Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Table of Contents
FOREWORD
47
Ali Al-Hassnawi,1 Milton A. George,2
& Sergio Saleem Scatolini3
1
[1]
[2]
[3]
FOREWORD
Ali Al-Hassnawi,1 Milton A. George,2
& Sergio Saleem Scatolini3
1
domesticate nature, this does not mean that all regions of the inhabited
world are homely to all.
Within these language games, languages play a key role. We mean not
only languages such as English, Arabic, Mandarin, and the like, but also
sign languages, as well, and other systems which are not usually thought
of as languages, like programming languages in IT, logic, mathematics,
and chemistry.
A key feature of all of these languages is being means of communication.
Without them, human beings would remain islands, and thought would
be practically impossible. Moreover, without them, no truly human
communities would exist. The notion of the inseparability of language
and culture, and the co-existence theory justify why these articles have
been bundled together in one publication. Nonetheless, the authors are
aware that the ability to communicate does not always lead to the
creation of grand communities capable of embracing differences.
Oftentimes, languages signal and cause miscommunication and
misunderstandings. As De Roy argues, languages at times work as
cultural dividers. They classify us simultaneously as peers to some, and
aliens to others; for example, as native speakers and foreign speakers;
tribal members and aliens.
History is plagued with instances of discrimination based on language. In
fact, as De Roy explains, this is such a typically human phenomenon that
it made its way into the Bible as the legendary curse of Babel. A look at
present-day Babylon, or Iraq, will probably make us wonder whether we
are doomed to continually regard speakers of another language,
including other cultural and religious languages, as barbarians whom
people who claim to be more civilized may combat, even do away with.
Are we ever going to be able to break the curse of Babel? Hannouna
argues that we must. The need to enhance the bridging dimension of
languages is deeply felt and acutely urgent in hospitals with multi-lingual
patients, where misunderstandings can potentially lead to death.
Furthermore, as Jamal shows, this also applies to other sectors, such as
engineering students in India. Fortunately, Guadeloupe underlines that
[5]
[7]
of the world serve one goal: to build peace through education. Each of
UNESCOs major fields of work (i.e. Education, Natural Sciences, Social
and Human Sciences, Communication and Information and Culture) is
the space where UNESCO-minded people share one aspiration: to make
this world better and therefore also safer and more peaceful.
To actively and effectively build peace in the minds of men and women
all over the world, UNESCO summons all people and all peoples to join
forces. It asks dreamers and visionaries to step up and envision better
futures. It calls upon planners, architects, landscapers, designers etc. to
translate dreams and visions into workable, doable projects.
Subsequently, UNESCO invites contractors to gather the professionals
and equipment needed to translate its projects into action. It also
gathers construction workers (bricklayers, plumbers, carpenters,
electricians, painters, decorators, roofers, tillers, welders etc.) to give
form and content to the dreams and projects which were developed by
visionaries and planners. Without a concrete social form a body and
face, they would remain elusive figments of the imagination. Last but
not least, UNESCO also needs people willing to live in this world. People
who are willing to live together, willing to overcome conflicts, willing to
look at diversity as an asset for a more exciting life (not as a hazard for
possible fights). Indeed, peace-making educators and educationalists are
people willing to help with dreaming dreams of better futures and to
contribute to the realization of those dreams day in and day out.
The people that UNESCO seeks do not need to be super heroes. They do
not need to be saints. They do not have to radically change everything
they have done before in their lives. Every little bit counts. For the
greatest acts of peace can be found in the smallest human gestures.
Building peace in the minds of men and women is thus a global challenge
that calls for joint efforts that can only be realized through simple, daily,
individual, local actions. It needs belief and commitment. And it needs
you and me.
By believing in making this world a better place, we make a commitment,
and we say that we are willing to make a change, to contribute actively
[12]
[13]
We have our hands and our feet, our dreams and our ideals, our
ambitions and our passions, our brains, our heart and our soul as our
working tools. Still, the road is long. With many a winding turnAnd we
dont know for sure where it will lead us -- you and me. But together, we
have high hopes. As tools of peace
[14]
Meanings based on Hornby et al. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 8th edition.
http://www.palaeolexicon.com/ShowWord.aspx?Id=16902
Note another interesting passage in the Bible (Judges 12), from which the term shibboleth is taken,
used to indicate a linguistic nugget used to distinguish between people from different groups or
tribes. See for example the use of Derry or Londonderry to find out about a persons political and
religious leanings.
[17]
drive the united tribes apart by confusing their language and thus make
them less united? Turn them into each others competitors? Turn them
mutually unintelligible?
Language evidently works as a cultural divider. Purely on the basis of the
language a person speaks, one either belongs or does not belong to a
certain group. As long as this division into groups limits itself to linguistic
matters and does not turn into discrimination, one could rejoice at so
much variety and diversion. However, history is rife with examples of
discrimination and suppression based solely on language, so much so
that I can refrain from giving examples. Instead, let us revisit the Greek
term barbarian and investigate its later (and now current) meaning.
Once tribes have acquired a cultural identity (partly based on a shared
language, but equally on customs and traditions), they will compete with
other tribes at a cultural level as well, next to engaging in plain warfare.
