IAFOR > The IAFOR International Conference on Language Learning – Dubai (IICLLDubai) > IICLLDubai2017

IICLLDubai2017

IAFOR Dubai Conference Series 2017. Photography by IAFOR Media. Image copyright © IAFOR 2017

Conference Theme: “Educating for Change”

February 26–28, 2017 | The InterContinental Festival City Event Centre, Dubai, UAE

Whether we are looking at why we must change, how education has changed or even how education will change, change affects all of us involved in language education in many ways. Administrators, teacher trainers, teachers, students: we all wear many hats and we all come face-to-face with change, sometimes on a daily basis. Positive change is about improvement: improving proficiency, improving lives, helping learners achieve their goals and dreams and ultimately, broadening horizons.

In our work as educators we are often asked to effect change – that we are change-makers can be seen in the new curriculums, new material, and even new techniques or methods that we develop. For those of us who conduct research, our research is often focused on finding “better” or more effective ways of teaching often measured in outcomes such as students entered with an average of X and improved to an average of Y. In such a case, improvement = change! But change is also an area of research, as can be seen by looking at journals such as the Journal of Educational Change, Changes in Higher Education, Culture and Change and Educational Research for Social Change, to mention four. It is a serious area of study, and one worth our attention.

The focus of the last journal mentioned above is worth looking at. Change is not only about test scores or proficiency going up. It is also about lasting change in one’s life, life choices, and looking beyond us as individuals to the society we live in. Social change and a focus on improving the societies we live in is another outcome of education. In recent years, there has been a focus on language and identity, as well as an embrace of sociocultural theory and language development.

At the same time change for the sake of change is not a good reason for change. There is often a tension between the status quo (which is not always bad) and the desire to change. As invested members of our field, we need to be able to examine change, identifying and applying that which is appropriate and will further our goals while also having the wisdom and gumption to reject change that does not make sense. As Dewey said, “reforms which rest simply upon the enactment of law, or the threatening of certain penalties, or upon changes in mechanical or outward arrangements are transitory and futile.”
And so we welcome you to this year’s conferences, where we can examine change in ways that are important to each of us. What are its challenges, its complexities and its constraints? It is electrifying to think about the wide-ranging conversations we will have as we consider how we can go about educating for change the world over.

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IICLLDubai2017 Conference Photographs

Human interaction is at the root of all knowledge creation, and hence the great importance of the conference in introducing, testing and spreading ideas through challenging, rigorous and thought provoking discussion and debate. But beyond that, a conference is also a great chance to meet people from around the world, and to extend and grow ones’s professional network, and above all, to make friends.

It may be impossible to tell the story of the conference, or rather the many hundreds of interlocking stories that go to make up the conference, but the documentary photography in this slideshow aims to give a taster of the more serious academic side of the event, as well as the lighter side…

[envira-album slug="iiclldubai2017-conference-photographs"]

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Programme

  • Education: A Supertanker in an Ocean of Change and Innovation
    Education: A Supertanker in an Ocean of Change and Innovation
    Keynote Presentation: Dr Christina Gitsaki
  • By Natural Law the Earth Is Held in Common
    By Natural Law the Earth Is Held in Common
    Keynote Presentation: Professor Robert JC Young
  • Interdisciplinary Education for Innovation and Change
    Interdisciplinary Education for Innovation and Change
    Keynote Presentation: Professor Donald E. Hall
  • Reading: A 21st Century Skill in Higher Education
    Reading: A 21st Century Skill in Higher Education
    Keynote Presentation: Dr Melanie Gobert
  • The Challenges of Doing Research and Creative Activity in the Humanities and Cultural Studies Today
    The Challenges of Doing Research and Creative Activity in the Humanities and Cultural Studies Today
    Featured Panel Presentation: Professor Donald E. Hall, Professor Said M. Faiq & Dr Joseph Haldane
  • EDUCATE to INNOVATE
    EDUCATE to INNOVATE
    Featured Presentation: Dr Fadi Aloul
  • How the Most Productive TESOLers “Fit It All In”
    How the Most Productive TESOLers “Fit It All In”
    Featured Presentation: Dr Phil Quirke & Dr Christine Coombe
  • Managing for Innovation and Sustainability: Lessons from the Gulf Region
    Managing for Innovation and Sustainability: Lessons from the Gulf Region
    Featured Presentation: Dr Virginia Bodolica
  • Effective Mentoring in an Educational Context
    Effective Mentoring in an Educational Context
    Featured Presentation: Mr Mohammed Azaza
  • Leadership Skills and Styles for Successful Administrators
    Leadership Skills and Styles for Successful Administrators
    Featured Presentation: Dr Sufian Abu-Rmaileh

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Speakers

  • Dr Christine Coombe
    Dr Christine Coombe
    Dubai Men's College, UAE
  • Dr Virginia Bodolica
    Dr Virginia Bodolica
    American University of Sharjah, UAE
  • Dr Christina Gitsaki
    Dr Christina Gitsaki
    Zayed University, UAE
  • Professor Robert J. C. Young
    Professor Robert J. C. Young
    New York University, USA & New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE
  • Dr Melanie Gobert
    Dr Melanie Gobert
    Abu Dhabi Men’s College, UAE
  • Professor Donald E. Hall
    Professor Donald E. Hall
    Lehigh University, USA
  • Dr Fadi Aloul
    Dr Fadi Aloul
    American University of Sharjah, UAE
  • Mr Mohammed Azaza
    Mr Mohammed Azaza
    ADNOC Technical Institute, UAE
  • Dr Phil Quirke
    Dr Phil Quirke
    Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE
  • Dr Sufian Abu-Rmaileh
    Dr Sufian Abu-Rmaileh
    UAE University, UAE

