IN-PERSON MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY. SECTION B

Abstract

While there has been an extensive and comprehensive investigation into the place, role and challenges of using and teaching English as a Foreign Language, most studies have focused on the issues raised in pedagogy, primarily accounting lower achievement to lack of motivation, a static curriculum and lower levels of innovation in teaching techniques. There remains a gap in seeking real time solutions to the situations and contexts which have been explored, and Oman is no exception. Recognizing the fact that traditional research landscape in English language education and applied linguistics have been dramatically changed by recent moves towards cross disciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches, this study aimed at examining the potential solutions to mitigate the challenges faced by the English language learners in Oman by embracing their educational experiences outside the traditional settings and expanding what is taught in the classroom by using the bilingual English/ Arabic linguistic landscape of Oman’s tourism and cultural heritage sites as a resource and a pedagogical tool for students’ direct and meaningful engagement with the English language and the real world. The results of the study demonstrate that personalizing language learning and matching it with the educational environment by finding examples from students’ own experience, culture, and country can lead to enhanced students’ engagement, contextualization of vocabulary learning and sociolinguistic competence while providing language learners with authentic examples of language use in real-life contexts.