Their own culture becomes a totem which is regarded as obviously more
developed, more civilised, more refined and more rewarding than and
superior to the cultures of surrounding tribes. Since language is by far
the most important transmitter of culture, it is self-evident that someone
who does not speak a certain language cannot possibly partake of the
culture behind that language. Consequently, a barbarian as the
speaker of unintelligible speech is forever excluded from the perceived
superior culture of ones own tribe and therefore has become a
barbarian in the new sense of being less civilised than members of that
culture.
Are we therefore doomed to regard speakers of another language as
less civilised? Is this the ultimate curse of Babel?
By and large this article is about mutual understanding or rather, about
the lack of it. This lack of understanding is attributable foremost to the
lack of a common language. By saying this I in no way wish to imply or
even give the impression that we should strive to create and start using a
unifying language. What we should aim for, is doing away with the
babble.
[18]
[19]
[20]
[23]
[24]
Try as I may, at first I could not detect how Oprah had rubbed off on her.
Oprah is a debonair, well-spoken jet set. Ingrid was loud-mouthed and
had no qualms uttering the crudest of profanities to anyone who rubbed
her the wrong way. Oprah and Ingrid had nothing in common.
Then I saw it! The connection was the Ordinary Mischievous Sacred.
Let me elaborate.
One Friday afternoon Ingrid had invited her friends Diana and Husne
over to drink cheap wine and talk about the troubles she had been
having with her man Wensely. She simply could not understand why he
was not having sex with her anymore, and why he was threatening to
leave her for another. It made no sense. She was after all, in her own
estimation, all Wensely needed. She was perfect. She habitually goes
under the tanning machine he bought her to keep that bronze color that
turns him on and reminds him of the Curaao sun. She takes good care of
their daughter and cooks the Dutch Caribbean dishes he likes so much.
Wenseleys mother and the rest of the family love her. She has been to
the island several times to meet them. She was perfect! Wensely was a
konio, a sinvergenza/an asshole, a good for nothing.
In her self-scrutiny, Ingrid felt she had no faults, except that she loves to
smoke shags (which Wensley detests) and is an expert in profanities
(which Wensley also detests). Yes, Wensely and she have terrible fights,
and, yes, he has more than once caught her flirting with another man
and, yes, she has threatened several times to leave him, but that did not
give him any right to leave her for what she termed some Dutch
Antillean bitch that surely was less of a woman than she is. Wensely said
he needed time and that he wanted someone of his own culture. Culture
my ass! She knew Wensely and Dutch Antillean men: they do not
discriminate when it comes to kut/cunt. There had to be more behind
this, since the girl Wensely was leaving her for was not as beautiful as
she is. Wensely occasionally had affairs, but he had always come back
home; especially when she threatened to do the same. She knew there
had to be more to this situation since Wensely was not sleeping with her
anymore, and that was not like him. Wensely never refused her, not even
when he was tired and she knew he had been out fooling around. There
had to be more. Ingrid was heartbroken.
[25]
of the Salsa parties and she had frequent telephone contact with.
Perhaps, now was the time to plan a secret date. Ingrid gave Husne the
eye that such could not be spoken about in my presence. At least not
today! Today, she was a good woman who was losing her man. Such was
the script.
I pretended not to notice the mischievous But I did. Here was a clear
example of the Ordinary Mischievous Sacred.
And as the women laughed, I became aware of the fact that there
were five of us in the room. Oprah was key. Oprah is not solely Oprah.
Only a mind open to seduction, unfriendly to exclusivist secular realism
epitomized in dominant renditions of the human sciences
recognizes his/her/its presence in our Dutch metropolises where such
esoteric expressions of super diversity have become plain; habitual;
ordinary. So Ordinary, in fact, that few discern his/her/its Sacred
eminence radiating and doing his/her/its Mischievous dance within and
around us.
Who was he/she/it? It was none other than Bugs Bunny. Bugs Bunny, el
conejo de la suerte, the rabbit who every child knows stole Lady
Fortunas heart. Bugs Bunny, the slick, sly, and slim, good-bad rabbit that
made the mighty hunter Elmo armed with his rifle and all the modern
creature comforts seem like a dunce. Yes, Bugs Bunny, one of the secret
weapons of North American Cultural Imperialism, the converter of
children in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Europe into
wannabe Yankee doodles.
Today, Bugs Bunny was showing me a side of himself/herself/itself that I
did not know. As we were speaking, s/he was doing his/her stuff on the
cartoon network TV channel. Suddenly, my mind saw in him/her Compa
Nanzi, and from Nanzi s/he morphed into Legba, into Exu, into La
Fontaines fox, and finally into Oprah Winfrey. Yes, today Bugs Bunny
was playing Oprah. Oprah, the champion of ordinary women the world
over. Oprah, the ordinary womans friend. Oprah, the one who
understands the everyday plight of working class women despite her jets
and limousines and cribs, the urban lingo for mansions. Oprah she is just
like us!