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Organising Committee

The Organising Committee of The IAFOR International Conference on Language Learning – Dubai (IICLLDubai) is composed of distinguished academics who are experts in their fields. Organising Committee members may also be members of IAFOR's International Academic Advisory Board. The Organising Committee is responsible for nominating and vetting Keynote and Featured Speakers; developing the conference programme, including special workshops, panels, targeted sessions, and so forth; event outreach and promotion; recommending and attracting future Organising Committee members; working with IAFOR to select PhD students and early career academics for IAFOR-funded grants and scholarships; and overseeing the reviewing of abstracts submitted to the conference.

  • Dr Christine Coombe
    Dr Christine Coombe
    Dubai Men's College, UAE
  • Professor Said M. Faiq
    Professor Said M. Faiq
    American University of Sharjah, UAE
  • Dr Sufian Abu-Rmaileh
    Dr Sufian Abu-Rmaileh
    UAE University, UAE
  • Professor Sue Jackson
    Professor Sue Jackson
    Birkbeck, University of London, UK
  • Dr James W. McNally
    Dr James W. McNally
    University of Michigan, USA & NACDA Program on Aging
  • Dr Joseph Haldane
    Dr Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • Professor Barbara Lockee
    Professor Barbara Lockee
    Virginia Tech., USA
  • Professor Steve Cornwell
    Professor Steve Cornwell
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) & Osaka Jogakuin University, Japan
  • Professor Ted O’Neill
    Professor Ted O’Neill
    Gakushuin University, Japan

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Education: A Supertanker in an Ocean of Change and Innovation
Keynote Presentation: Dr Christina Gitsaki

The field of Education has long been criticized for being too slow in adopting much needed changes commensurate with the sweeping social changes brought on by globalization in the information age. This session will first discuss change in Education from a number of different perspectives highlighting factors that in the past have inhibited long and short-term change in the field. Following that, the session will address key points relevant to Education in the Gulf, will explore the role of research and technology in improving human learning potential, and provide a set of concrete recommendations and guidelines for major stakeholders, such as educators, educational leaders and policy makers, in an effort to successfully plan and implement small and large-scale projects that can bring about change in the field.

Read presenter biographies.

By Natural Law the Earth Is Held in Common
Keynote Presentation: Professor Robert JC Young

“naturali iure communia sunt omnia haec … terra.” – The Institutes of Justinian

If Justinian’s Institutes of the sixth century appeared to prescribe and lay down an equal sharing of the earth, today this appears as an ideal, not a reality. Historically innovation and discovery have often worked to unbalance human societies on earth and the power relations between them. In this talk I will consider the ways in which those historical forces continue to influence our actions and how far we need to take them into account when we imagine possibilities for transformation.

Read presenter biographies.

Interdisciplinary Education for Innovation and Change
Keynote Presentation: Professor Donald E. Hall

Whatever we may isolate as the chief global threats that we face in the twenty-first century, we have little hope of effectively responding to them without finding common ground across nations, cultures, languages, and belief systems. We cannot address global warming, HIV/AIDS, the threat of terrorism, nuclear proliferation, religious intolerance, famine, poverty, or any other social ill by our own lonely and isolated selves—either as individuals or individual nations. States often, understandably, act out of national self-interest, but none of the major challenges we face today are solvable by individual nations acting solely on that basis of self-interest, except to the extent that it is in the interest of individual nations to work together collaboratively and energetically. How then do we begin to solve our biggest and most fundamental problem of them all: the challenge of living in peace, good will, and with a sense of shared interests with our fellow inhabitants of the planet?

By the end of this talk I will return repeatedly to that question because I do not think that science, technology, engineering, or business alone helps us achieve that foundational goal of living in peace, good will, and with a sense of shared interests with our fellow inhabitants of the planet. Science will help us cure disease. Technology will allow us to communicate and travel faster. Engineering may assist us in generating new forms of energy and protecting against eroding agricultural lands and coastal areas. Business provides incentives to develop new media, new pharmaceuticals, and new ways of feeding our hungry populations. However, none of them displaces or challenges self-interest, national or personal. None of them provides the tools alone to achieve our goal of living in peace, good will, and with a sense of shared interest with our fellow inhabitants of the planet. For that, we need interdisciplinary training in the liberal arts and sciences – especially as informed by the humanities, the social sciences, and the visual and performing arts. Only interdisciplinarity can teach us how to cross boundaries comfortably, even enthusiastically. Interdisciplinary perspectives can save us from ourselves and the threats that are produced by a narrow reliance on science, technology, and business.

Read presenter biographies.

