Friday, 1:50 pm-2:35 pm

Developing Professional Communicative Competence with Wordwall

Presenters will concentrate on expanding English vocabulary through the use of software programs such as Wordwall. Softwares like Wordwall helps EFL learners build memory techniques, enhance creativity, and reduce anxiety. The educators will share their expertise by developing a number of interactive vocabulary-based exercises on Word wall and other such kind of educational software.

Durdona Pulatova, Tomsk State Pedagogical University, Russian Federation

Friday, 1:50 pm-2:35 pm

Using Etymology as a Deliberate Vocabulary Learning Approach: A Psycholinguistic Analysis

Whilst formal classrooms are inadequate to teach the needed amount of vocabulary due to time constraints, language learners are encouraged to take the vocabulary learning process outside the classroom domain. Additionally, vocabulary learning has always been accompanied by the problem of retention. Therefore, the etymological approach not only helps learners’ retention, but also equips English language learners with a decoding tool in which unknown words can be deciphered and interpreted from their building blocks.

Abdullatif Alshatti, Australian College, Kuwait

Fatima Jamali, Australian College, Kuwait

Friday, 1:50 pm-2:35 pm

Strategies for Teaching Writing to Arab Learners in an ESL/EFL Context

The presentation will discuss how educators can teach the four basic types of academic writing, such as descriptive, analytical, persuasive, and critical writing to Arab learners. It will also highlight the importance of explicit and implicit rule teaching, integrating grammar in writing tasks, as well as giving corrective feedback.

Ghada Alabdulaly, Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait

Friday, 3:45 pm-4:30 pm

Writing Practices Post Covid-19: Exploring Third Grade English Teachers’ Perceptions

This qualitative study explored third grade English language teachers’ perceptions on writing practices and challenges prior, during, and post COVID-19 in the UAE. The findings showed that post-Covid writing challenges have significantly increased. Pedagogical and remedial implications have been taken to bridge the gap between virtual and face-to-face writing instructions.

Eman Y. Mahmoud, United Arab Emirates University, UAE

Safeya Alkatheeri, United Arab Emirates University, UAE

Friday, 3:45 pm-4:30 pm

Language Teaching as a Reflective Practice

Language teachers need to continue their professional development. Language teachers' reflection helps to develop teaching and learning. Language teachers should be open to and responsible for reform. Teacher reflection should be deliberate, purposeful and structured. The reflective cycle consists of five steps; mapping, informing, contesting, appraising and acting.

Samir Omara, Shebin El-Kom IDGL School, Egypt

Friday, 3:45 pm-4:30 pm

Enhancing Language Teaching to Millennials 

In this presentation we'll look at the difficulties teachers face when working with modern students and ways of overcoming them. In this presentation the material will be organized in a metacognitive scheme, and partcicipants will go through the stages of learning to understand the effective ways of teaching post-millenials.

Maryna Tsehelska, Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University, Ukraine

Friday, 4:35 pm-5:20 pm

Leading a School Transformation by Creating an Environment of Trust and Collaboration: An Autoethnography

School leadership is critical in ensuring the effectiveness of the education system, both in quality and quantity. A leader in a school may play a significant role in creating a conducive environment for students, teachers, staff, parents, and other stakeholders. This paper reports a case of a school principal who, in her own words, recounts her experiences of leading the school's transformation from an ordinary public school to a nationally recognized one within three years of her tenure. We used autoethnography as a genre of writing personal, evocative narratives to portray the transformative leadership experience. The first author wrote the autobiographical vignettes, placing her personal experiences into the social, cultural, and historical context of the United Arab Emirates. Then, the second author interpreted these narrative experiential anecdotes, connecting the critical nodal moments with the theory of critical transformative leadership to make sense of personal experiences within the social, cultural, and historical context. The thematic interpretive portrayals reveal four key moments of transformative school leadership practices— Accepting Challenge amid Uncertainty: Experience as a Novice School Leader; Building Relationship, Gaining Trust, and Dealing with Challenges; Dreaming of a Model School and Exposure to the Environment; and Successful Keys to Leading Change and Vision for the Future. We have discussed some practical implications of these themes.

Ameirah Mohamed, United Arab Emirates University, UAE

Friday, 4:35 pm-5:20 pm

Investigation into Instructors' Perceptions of L1 Use in EFL Classrooms

Due to alterations in foreign language educational strategies, the utilization of the L1 has invariably been one of the most contentious topics in the field. The purpose of the research was to investigate instructors’ perceptions about employing students’ L1 in language classrooms and which specific methods they favor using L1.