[27]
[28]
[29]
EUGENE ONEGIN
Eugene Onegin, born in an impoverished noble family, leads a life full of
intrigues and pleasure in SaintPetersburg. This life makes him somber,
depressed. He moves to the province, where he meets Lensky,
aneighbour. Lensky is in love with Olga. Her thoughtful sister Tatyana
falls in love with Eugene, but he turns her down.During a birthday party,
Eugene wants to make Lensky jealous, and he tries to get Olgas
attention. After the deadly duel with Lensky, Eugene leaves the
province. Three years later, he meets Tatyana again, who is then married
to a general and living in Moscow. This time, he falls in love with her, and
she rejects him because she belongs to her husband. The novel ends
with Eugene in despair.
In the first chapter, verses 35, 37-38, the main character, Eugene, is
introduced. He is a snob, and nothing really impresses him.
SaintPetersburg is depicted as the center of the country where it all
happens.It is the city of the balls, the parties, the drinks, food and
women. But all that is boring in the eyes of Eugene.
XXXV
XXXVII
[32]
PART ONE
THE PORTRAIT
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (1809-1852) is considered to be the first
important Russian / Ukrainian prosaic of the 19th century. He was born in
[36]
[37]
In Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky starts off with the idea of the
existence of a kind of bermensch. Raskolnikov, the main character,
suggests that some people are so good that laws made by average
people do not apply to them.
In this novel, Dostoyevski shows the city of the poor as a gloomy place
where hope vanishes. SaintPetersburg despises ordinary people. It is a
city of bureaucracy and banality.
In the first chapter of the first part, the main character, Raskolnikov, is
introduced. The weather conditions of the city have an influence on the
behavior of Raskolnikov. Again and throughout the novel,
SaintPetersburg has power over its citizens.
The heat in the street was terrible: and the airlessness,
the bustle and the plaster, scaffolding, bricks, and dust all
about him, and that special Petersburg stench, so familiar
to all who are unable to get out of town in summerall
worked painfully upon the young mans already
overwrought nerves. The insufferable stench from the
pothouses, which are particularly numerous in that part
of the town, and the drunken men whom he met
continually, although it was a working day, completed the
revolting misery of the picture. An expression of the
profoundest disgust gleamed for a moment in the young
mans refined face. (Dostoevsky, 2006)
Concluding observation
The three examples dealt with in this contribution show that the theme
of the inhumane city that crashes its citizens is typical for Russian
literature about Saint Petersburg. Furthermore, Saint Petersburgs role
in Russian literature continued during the Soviet period. Most
remarkable is Anna AkhmatovasPoem Without a Hero about the fate
of the individual in the 20th century.
[39]
Bibliography
Dostoevsky, F. M. (2006, March 28). Retrieved from Crime and Punishment:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2554/2554-h/2554-h.htm
Gogol, N. V. (2011). Retrieved from The Portrait:
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/1045/
Lednicki, W. (1955). Pushkin's Bronze Horseman. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Pushkin, A. S. (2007, December 27). Retrieved from Eugene Onegin:
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/23997/pg23997.html
[40]
and biases all of which enter into the process of knowing it (Becker,
1955, p.336),i.e. knowing a given past event. Therefore, it is not only the
event that contributes to our imagined frame, but the mind capturing
this imagined frame does too (Becker, 1955, p. 337). This way, the
present influences our idea of the past, and, inversely, our idea of the
past influences the present. So we may say that the present is the
product of all the past (Becker, 1955, p. 337). However, what is history
writing? Is it objective and do historians show what actually happened?
According to Leopold von Ranke, the historian has been assigned the
office of judging the past, of instructing the present for the benefit of
future ages (Evans, 2001). Thus, the task of historians would be to show
what has happened; the German phrase that Ranke used
Wieeseigentlichgewesen - was translated in Evans writing as how it
essentially was. However, this was a misunderstanding; for Ranke, it
meant understanding the inner being of the past and not merely
collecting facts (Evan, 2001, p.9). Rankes confidence in historical facts
would at times be challenged by the realization that even though history
may be stuffed with facts, history writing is more than just mute and
dead events. Writing implies narrating, which brings the discussion into
the area of rhetoric.
The rhetoric of history focuses on the tropes, arguments, and other
means of language used to write history and to persuade audiences.
Some of the literature identifies rhetoric too closely with the pleasing
and seductive arts of fiction with tropes, with narrative, with the
multiple meanings of poetry (Nelson, Megill, McCloskey, 1987, p.221).
Moreover, rhetoric is not restricted to tropes and narratives: it is the art
of persuasion to attain things with words. Neither is it restricted to
individual illumination in the archives (Nelson, Megill, McCloskey, 1987,
p.221). Hence, the writing of history entails making use of language and
logic to sustain an argument. Nevertheless, not many historians
acknowledge the fact that their writing is rhetorical, and this has to do
with the decline of classical civilization. To many, rhetoric comes from
the mouths of bad politicians (heated rhetoric) or from our enemies
(mere rhetoric) (Nelson, Megill, McCloskey, 1987, p.222), not from the
mouth of historians! This way, by assuming that history writing is an
[42]
objective enterprise, people often lose sight of the fact that history
writing is built on argumentation and persuasion. They prefer to think
that history is written like scientists write their lab reports (Nelson,
Megill, McCloskey, 1987). In their opinion, the information which
historians use is found in archives, and their job is merely to cast it into
reports. Hence, they presume that history writing is more solid than
philosophy, which makes use of argumentation and persuasion. From
this perspective, a comparison can be made between the solid scientific
knowledge and the solid objective historiography found in archivism; by
this we mean the tendency of the historian to think that the most
important relation is not with the readers, the times, or the questions,
but with the archives with what the historian misleadingly calls the
sources of history (Nelson, Megill, McCloskey, 1987, p.222-223).