Reading: A 21st Century Skill in Higher Education
Keynote Presentation: Dr Melanie Gobert

It is assumed that reading is a basic, core skill in the range of skills needed to be a 21st century thinker and that all students have acquired this skill before embarking on higher education (Kivunja, 2014), yet research in the United Arab Emirates shows that the average Emirati student has read only 4 books a year compared to her/his Korean peers (40 books), and the average Emirati family only has 20 books in the home compared to the average British home which has 203 books. In fact, research in the USA from the ACT college placement tests shows that about 50% of high school graduates lack the necessary reading skills to adequately commence college. In the USA and Europe, many of these students are language minority students. In addition, more and more English-medium colleges and branches of English higher education institutions are opening abroad in non-English speaking countries. English proficiency has also become a graduation program requirement in more and more foreign universities due to the impact of globalization. Add to that, the impact of electronic media on education and the impact of the retrieval of information from the Internet on the human brain, higher educational institutions are often left with a deficit in the college-preparedness of incoming students. A result of this, particularly for many English-medium overseas colleges and universities, is that the teacher is paid to read and summarize the content for underprepared students, thus impacting the standard of the graduates of the university and the university’s reputation. This talk will look at some of the causes and effects of this phenomenon and discuss some research-based solutions.

Read presenter biographies.

The Challenges of Doing Research and Creative Activity in the Humanities and Cultural Studies Today
Featured Panel Presentation: Professor Donald E. Hall, Professor Said M. Faiq & Dr Joseph Haldane

Given the rise of anti-intellectualism and increasing emphasis on technical and skills-based education, 2017 and beyond will prove particularly challenging times for those of us working in Cultural Studies and the Humanities. Our panelists will each speak for five-10 minutes about the broad political constraints on their work, as well as their respective national and institution contexts of funding and prioritization. This will be followed by a general discussion with the audience about collective experiences and strategies for individual and collective response to the challenges that we face.

Read presenter biographies.

EDUCATE to INNOVATE
Featured Presentation: Dr Fadi Aloul

Successful countries today are working on developing an innovation-led knowledge-based economy. Without innovation and creativity, countries would not progress. Schools and universities provide the skilled human capital necessary for producing the innovation-led knowledge-based economy. In this talk we will discuss various methods to bring innovation to schools and universities to help create future innovators.

Read presenter biographies.

How the Most Productive TESOLers “Fit It All In”
Featured Presentation: Dr Phil Quirke & Dr Christine Coombe

Ever feel like you’re just not getting enough done? If so, you’re like many TESOLers around the world. Research shows that on average people are only productive three days a week. The purpose of this session is to share the results of a research project investigating how the most productive TESOLers "fit it all in" and attain the ever elusive work-life balance. It doesn’t matter what you do or where you work, everyone is looking for ways to be more productive on the job and in life. In this session, the presenters will share some recent research on how productive TESOLers seem to fit it all in. For the purposes of this research we define a productive TESOLer as one who holds down a job, engages in teaching, does research, presents at and organizes conferences and events, and publishes and does so with what we consider good work-life balance. This presentation will have two parts. In the first part, the presenters will first define "productivity" and elicit what characterizes a productive day for most teachers. They will then present certain issues that cause teacher productivity to decline. In a general review of the literature, the characteristics of highly-productive people will be discussed and the presenters will share strategies for improving personal and professional productivity and attaining better work life balance. The second part of the presentation will report on a research project that investigated the beliefs and practices of extremely productive English language teachers.

Read presenter biographies.

Managing for Innovation and Sustainability: Lessons from the Gulf Region
Featured Presentation: Dr Virginia Bodolica

The resource-rich countries of the Gulf region have experienced a vertiginous economic growth and unparalleled achievements in infrastructure development over the past decades. Since several Gulf-based nations (particularly Qatar and the United Arab Emirates) attained noteworthy international standings in a short period of time, this presentation aims to uncover the specific sources of regional competitiveness, sustainability and innovation. Drawing upon a globally benchmarked portrait of major economies in the Gulf, I illustrate their recent accomplishments in espousing the principles of the knowledge-based economy and delineate strategic priorities for attaining sustainable development goals. Among the fundamental pillars of regional growth that are emphasized in the presentation are government-led initiatives of investing in local youth to boost their self-motivation and future potential, supporting entrepreneurial undertakings of nationals and resident population, promoting gender equality and women participation in the labor force, fostering the creation of university-based innovation labs to bridge the gap between the industry and educational institutions, and implementing viable corporate governance and social responsibility practices in both publicly-listed firms and privately-held family-run businesses. Based on this in-depth analysis of dynamic characteristics and development drivers in this rapidly growing region in the world, I identify and discuss the key features of Gulf-based organizations that set them apart from other companies in the Middle East.

Read presenter biographies.

Effective Mentoring in an Educational Context
Featured Presentation: Mr Mohammed Azaza

Mentoring has traditionally been defined as a one-to-one relationship between a more knowledgeable professional and a mentee or novice. The mentor’s job is, therefore, to instruct, guide, protect and challenge the novice protégé (Anderson & Shannon, 1988) whereas the mentee is expected to practice and demonstrate what has been learned. However, the mentor’s role has been recently extended to include other roles, such as co-thinker, learning companion, resource partner and coach. Accordingly, in this emerging new approach, the mentor is not only perceived as an expert who offers positive and honest feedback on a lesson or a teaching strategy, but also plans with the mentee about how to overcome a challenging classroom situation. These roles have also developed to accommodate other emerging roles, such as raising the mentee’s awareness about other dimensions of practice that are often overlooked. These new dimensions include cultural sensitivity and diversity, context, organizational micro-politics, power relations, awareness of group dynamics and the balance between the teacher’s needs and the organizational needs. Reflecting on a recent research study carried out in the local context of the UAE, the presenter will discuss how can mentoring be a powerful learning experience for both the mentor and mentee. He will also argue that good mentoring in an educational context not only entails a good pedagogical content knowledge but also developing cultural competence as well as ethical and organizational awareness.

