cally and culturally diverse cohorts of novice scholar-practitioners respond to
the teaching of critical pedagogical content in settings of formal graduate
education. While conducting one such project, he noticed striking similari-
ties in Saudi instructors’ views on the extent to which critical language
teaching approaches could be enacted in their home country. His chapter in
this book illuminates how these individuals negotiated with authoritative
knowledge claims in order to establish locally sustainable pedagogies.
Contributors ix
Gary O’Neill has taught Academic English for over 14 years in the United
Arab Emirates. Living in Dubai and teaching Emirati women led him to
observe the growing superdiversity of the city and the rapid changes occur-
ring within the lives of his students. His interest in the varied linguistic
predispositions of Emirati students and their differing language and literacy
practices with regard to English and Arabic (and other languages), led him,
in 2010, to embark on an ongoing ethnographic research project at a national
university. His findings with regard to home language and literacy practices
and how they have developed over the last three generations, formed the
basis of his chapter.
Kirankumar Ramachandran is a Senior Lecturer at Caledonian College of
Engineering in Muscat (Oman). He has been teaching English and developing
ESL curricula on the Arabian Peninsula since 2007. His involvement in a sci-
ence education project, commissioned by UNESCO, gave him first-hand
experience of the role that the English language plays in science and technol-
ogy in non-English speaking countries. This interest is evident in his
co-authored chapter, a case study of an English language scientific journal.
He is also involved in a study of technology in ESL classrooms in Oman.
Anthony Solloway has taught EFL/ESL and EAP at various levels in
England, the PRC, Hong Kong, Oman and latterly in the United Arab
Emirates, where he teaches academic composition and has also acted as
mentor to final year BA applied linguistics students completing teaching
practicums. His current research interests include English as a medium of
instruction, and the role, place and standing of the English language on the
Arabian Peninsula, in particular the UAE. Anthony has published and pre-
sented papers on these themes at international conferences and his contribu-
tion to the present volume represents a confluence of these two research
interests.
Melanie van den Hoven lectures at Emirates College for Advanced
Education, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Struck by the pace of educational reform in the
emirate and the growing debates around the increased use of English in edu-
cation, she has undertaken research on student attitudes towards several
varieties of English accents prevalent in the Gulf and perspectives of English
as a medium of instruction. Insights from these research projects have
prompted ethnographic investigations of patterns of conversational activity
in English and Arabic and perspectives of Abu Dhabi’s rich linguistic
environment.
Multilingualism in the workplace:
English and Bengali
This advertisement appears on the door of an establishment which provides
administrative support and language services in the coastal city of Sur, Oman.
The English version is quite typical for the use of the language as a lingua franca
on commerical signage throughout Oman. Interestingly, the information in
Bengali (or Bangla) does not accord with the norms of standard Bengali, but
appears to be a transliteration from the English version.1
Note
(1) I am grateful for Jalal Uddin Khan (professor at the University of Nizwa, Oman) for
this insight into the use of Bengali on this sign.
xi