However important archives may be to history writing, Megill and
McCloskey have given several examples showing that the sources of
historians work are found everywhere and are not limited to the
archives. It is the present problems that give material to historians for
their writings. Such issues are related to the work of historians, and
many others like the womens movement which created a totally new
field (Nelson, Megill, McCloskey, 1987, p.221). Therefore, it is important
to explore the rhetorical and narrative dimensions of history writing. This
I shall do by highlighting some thoughts from the works of Paul Veyne,
Hayden White, and Michel de Certeau.
Paul Veyne affirms that history remains fundamentally an account, and
what is called explanation is nothing but the way in which the account is
arranged in a comprehensible plot (Veyne, 1984; White, 1973; De
Certeau, 1988). He contends that there is no scientific meaning in
historical explanations; they are pure unfoldings of a certain plot to
make it understandable. Veyne believes, therefore, that the historical
explanation is entirely sublunary and not scientific at all (Veyne, 1984,
p. 88). Hence, he prefers to describe it as comprehension instead. In
addition, the intentions of the actors need not be forgotten since history
writing includes deliberation. Consequently, the world of history is
accompanied by liberty, chance, causes, and ends, as opposed to the
world of science, which knows only laws (Veyne, 1984, p. 89).
[43]
[45]
ABSTRACT
[46]
INTRODUCTION
The industrial revolution in Europe in late 18th century brought about
rapid progress in all fields of science, newer and faster methods of
communication, expansion of commerce and modernization of military
that in turn necessitated not only a fundamental overhaul and
modernization of the existing infrastructures in the army, government
and in turn the education system but also affected the aims of education
and states involvement in many countries.
In early 19th century, both the Ottoman Empire and Iran were financially
bankrupt due to constant warfare. This was mostly due to European
expansionism and in part to internal conflicts in the countries.Both
countries became embroiled in wars with the Russian Empire and lost
vast parts of their territories. The Ottomans had to abandon their claim
to the territories north of the Danube River and Crimea in favor of Russia
in 1774.
Iran too became a crucial site for the Anglo-Russian rivalry (Balaghi,
n.d.) due to its geopolitical importance. The Russo-Persian wars of 1813
and 1826 had disastrous results. According to the treaties of Gulistan in
1813 and Turkemanchay in 1828, Iran lost its Caucasian territories
(Tavakoli-Targhi, 2001).
These significant losses made both states realize that to safeguard their
territorial integrity, modern technologies, and military reform were of
utmost importance. To develop the same circumstances that had
enabled Europeans to become so powerful in a relatively short period of
time, the states needed to modernize the instruments of central
administration and the military.To realize this goal, a new educational
system was needed to replace the traditional one with its traditional
emphasis on religious content. Thus, in 19th century both countries
beheld a great reform movement that was to give rise to a modern
society in all aspects of life.
EDUCATIONAL REFORMS
The aim of the educational reform in both countries was to supply a class
of educated officers for the army and a cadre of civil servants for the
[47]
During the Qajar era (1785-1925), Irans educational system was based on
the same traditional method that had been the norm in previous
centuries. Classes took place in maktabs, usually in a room in the corner
of or adjacent to a mosques, which remained as hosts of the primary
school throughout the Qajar period. During this time, elementary schools
did not exist as an independent entity (Sultanzadah, 1985).
Literally, maktab means a place to read books or where writing is taught
under the tutelage of a mullah (clerical teacher) or a mualim (teacher).
Until reforms were introduced in the late 19th and 20th century, the
maktab system was the only educational center for literacy open to the
public.
Maktabs spread throughout the country in three types. One type was the
Akhundbajis Maktabs, which were presided over by semi-literate women
in their houses. The two other types were the Public and the Private
Maktabs (Noroozi, n.d.).
They were essentially the same in terms of administration:
1. There was no admission procedure or specific entrance
requirements that would prevent the students from enrollment.
2. There was no specific cut-off date for registration, and students
could join the maktab anytime.
3. Girls and boys studied together from the age of five to ten. The
girls whose parents permitted them to continue their education
were sent to separate girls maktabs. However, the education of
most girls ended at this point.
4. Similar to Akhundbajis Maktabs, there were no restrictions and
requirements for opening a Maktabkhaneh, and neither was there
a special license for it. In addition, there was no organization
regulating the maktabs. The jurisdiction or lack of it was
dependent on an individuals character, knowledge, and literacy,
and there was no authority to evaluate the owners knowledge
(Eghbal Ghasemi, 1998).
5. All three types of maktab were privately funded, the first two by
waqf and, in the case of private maktabs, by affluent members of
[49]
[52]
instructed in new sciences and crafts that were more secular in nature,
whereas the clerics concentrated solely on teaching religious subjects
and social norms, thus preserving the status quo.