Read presenter biographies.

Leadership Skills and Styles for Successful Administrators
Featured Presentation: Dr Sufian Abu-Rmaileh

Leadership, at any level, is a complicated matter that is not easy to decipher. Achieving superiority and distinction in leadership sometimes necessitates the use of unconventional processes by which people lead. Each leader manages in a different way and with a different style. “Leadership styles” refers to the way a leader behaves and deals with issues arising in the work environment (Bates, 2002, Garland and Parry, 1987). Style relates to the leader’s personality and how they operate during certain situations. In addition, leadership style relates to how much leeway leaders allow for their constituents’ participation in problem solving and in the decision-making process. This has to do with how much freedom employees are given to be participants in the organization, affecting the way the day-to-day activities of the organization are handled (DePree, 1989, Dogget, 1987, Lall and Lall, 1979). Leaders have to work with norms, parameters and concepts that are vital to their success. The constituents, practices and issues are job specific. Personality type, risk at work, organizational culture and the objectives of the task at hand are also vital in leadership. Effective leaders need to have a never-ending enthusiasm for the job. They need to have flexibility of thought, be approachable and understanding. Leaders need to be sensitive to their constituents (Lussier and Achua, 2004, Popper and Lipshitz, 2000).

In this presentation, participants will look at the factors affecting leadership styles, examining six different styles (directive, visionary, affiliative, democratic/participative, pacesetting and coaching). They will have an opportunity to complete a survey which reveals to them their leadership style and what they are working with and how it can affect their work environment. Finally, they will examine some qualities of good leadership.

Read presenter biographies.

Dr Christine Coombe
Dubai Men's College, UAE

Biography

Christine Coombe has a PhD in Foreign/Second Language Education from The Ohio State University, USA. She is currently on the English faculty of Dubai Men's College, UAE. She is the former Testing and Measurements Supervisor at UAE University and Assessment Coordinator of Zayed University. Christine is co-editor of Assessment Practices (2003, TESOL Publications); co-author, A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners (2007, University of Michigan Press); co-editor, Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness in EF/SL Contexts (2007, UMP); co-editor, Language Teacher Research in the Middle East (2007, TESOL Publications), Leadership in English Language Teaching and Learning (2008, UMP) Applications of Task-based Learning in TESOL (2010, TESOL Publications), The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Assessment (2012, Cambridge University Press) and Reigniting, Retooling and Retiring in English Language Teaching (2012, University of Michigan Press). Christine’s forthcoming books are on research methods in EF/SL and life skills education.

Christine has lived and worked in the Arabian Gulf for the past 21 years. In this capacity, she has served as the President and past President of TESOL Arabia and as the Founder and Co-chair of the TESOL Arabia Testing Special Interest Group who organise the Current Trends in English Language Testing (CTELT) Conference. Christine is also the Founder and Chair of the TESOL Arabia Leadership & Management SIG.

During her tenure in the Middle East, she has won many awards including: 2002 Spaan Fellowship for Research in Second/Foreign Language Assessment; 2002-03 TOEFL Outstanding Young Scholar Award; TOEFL Board Grant for 2003-04, 2005-06, 2007-08 and 2009-10 for her work in delivering assessment training assessment in developing countries. Most recently she served on the TESOL Board of Directors as Convention Chair for Tampa 2006 and was the recipient of the Chancellor’s Teacher of the Year for 2003-04. She served as TESOL President (2011-2012) and was a member of the TESOL Board of Directors (2010-2013). Christine received the British Council’s International Assessment Award for 2013.

Featured Presentation (2018) | Classroom Management: Empirical and Practical Perspectives

Previous IICLLDubai Presentations

Featured Presentation (2017) | How the Most Productive TESOLers ‘Fit it all in’
Dr Virginia Bodolica
American University of Sharjah, UAE

Biography

Virginia Bodolica, PhD (HEC Montreal, Canada), is a Professor in the School of Business Administration at the American University of Sharjah, UAE. She teaches in the areas of strategy and innovation, corporate governance, family business, and human resource management. Her research interests are related to governance issues in for-profit settings, family-owned enterprises and healthcare institutions, board of directors’ dynamics, and the incentive design of executive compensation packages in the context of merger and acquisition transactions. She co-authored a research-driven book on Mergers and Acquisitions and Executive Compensation, which was recently published as part of Routledge Studies in Corporate Governance. Among other journals, Bodolica has published in the Academy of Management Annals, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Business Research, Strategic Organisation, Journal of Business Ethics, Management Decision, and Health Expectations. She received a Research and Scholarship Award from the UAE National Research Foundation for her collaborative project on corporate governance arrangements in UAE–based family businesses that culminated in the publication of the practice-oriented book titled Managing Organisations in the United Arab Emirates: Dynamic Characteristics and Key Economic Developments. Bodolica assumed consulting roles in private and public organisations and delivered executive education sessions and customised programs to companies in North America, Middle East, and Latin America. Her involvement in professional service activities has earned her Outstanding Reviewer Awards from the Academy of Management Business Policy and Strategy, Healthcare Management, and Management Education and Development Divisions. She was a Visiting Fellow at the Middle East Center, London School of Economics and Political Science, where she conducted research on corporate governance initiatives in publicly listed and family-run organisations located in the Gulf region.