Adel Al-Abed, Smart Mind Institute, Kuwait

Friday, 4:35 pm-5:20 pm

Five Creative Ways to Take Language Off the Page

This session aims to share a set of low-preparation activities that will allow teachers to bring language work off the coursebook page. It involves all four macro skills, and it encourages students to use their creativity and work collaboratively on tasks that can easily be adapted to different levels and topics.There are some suggestions regarding vocabulary items and grammatical structures that can be revised or recycled with them.

Pilar Capaul, International House Buenos Aires, Argentina

Saturday, 11:05 am-11:50 am

What is Beyond the English Degree, Matters!

After the huge achievement of getting our degree in English language and being ELTs, we sometimes find ourselves not ready yet to handle the teaching process in its best ways inside the classroom and sometimes we struggle to find the best lead-in and activities to cover the curriculum points perfectly.

Fares Al Shammari, Kuwait College of Science and Technology, Kuwait

Saturday, 11:05 am-11:50 am

Game-Based Learning vs Game-Assisted Learning Workshop

Irrespective of the age of the learner, fun, playfulness, and games enhance attention, recognition, and retention of acquired knowledge and skills. However, it requires a lot of practice to apply and adapt games for the classroom. In this workshop, participants will play and assess (educational) games and playful activities.

Mikolaj Sobocinski, American University of the Middle East, Kuwait

Saturday, 11:05 am-11:50 am

Promoting the Oral Reading Fluency of EFL Students through Reading Progress

In acknowledging oral reading fluency as an integral part of reading ability in EFL learning, the presentation introduces Reading Progress in Microsoft Teams to foster immediate corrective feedback through assessing oral reading accuracy and tracking individual progress overtime. The presentation also discusses pedagogical implications in the existing curriculum.

Shu-hua Wu, Language Center, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Kuwait

Sulaiman Alrabah, Language Center, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Kuwait

Saturday, 1:50 pm-2:35 pm

Motivating Language Learning via Popular Culture in Arab Classrooms

Arab women’s cultural encounters with the West have resulted is several different outcomes. Written encounters reveal the strong dichotomy between an idealized West and a disdained ‘other’. Language has played an important factor in representing such cultural struggles and writing an Arab identity in the midst of such encounters.

Samira Jafar, American College of the Middle East, Kuwait

Saturday, 1:50 pm-2:35 pm

Approaching Occidentalism: The West through Arab Female Eyes

Arab women’s cultural encounters with the West have resulted is several different outcomes. Written encounters reveal the strong dichotomy between an idealized West and a disdained ‘other’. Language has played an important factor in representing such cultural struggles and writing an Arab identity in the midst of such encounters.

Sarah Ashkanani, Australian University, Kuwait

Saturday, 1:50 pm-2:35 pm

CPD that INSPIRE-s

INSPIRE helps institutions approach CPD (continuing professional development) in a systematic way, ensure that it meets their long-term objectives, teachers’ aspirations, and addresses the reality on the ground (students’ needs). This session will present INSPIRE as a model and go through the steps of building an efficient CPD program.

Sosil Somokian, Box Hill College, Kuwait

Saturday, 2:35 pm-3:20 pm

An Analysis of Arab Undergraduate Students’ Writing Performance: Applying the SWOT Framework

This study was conducted to explore and analyse the writing skill proficiency of undergraduate Arab Business Students using the SWOT framework “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats”. An analysis of a written corpus of 80 students’ written analytical essays was thoroughly conducted. The participants were businesses major students enrolled in a writing course at the Open Arab University in Kuwait. The research is still undergoing.

Alya Almutawa, Public Authority for Applied Education, Kuwait

Hanan Al Kandari, Arab Open University, Kuwait

Fatma Fayez, Arab Open University, Kuwait

Saturday, 2:35 pm-3:20 pm

Utilizing Innovative Technologies in Education

Today's learners are very different from older generations; not only are they tech savvy but they also have short spans of attention if something isn’t interesting to them. Using innovative technologies in education can be very effective to increase motivation and engagement of learners in the classroom.

Rasha Shalabi, Kuwait Technical College, Kuwait

Saturday, 2:35 pm-3:20 pm

Activating and Motivating Students through Gamification

Gamification has been significantly used in classes. Although companies have already been appling it as a way to break boredom among employees, and motivate them. Yet, we find that it is often not fully understood and that many teachers are confused between Gamification and Game-based learning. Therefore, it’s important to identify them and their uses. To be applied effectively in classrooms with students.

Shayma Matar, Ministry of Education, Kuwait