The Enderun School was a palace school for the Christian Millet, which
primarily recruited students via a system for the the Islamization of
Christian children to serve in bureaucratic, managerial, and military
positions within the Ottoman Caliphate. The curriculum included Islamic
sciences, mathematics, geography, history, law, music, art and
languages, including Arabic, Turkish and Persian. At the end of the
Enderun school system, the graduates would be able to speak, read, and
write at least three languages and to understand the latest
developments in science. They would also be proficient in at least a craft
or art and excel in army command as well as in close combat skills (Corlu,
Burlbaw, Capraro, Corlu, & Sunyoung, 2010).
In his first schools, before he had the budget to buy desks and chairs,
Roshdieh had his students sit in the traditional cross-legged manner.
However, he had also designed small tables which they could easily put
in front of them to write on comfortably. He taught them in a simple
direct way to read and write the alphabet.
In addition to the school in Tehran (1898), he established another
schoolwith the help of Amin-al-Dowleh, the Prime Minister. At this new
school, there were 40 orphan children who were sponsored by the
government. Subsequently, he opened a boarding school for orphans
whose budget was provided by prominent government officials and
private citizens. These initiatives were followed by three more schools in
rapid succession, all of them for educating the underprivileged and
downtrodden members of society.
Mirza Hassan trained new teachers for the new schools and added
history, geography and arithmetic to the religious subjects that were
traditionally taught. In addition, with the help of Sheikh HadiNajmabadi,
a prominent and progressive cleric, he also incorporated vocational
training in the form of carpet weaving, shoe making and paper making
into the new curriculum. The Prime Minister was so impressed with
Mirzas efforts that he allocated funds from the government budget
specifically to help these schools.
It should be noted that through all these years, both in Tabriz and
Tehran, conservative clerics, resenting his success, renounced these
schools as centers for leading children astray from the true path of Islam,
thus exciting the publics wrath against modern schools. Mirza had to
contend with his schools being destroyed by mobs, students injured,
[56]
Nationalization of education
[57]
[58]
In 1899, with the help of Armenians from Jolfa, India and Java, a school
for girls was established in Isfahan. In 1907, another school was
established by Mrs. Varehkanian in memory of her husband who was the
principal of Lazarian College in Moscow. The furniture, educational aids,
maps, and blackboards were imported from Russia.
The next school to be established in Isfahan was a vocational school for
boys in 1908. The first professions to be taught in this school were
carpentry, shoemaking, and metal working. The required tools and
machinery were imported from abroad.
The Armenian school in Tehran was established in 1870 along with the
Armenian Church in the same year, in competition with the Protestant
missionary schools in the capital.
Zoroastrian Schools
All millets of the Empire had the right to open and run their own schools
and seminaries, teaching in their own languages.The minority schools in
the Ottoman Empire can be grouped into three: Greek Schools,
Armenian Schools, and Jewish Schools (Gokce & Oguz, 2011).
Greek Schools
The Greeks had established their first school in the Byzantine period in
Istanbul by the name of PhanarGreek School. It was controlled and
sponsored by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Another important
school was the Heybeliada School of Parsons. It was opened in the 9th
century as a shrine under the name of Ayatiriyada Monastery; a school
was added to it after the conquest of Istanbul. The Greek, being by far
the most ethnocentric millet under Ottoman rule, continued to establish
schools all over the empire during the following centuries to keep their
culture alive. The education in these schools, like in most minority
schools in Turkey, had a secular bent, and subjects such as Greek
Language and Literature, Geometry, and Mathematics were taught in
them. By 1897, the largest number of elementary schools in the empire
was Greek Orthodox and consisted of 4390 schools out of a total of 5982
non-Muslim schools in 1897 (Gamm, 2013).
Armenian Schools
In the period between the conquest of Istanbul and the end of the 18th
century, there were no Armenian schools in the empire (Gokce & Oguz,
2011).
The Millet system in the empire enabled the Armenians to establish the
first school in 1790. Other religious community schools were founded in
all Armenian neighbourhoods of Istanbul and other parts of the empire
like Anatolia, where the Armenian population was dense. On Patriarch
Karabets instructions in 1824, schools were established almost
everywhere in the country. Establishing higher education institutions
was the next logical step, so the Cemeran School in Uskudar was built in
order to provide higher education to Armenian communities. According
to the Patriarchates data, there were 469 Armenian schools in Anatolia
in 1834.
[63]
Jewish Schools
There was a small Jewish minority of 150,000 in the 19th century in the
Ottoman Empire. The Jewish communities were mostly urban, and
generally lived in their own overcrowded neighborhoods (Ginio, n.d.).
For this reason, the Ottoman Jews were behind other millets in
benefitting from privileges granted to them by the state as they lived as
a somewhat closed society. However, with the establishment of Alliance
Israelite in 1860 in France, new horizons opened up for them in terms of
educational opportunities. They were encouraged by the Alliance to
assimilate the French culture by learning and speaking French. They
opened a school in Istanbul and educated the community without using
Turkish in any way. Theirdifference from other minority schools is that
they focused not only on good manners and language teaching, but also
on vocational training.