Featured Presentation (2018) | In the Era of Disruptive Transformations: Embracing the Imperative of Dynamic Adaptation to the Evolving World of Work

Previous IICLLDubai Presentations

Featured Presentation (2017) | Managing for Innovation and Sustainability: Lessons from the Gulf Region
Dr Christina Gitsaki
Zayed University, UAE

Biography

Professor Dr Christina Gitsaki is the Research Coordinator at the Center for Educational Innovation, Zayed University, UAE. During her 20-year career in higher education she has contributed to the field in a number of different capacities such as English language teacher, applied linguistics lecturer, pre-service teacher educator, in-service teacher trainer, textbook author, project manager, curriculum leader, editor and researcher. In the past she served as the UNESCO Chair in Applied Research in Education in Sharjah and later as the Associate Dean of the Foundations program at HCT. Before coming to the UAE, she worked at The University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia, where she educated pre-service ESL teachers and supervised Masters and PhD students in language education research. She has worked with Education Queensland and The Learning Federation of the Curriculum Corporation, Australia on state and federal education projects such as the creation of digital Learning Objects for K-12 ESL students. Dr Gitsaki has presented her research at International Conferences, has been an invited speaker at various professional events and she has published 72 papers in refereed journals and book chapters on language acquisition and pedagogy. She is the author, editor and co-editor of twelve books on language education research. At the CEI she oversees the Mobile Learning Research Fund, the SoTL Certification Course, the development of resources for research and she provides advice and mentorship to faculty who are interested in engaging in research on teaching and learning.

Featured Panel Presentation (2018) | Innovation in Education Through Curriculum Reform and Research: The Case of the UAE

Previous IICLLDubai Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2017) | Education: A Supertanker in an Ocean of Change and Innovation
Professor Robert J. C. Young
New York University, USA & New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE

Biography

Robert J. C. Young is Julius Silver Professor of English and Comparative Literature at New York University, USA, and Dean of Arts and Humanities at New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE. Before joining NYU in 2005 he was Professor of English and Critical Theory, and a Fellow of Wadham College, at the University of Oxford, UK. He has held research or visiting professorships at the University of Hong Kong; Center for Advanced Studies, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany; Monash University, Australia; St John’s College, University of Oxford, UK; University of Puerto Rico; and University College, Galway, Ireland. His research interests range across the fields of cultural and political history, literature, philosophy, photography, psychoanalysis and translation studies, with a particular focus on colonial history and postcolonial theory. His books include White Mythologies (1990), Colonial Desire (1995), Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction (2001), The Idea of English Ethnicity (2008), Empire, Colony, Postcolony (2015), and, with Jean Khalfa, Frantz Fanon. Écrits sur l’aliénation et la liberté, Œuvres II (2015). His work has been translated into over twenty languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Gujarati, Hebrew, Persian, Tamil and Turkish. He is a corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Academia Europaea.

Previous IICLLDubai Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2017) | By Natural Law the Earth Is Held in Common
Dr Melanie Gobert
Abu Dhabi Men’s College, UAE

Biography

Dr Melanie Gobert is on the General Education Faculty at the Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi Men’s College. She is a past president of TESOL Arabia, and she was the editor of Perspectives, the TESOL Arabia peer-reviewed English Language Teaching journal, from 2009 to 2014. She has co-edited Current Issues in Reading, Writing and Visual Literacy: Research and Practice (2015) published by Cambridge Scholars. She has also published and presented widely in the region, including, “Taboo Topics in the ESL/EFL Classroom in the Gulf Region” in Intercultural Communication with Arabs (2014, Springer) and “Research-Based Solutions to Gulf Arabs’ Reading Challenges” (in press) Teaching English in the Arab Context: Challenges and Practical Classroom Applications (Cambridge Scholars). She has two upcoming chapters on “Accommodation in ESL” and “Realia” in the new Wiley Publications A to Z of Assessment and A to Z of English Language Teaching. She was the editor of the Student Edition of From Rags to Riches: A Story of Abu Dhabi by Mohamed Al Fahim (Makaram Publishing, 2011). She has also published “Grammar Correction in ESL Writing Classrooms” in Cultivating Real Writers (HCT Press, 2010) and “Key Findings from Research and Implications for the Classroom” in Cultivating Real Readers (HCT Press, 2010). She was a featured speaker at the 2nd World Congress on Extensive Reading held in Seoul, Korea, in 2013, and she presented on “Language Learner Literature and Identity” at the TESOL Regional Conference on Excellence in Language Instruction: Supporting Classroom Teaching & Learning at the National Institute of Education in Singapore in December 2015.

Previous IICLLDubai Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2017) | Reading: A 21st Century Skill in Higher Education
Professor Donald E. Hall
Lehigh University, USA

Biography

Donald E. Hall has published widely in the fields of British Studies, Gender Theory, Cultural Studies, and Professional Studies. Prior to arriving at Lehigh in 2011, he served as Jackson Distinguished Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English (and previously Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages) at West Virginia University (WVU). Before his tenure at WVU, he was Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where he taught for 13 years. He is a recipient of the University Distinguished Teaching Award at CSUN, was a visiting professor at the National University of Rwanda, was 2001 Lansdowne Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Victoria (Canada), was Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Cultural Studies at Karl Franzens University in Graz, Austria, for 2004-05, and was Fulbright Specialist at the University of Helsinki for 2006. He has also taught in Sweden, Romania, Hungary, and China. He has served on numerous panels and committees for the Modern Language Association (MLA), including the Task Force on Evaluating Scholarship for Tenure and Promotion and the Convention Program Committee. In 2012, he served as national President of the Association of Departments of English. In 2013, he was elected to and began serving on the Executive Council of the MLA.

His current and forthcoming work examines issues such as professional responsibility and academic community-building, the dialogics of social change and ethical intellectualism, and the Victorian (and our continuing) interest in the deployment of instrumental agency over our social, vocational, and sexual selves. His book, The Academic Community: A Manual For Change, was published by Ohio State University Press in the fall of 2007. His tenth book, Reading Sexualities: Hermeneutic Theory and the Future of Queer Studies, was published in the spring of 2009. In 2012, he and Annamarie Jagose, of the University of Auckland, collaborated on a volume titled The Routledge Queer Studies Reader, which was published in July of that year. He continues to lecture worldwide on the value of a liberal arts education and the need for nurturing global competencies in students and interdisciplinary dialogue in and beyond the classroom.

Previous IICLLDubai Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2017) | Interdisciplinary Education for Innovation and Change
Dr Fadi Aloul
American University of Sharjah, UAE

Biography

Dr Fadi Aloul is a Professor and Department Head of Computer Science and Engineering and the Director of the HP Institute at the American University of Sharjah (AUS), UAE. He holds a PhD and MS degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, respectively, and a BS degree in Electrical Engineering summa cum laude from Lawrence Technological University, Michigan, USA. His research and industrial interests are in Cyber Security, Mobile Applications, and Design Optimization. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and the founder of several cyber security awareness initiatives in UAE including UAE’s Cyber Academy. Dr Aloul received a number of prestigious awards including being the only recipient from the Middle East to receive the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC) Airbus Engineering Diversity Award in addition to the H. H. Sheikh Khalifa (UAE’s President) Award for Higher Education, the Sheikh Rashid's Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement, the Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Young Arab Researchers, the AUS Excellence in Teaching Award and the Semiconductor Research Corporation Fellowship. He has more than 100 publications (available at www.aloul.net) and one US patent. He is a regular invited speaker and panelist across a number of international conferences related to Cyber Security, Technology, Innovation and Education. He was the founder and chair of the UAE IEEE Graduates of Last Decade (GOLD) group, an organization dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity.

Previous IICLLDubai Presentations

Featured Presentation (2017) | EDUCATE to INNOVATE
Mr Mohammed Azaza
ADNOC Technical Institute, UAE

Biography

Mohamed Azaza holds an MSc in TESOL from Aston University and DELTA from the University of Cambridge. He is also a PhD candidate in Research in Education with the University of Leicester. Mohamed has published and presented on areas as diverse as teacher professional development, professional communities of practice, teacher leadership, curriculum and materials design, differentiated instruction, emotional intelligence and cross-cultural communication. Mohamed currently works at ADNOC Technical Institute.

Previous IICLLDubai Presentations

Featured Presentation (2017) | Effective Mentoring in an Educational Context
Dr Phil Quirke
Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE

Biography

Dr Phil Quirke is Executive Dean of Education, Higher Colleges of Technology in the UAE. He has been in ELT Leadership positions for fifteen years and has published on areas as diverse as face, action research, appraisal and journaling. His books, Managing the Language Classroom and An Exploration of Teacher Knowledge, are widely available, and his publication on Reflective Writing is available online.

Previous IICLLDubai Presentations

Featured Presentation (2017) | How the Most Productive TESOLers ‘Fit it all in’
Dr Sufian Abu-Rmaileh
UAE University, UAE

Biography

Dr Sufian Abu-Rmaileh is an English Lecturer at UAE University. He was the External Projects Coordinator for four years. He was also the Professional Development Coordinator for the Foundation Program. For the past thirty-four years, he has been teaching English at various levels, skills and institutions in the United States and the Middle East. He has been an administrator and a team leader for over ten years in the United States, and the UAE. He has an MA in Linguistics, and received both his TESL Certificate and his PhD in Educational Leadership from Brigham Young University, USA. Dr Abu-Rmaileh has also won many awards for his work as a leader, researcher and classroom teacher. He is a frequent presenter, invited and plenary speaker at local, national and international conferences. Dr Abu-Rmaileh has written on culture, classroom technology, motivation, stress and burnout, critical and creative thinking, emotional and social intelligences, team building, problem solving and leadership. He is TESOL Arabia’s past president, past conference co-chair, and over 20 years experience as local, regional and international conference planner.