Missionary schools
CONCLUSION
By the early nineteenth century, it had become clear to both Iran and the
Ottoman Empire that military reforms could not happen in isolation. The
entire administrative system needed to be reconstructed, and modern
schools had to be established to accommodate these reforms. As a
[65]
Despite these similarities, there were major differences between the two
countries primary education systems too. To name a few:
1.
own schools and sent their children to Europe for higher education, so
the limited number of educated manpower in the Empire was mostly
Christian and wholeheartedly supported the reforms. This disparity
indirectly encouraged the authorities to hasten their efforts in
establishing a nationalized and secular education system.
Iran was still transforming from a feudalistic and tribal society into a
more modern and urban one; so there was no large middle class in the
country at the time. The middle class, comprised of merchants and
artisans, was traditionally Muslim with a very conservative worldview
because of its ties with the ulama and religious organizations. As a result,
with the exception of a few open-minded individuals, their stance was
that the traditional schools had served the society well for centuries and
viewed the educational reforms not only as a burden on the society, but
also as a threat to the Islamic culture of the country with their emphasis
on empirical sciences and a secular approach to education.
In addition, minorities in Iran constituted a smaller percentage of the
population than in the Ottoman Empire. Besides, they are not as
integrated into the society as their counterparts in Ottoman Turkey.
They were mostly autonomous in their civil affairs and education like
their neighbours, but did not have a robust presence in the economic
sphere like the millets in the Ottoman Empire. Hence, minorities in
Irancould not exert a strong influence on the society and the reforms
undertaken by the state.
In sum, rapid changes in technology and the sciences in Europe,
combined with the dismal economic and political situation of both Iran
and the Ottoman Empire led them to initiate reforms in order to keep
their borders secure and stop the western countries from increasing
encroachment into their affairs. The starting point was reconstructing
the army. That soon necessitated fundamental transformations in the
administrative and educational bodies. Not only was the educational
system revamped, but also the function and philosophy of education.
There was a movement from the traditional philosophy with its emphasis
on inculcating religious values among the population to a secular and
functionalistic view of the same, where producing trained manpower
while maintaining societys cultural integrity took centre stage.
[68]
[69]
Irzk, G., & Guzeldere, G. (2005). Late Ottoman and Early Republican Science. In Turkish
studies in the history and philosophy of science (pp. 287-288). Dordrecht: Springer.
Jizya. (2007, May 29). Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jizya#Nineteenth_and_twentieth_centuries
KhaleghiMoghadam, M. (2010, October). Taghiir- foncionalisti- madares- doreh-Qajar [Web
log post]. Retrieved January 31, 2015, from http://drmkhm.blogfa.com/post-184.aspx
Nasiri, M. (n.d.). Mirza Hassan Roshdieh. Retrieved from
http%3A%2F%2Fanjom.ir%2Fbozorgdashtha%2F19-roshdye.html
Naval Academy Turkey. (n.d.). Retrieved January 31, 2015, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Academy_(Turkey)#History
Noroozi, N. (2010). Evolving philosophies of modern education in Iran examining the role of
wonder (Unpublished master's thesis).
[Preface]. (2001). In M. M. Ringer (Author), Education, religion, and the discourse of cultural
reform in Qajar Iran (pp. 8-9). Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda.
Rostam-Kolayi, J. (2002). Foreign education,the women's pres. In N. R. Keddie & R. P.
Matthee (Authors), Iran and the surrounding world: Interactions in culture and cultural politics
(pp. 186-187). Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Somel, S. A. (2001). The emergence of government primary education. In The modernization
of public education in the Ottoman Empire, 1839-1908: Islamization, autocracy, and
discipline (pp. 15-16). Leiden: Brill.
Sonmez, S. (2013). Primary Education System in Ottoman Empire. International Journal of
Humanities & Social Science,3(5), 163. Retrieved January 31, 2015, from
http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/87976999/primary-education-system-ottomanempire
Sultanzadah, H. (1985). Trkh-imadris-irn, azahd-ibstnttass-iDr al-Funn (1st ed.,
Vol. 1, pp. 54-55). Tehran: Agah.
TavakoliTarghi, M. (n.d.). The Constitutionalist Language and Imaginary. Retrieved January
31, 2015, from
http%3A%2F%2Firanianstudies.ca%2FConst_Revolution%2Fbackground.html
TavakoliTarghi, M. (n.d.). The Constitutionalist Language and Imaginary. Retrieved January
31, 2015, from
http%3A%2F%2Firanianstudies.ca%2FConst_Revolution%2Fbackground.html
Tavakoli-Targhi, M. (2001). 7,Patriotic and Matriotic Nationalism. In Refashioning Iran
Orientalism, Occidentalisln and Historiography (pp. 114-115). New York: Palgrave.
Yarshater, E. (1985). Alliance Israelite Universelle, In EncyclopaediaIranica (pp. 893-895).
,Boston, MA: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Retrieved January 31, 2015, from
http://www.iranicaonline.org
[70]
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
St. Maarten is a 37 square miles island, divided into two different political
entities. The Southern part is Dutch, called St. Maarten; the Northern
part is French, called Saint Martin.
The capital of Dutch St. Maarten is Philipsburg.Although English is
spoken everywhere, Dutch is the official language of St. Maarten, and
[71]
The position of Dutch in St. Maartens life is not the same as that of
Arabic in North Africa after the arrival of Islam, French in West Africa
colonies, English in East Africa, or even Dutch in Surinam. On the Island,
between 1954 and 2000, Dutch was considered the official language
(used in the government and in some schools), but it has never been the
language of daily life -- with the exception of groups such as the
European Dutch and Surinamese expats. Dutch has remained a foreign
language (probably even among St. Maarteners educated in the
Netherlands). Despite what official documents state, most people on the
Island have communicated and still do in English.
Still, we must underline that English can refer to different types of
World Englishes (a term that has now become commonplace in English
linguistics; Kachru, 1992). There is St. Maarten English, other types of
Caribbean English (e.g. Jamaican or Guyanese), Received Standard
English (spoken mainly by those,who have followed formal education
and expats, especially Americans, Brits and Canadians). This means that
the language question is still not solved by saying that St. Maartens real,
functional language is English. A. Fleming-Rogers warned that even
though English is purported to be the national language, it is not the
mother tongue of the people of the Windward Islands. Their mother
tongue is a variant of English (Fleming-Rogers, 1990).
P1 expressed this idea during our interview: Our mother tongue is not
Dutch, but its not English [either]. How will I look at the Dominican child
and say: Hey Jun, tumadertong is nglis? No, thats not right. We dont
have a mother tongue. You see, people here and at an international level
want to put that jacket to fit on St. Maarten. We have too much diversity
to focus on a mother tongue. What we have is our commercial
language because thats the language we do business in. Both on the
Dutch and French side, people understand English. We have an official
language and that is Dutch . In everyday life, St. Maarteners speak a
language that is neither Revised Standard English nor Dutch.
[74]
Our interviews seem to indicate that the average resident on St. Maarten
had practical and emotional motives to not be completely behind this
decision.
At the practical level, parents were concerned with their childrens
further education. Seventh - day Adventist children, who can go from
Kindergarten to PhD. and study all the way through in English and in
[North-American] Adventists institutions, went for English-medium
schools (P2). For other children, who could not (and still cannot) afford
education in the USA or Canada nor would have the chance to do so (e.g.
by means of a scholarship), Dutch remained the preferred option. The
Dutch language was seen as a ticket to affordable tertiary education
either in Curaao or the Netherlands. A similar scenario was observed in
Curaao, where some feared that turning their back on Dutch would put
their children in a disadvantageous position if they decided to continue
their studies in The Netherlands, for which Dutch was essential (Lamp,
2004). At the emotional level, others felt that since they were (and still
are) Dutch nationals, they had some responsibility towards the Dutch
language.
The language of instruction continued to be a debated issue on two
accounts: (1) it called for much effort on the part of schools, teachers
and students and (2) the results were poor. On the one hand, it was
difficult to find Dutch-speaking teachers and teaching materialsthatwere
relevant to the Island. Furthermore, the lack of real-life situations for
using Dutch at an advanced level on the Island did little to motivate the
students to attempt to master the language. On the other hand, people
were aware that although most of those educated in St. Maarten had
undergone language education for many years, they could still not
function adequately in either language (English or Dutch) in contexts
where formal register, accuracy and correctness were required (Dijkhoff,
2004).
The people mentioned above were disadvantaged both in the labor
market and in higher education: neither their English nor their Dutch was
on a par with that of students educated in the USA or the Netherlands
[77]
respectively. In fact, their Dutch was often not much better than that of
foreigners who had never been in contact with the language before their
arrival in the Netherlands. P3, too, underlined that students taught in
Dutch in St. Maarten would end up translating the language all the time,
because they do not hear Dutch all the time. It is a foreign language.
They end up not being proficient in English and also not in Dutch. And
when they go to study in Holland, both types of children have the same
problems anyway. They dont know the slang, the accents , and are
stuck (P3).
MacKays method was well received in St. Maarten. For P6, the
introduction of Breakthrough to Literacy marked the introduction of a
child-centered approach to education. In other words, the idea of
Education for All, with English as the language of instruction
fromKindergarten through primary school was finally applied. Children
were taught in English and exposed to Dutch. The English years were a
transitional period to Dutch, given that in Grade Three the instruction
switched from English to Dutch. This was based on MacKays belief that
a child best learned another language when he was 8 or 9 years old.
P5 found the experience both positive and influential, but he also saw its
flaws. Without undermining the virtues of the method, it was felt that
the teachers were not well prepared to apply it and the classes were too
chaotic. Indeed, the problem with the MacKays project seems to have
been the lack of structural, contextual and reflective planning.
Implementing innovative methods implies change but, as P7 argued in
hindsight during our interview, the changes had a lot to do with the
person, who was in charge, even in the area of the language of
instruction. He went on to suggest, as did others, that the innovative
intentions were subject to individual initiatives since there was no
structural plan and that bled them to death. He did not blame the
Kingdom for the failed attempts, since St. Maarten fell under federal
Antillean jurisdiction.