Featured Presentation (2018) | Using Critical Thinking Techniques in the Classroom

Previous IICLLDubai Presentations

Featured Presentation (2017) | Leadership Skills and Styles for Successful Administrators
Dr Christine Coombe
Dubai Men's College, UAE

Biography

Christine Coombe has a PhD in Foreign/Second Language Education from The Ohio State University, USA. She is currently on the English faculty of Dubai Men's College, UAE. She is the former Testing and Measurements Supervisor at UAE University and Assessment Coordinator of Zayed University. Christine is co-editor of Assessment Practices (2003, TESOL Publications); co-author, A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners (2007, University of Michigan Press); co-editor, Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness in EF/SL Contexts (2007, UMP); co-editor, Language Teacher Research in the Middle East (2007, TESOL Publications), Leadership in English Language Teaching and Learning (2008, UMP) Applications of Task-based Learning in TESOL (2010, TESOL Publications), The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Assessment (2012, Cambridge University Press) and Reigniting, Retooling and Retiring in English Language Teaching (2012, University of Michigan Press). Christine’s forthcoming books are on research methods in EF/SL and life skills education.

Christine has lived and worked in the Arabian Gulf for the past 21 years. In this capacity, she has served as the President and past President of TESOL Arabia and as the Founder and Co-chair of the TESOL Arabia Testing Special Interest Group who organise the Current Trends in English Language Testing (CTELT) Conference. Christine is also the Founder and Chair of the TESOL Arabia Leadership & Management SIG.

During her tenure in the Middle East, she has won many awards including: 2002 Spaan Fellowship for Research in Second/Foreign Language Assessment; 2002-03 TOEFL Outstanding Young Scholar Award; TOEFL Board Grant for 2003-04, 2005-06, 2007-08 and 2009-10 for her work in delivering assessment training assessment in developing countries. Most recently she served on the TESOL Board of Directors as Convention Chair for Tampa 2006 and was the recipient of the Chancellor’s Teacher of the Year for 2003-04. She served as TESOL President (2011-2012) and was a member of the TESOL Board of Directors (2010-2013). Christine received the British Council’s International Assessment Award for 2013.

Featured Presentation (2018) | Classroom Management: Empirical and Practical Perspectives

Previous IICLLDubai Presentations

Featured Presentation (2017) | How the Most Productive TESOLers ‘Fit it all in’
Professor Said M. Faiq
American University of Sharjah, UAE

Biography

Said Faiq, FRSA, is Professor of Intercultural Studies and Translation at the American University of Sharjah (UAE), where he was Chair/Head of department (2003-07, 2009-10), and Director of the graduate program in translation and interpreting (2002-11). He is a visiting professor at Exeter University (UK). Prior to his current position, he worked in Africa, the Middle East and the United Kingdom (Salford University, (1990-2003), where he was Director of Studies for undergraduate and graduate programs in Arabic/English translation and interpreting; and Leeds University, (1996-1998), where he was visiting lecturer in applied linguistics). He has served as consultant to private and public organisations for educational and related sectors and serves on a number of academic editorial and consultancy boards/agencies. He is an established figure in intercultural and translation studies and allied areas and has directed and examined graduate research (Cambridge, McGill). His publications include Agency and Patronage in Eastern Translatology (co-edited with Ahmed Ankit, forthcoming), Culguage in/of translation from Arabic (co-edited with Ovidi Carbonnel and Ali AlManaa, 2014), Beyond Denotation in Arabic Translation (co-edited with Allen Clark, 2010), Cultures in dialogue: A translational perspective (2010), Trans-lated: Translation and Cultural Manipulation (2007), Identity and Representation in Intercultural Communication (2006), Cultural Encounters in Translation from Arabic (2004).

Dr Sufian Abu-Rmaileh
UAE University, UAE

Biography

Dr Sufian Abu-Rmaileh is an English Lecturer at UAE University. He was the External Projects Coordinator for four years. He was also the Professional Development Coordinator for the Foundation Program. For the past thirty-four years, he has been teaching English at various levels, skills and institutions in the United States and the Middle East. He has been an administrator and a team leader for over ten years in the United States, and the UAE. He has an MA in Linguistics, and received both his TESL Certificate and his PhD in Educational Leadership from Brigham Young University, USA. Dr Abu-Rmaileh has also won many awards for his work as a leader, researcher and classroom teacher. He is a frequent presenter, invited and plenary speaker at local, national and international conferences. Dr Abu-Rmaileh has written on culture, classroom technology, motivation, stress and burnout, critical and creative thinking, emotional and social intelligences, team building, problem solving and leadership. He is TESOL Arabia’s past president, past conference co-chair, and over 20 years experience as local, regional and international conference planner.

Featured Presentation (2018) | Using Critical Thinking Techniques in the Classroom

Previous IICLLDubai Presentations

Featured Presentation (2017) | Leadership Skills and Styles for Successful Administrators
Professor Sue Jackson
Birkbeck, University of London, UK

Biography

Sue Jackson is Professor Emeritus at Birkbeck, University of London. She was previously Pro-Vice-Master (Vice President) for Learning and Teaching, Professor of Lifelong Learning and Gender and Director of Birkbeck Institute for Lifelong Learning at Birkbeck. She publishes widely in the field of gender and lifelong learning, with a particular focus on identities.

Sue's recent publications include Innovations in Lifelong Learning: Critical Perspectives on Diversity, Participation and Vocational Learning (Routledge, 2011); Gendered Choices: Learning, Work, Identities in Lifelong Learning (Springer, 2011, with Irene Malcolm and Kate Thomas); and Lifelong Learning and Social Justice (NIACE, 2011).

Dr James W. McNally
University of Michigan, USA & NACDA Program on Aging

Biography

Dr James W. McNally is the Director of the NACDA Program on Aging, a data archive containing over 1,500 studies related to health and the aging lifecourse. He currently does methodological research on the improvement and enhancement of secondary research data and has been cited as an expert authority on data imputation. Dr McNally has directed the NACDA Program on Aging since 1998 and has seen the archive significantly increase its holdings with a growing collection of seminal studies on the aging lifecourse, health, retirement and international aspects of aging. He has spent much of his career addressing methodological issues with a specific focus on specialized application of incomplete or deficient data and the enhancement of secondary data for research applications. Dr McNally has also worked extensively on issues related to international aging and changing perspectives on the role of family support in the later stages of the aging lifecourse.

Dr Joseph Haldane
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Biography

Joseph Haldane is the Chairman and CEO of IAFOR. He is responsible for devising strategy, setting policies, forging institutional partnerships, implementing projects, and overseeing the organisation’s business and academic operations, including research, publications and events.

Dr Haldane holds a PhD from the University of London in 19th-century French Studies, and has had full-time faculty positions at the University of Paris XII Paris-Est Créteil (France), Sciences Po Paris (France), and Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (Japan), as well as visiting positions at the French Press Institute in the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas (France), The School of Journalism at Sciences Po Paris (France), and the School of Journalism at Moscow State University (Russia).

Dr Haldane’s current research concentrates on post-war and contemporary politics and international affairs, and since 2015 he has been a Guest Professor at The Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, where he teaches on the postgraduate Global Governance Course, and a Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary think tank situated within the university.

He is also a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the College of Education of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

From 2012 to 2014, Dr Haldane served as Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (Chubu Region) and he is currently a Trustee of the HOPE International Development Agency (Japan). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2012, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2015.

A black belt in judo, he is married with two children, and lives in Japan.

Featured Panel Presentation: Educating for Change: Educating for Global Citizenship

Professor Barbara Lockee
Virginia Tech., USA

Biography

Dr Lockee is Professor of Instructional Design and Technology at Virginia Tech., USA, where she is also Associate Director of the School of Education and Associate Director of Educational Research and Outreach. She teaches courses in instructional design, message design, and distance education. Her research interests focus on instructional design issues related to technology-mediated learning. She has published more than 80 papers in academic journals, conferences and books, and has presented her scholarly work at over 90 national and international conferences.

Dr Lockee is Immediate Past President of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, an international professional organisation for educational technology researchers and practitioners. She earned her PhD in 1996 from Virginia Tech in Curriculum and Instruction (Instructional Technology), M.A. in 1991 from Appalachian State University in Curriculum and Instruction (Educational Media), and BA in 1986 from Appalachian State University in Communication Arts.

Professor Steve Cornwell
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) & Osaka Jogakuin University, Japan

Biography

Steve Cornwell is the President of IAFOR, and President of the Academic Governing Board. He coordinates and oversees the International Academic Advisory Board, and also serves on the organization's Board of Directors.

Dr Cornwell is Professor of English and Interdisciplinary Studies at Osaka Jogakuin University, and also teaches in the online portion of the MA TESOL Programme for the New School in New York. He helped write and design several of the New School courses and has been involved with the programme since its inception.

He has also been involved with the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT), (an affiliate of IAFOR) serving on its National Board of Directors as Director of Programme from 2012-2016; where his duties involved working with a volunteer team of 50+ to put on JALT’s annual, international conference each autumn.

Most recently, since 2012, he has been the Committee Chair of Osaka Jogakuin University’s Lifelong Learning Committee and is responsible for their evening extension Programme geared towards alumni and community members. He is also the Vice-Chair of Osaka Jogakuin University’s English Education Committee which is responsible for suggesting policy regarding English Education and also responsible for developing material for the integrated curriculum.

Professor Ted O’Neill
Gakushuin University, Japan

Biography

Ted O’Neill is a professor at Gakushuin University, Tokyo, in the Faculty of International Social Sciences. He previously taught at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Tokyo Medical and Dental University and J. F. Oberlin University. Ted was co-editor of The Language Teacher for the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) and later served on the JALT National Board of Directors as Director of Public Relations from 2012 to 2016. He received an MA in ESL and Bilingual Education from the University of Massachusetts/Boston, USA in 1996 and completed a postgraduate Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy through the Graduate School of Education at the State University of New York in 2014. He is a part of a research group studying implementation of content-based language education and content and language integrated learning in East and Southeast Asia with the generous support of The Research Institute for Oriental Cul­tures at Gakushuin University.​

Professor Ted O’Neill is a Vice-President (at large) of IAFOR. He is a member of the Educational Technology section of the International Academic Advisory Board.