For P5, there were also other flaws related to the implementation of the
project: the measuring of projects like this was never really carried out.
There were rather assumptions about what the true results were instead
of looking at the students outcomes and say: Hey, we can see that it
has had some impacts, but real measuring was lacking.
The lack of structural planning and implementation became manifest
when MacKay was about to go into the third phase of the project. At
that moment, teachers protested that they had not been properly
coached to make the transition from Dutch to English. However, the
situation was not working in Dutch, because even thoughthe teachers
went into their classrooms with the intention to teach Dutch, they ended
[79]
up using English, since the children could not speak Dutch! Despite the
legal framework, Dutch was no longer as stressed as it had once been.
Thus, when MacKay left in 1974, the predictable outcome happened: the
project collapsed. Once the hub that held together the initiative was no
longer in St. Maarten, the lack of structural planning increased and,
according to P6 the project started to be watered down. Schools
started diverging and doing different things. Sometimes there were
parallel Dutch and English classes.
The situation in primary education in 1977 was as follows: Grades One
and Two were English-medium; Grade Three was a transition year from
English to Dutch; and from Grade Four onwards, pupils used Dutch as the
language of instruction. Personally, P8 was in favor of English
throughout and Dutch as a Second or Foreign language. For him, and
others like him, what was defective was not the language being used at
school, but the way in which it was taught. The language policy and
school practice had to be systematic, with a strong Dutch component so
that secondary students could choose whether to study in the
Netherlands or elsewhere. He pleaded for a realistic approach to Dutch
as a Second/Foreign language on the grounds that speaking is less
important than reading and comprehension. In the case of English,
Breakthrough to Literacy revised the philosophy behind the teaching of
English reading, but the same was not done with Dutch.
P9 elaborated further on the critique of how languages were taught,
rather than on the languages themselves: it is not a language-related
failure. We must find out what the real causes are. Even though a
Spanish child is born here and brought up here, they can speak Spanish.
They learn it though the media, like TV. The same applies to Chinese and
Indian students, even though they have never been to China or Hong
Kong. We should look at that success models since they succeed in
English and Chinese. Those parents teach their children. That is where
we are failing: in the teaching. St. Maarten is in a unique situation and
has the real good ingredients. You can make a nice rum cake, but you can
[80]
also ruin it. And she drew conclusions not only about the past, but also
the present. The policy makers are failing, she concluded.
Even though the MacKay initiative did not bear the expected fruit, and
finally waned, we were told that, indirectly, it had a positive impact on
the mentality of educators on the Island. In the words of P6, the positive
side of the MacKay project was that it helped people to appreciate their
own language. MacKay set the basis for any innovation. Learning in your
own language makes things easier. Translating from a foreign language
to yours and then the other way around, as is done in schools that do not
use the first language of the students for instruction, complicates
things.
[81]
P10 remembered, during our interview that in 1953, in Grades One, Two
and Three, they taught arithmetic in English and Dutch. The language of
instruction was basically English, although the textbooks were in Dutch.
Since most teachers were local (either from St. Maarten or the Englishspeaking Caribbean), the explanations were in English. The level of
discomfort that the language gap occasioned was that all the teachers
spoke to the children in Dutch. It was difficult in the beginning, but they
got used to it. It encouraged them to listen well and sharpen your
listening skills.
In 1963, everything changed to English (George, 2010). Nonetheless,
there was no indication that the language issue had been settled. The
pros and cons of bilingual schools were numerous. But for many people
on the Island, it was clear: outside schools, and even within schools,
bilingualism was a fact, albeit not officially. Nothing was done as if Dutch
was going to stay as language of instruction for good. It was known that
English would eventually prevail.
St. Maarteners were conscious that Dutch was not their mother
tongue, but neither was Standard English. Given that Standard English
also felt foreign, the status given to Dutch managed to create the
impression that the language of the old colonizers could not be done
away with too swiftly.
From the above, it appears that the pro-English camp failed to conduct
an effective and convincing PR campaign in favor of English as the
mandatory, universal language of instruction.
Almost every interview showed that the pragmatic concerns to keep
Dutch were perceived to be more important in the eyes of many parents
than nationalistic sentiments or their attachment to English (for which
they would still have to wait about two decades).
Although not directly related to this research, the experience or shall we
say difficult experience of bi-lingual education in St. Maarten could be a
rich source for understanding the pros and cons of bi-lingual education in
general. In Europe and Asia, there is a growing trend to implement so[82]
[83]
Apart from this reason, at the time, the increase of students going for
English-medium education was also influenced by the enormous amount
of immigrants to St. Maarten from the English speaking Caribbean in
search of employment. Thus, even though Dutch remained the official
language, Caribbean English became reinforced as the real everyday
language in St. Maarten.
During this transition period, the lack of clear direction on the part of the
federal government gave schools room to experiment with language.
P8, who was an inspector at the time, revealed that On the one hand, he
had to implement Federal policy. On the other hand, he tolerated
developments towards English as language of instruction (e.g. at MAC).
Once thing was clear, namely that the transition was not clear. Some
schools started using Dutch at the beginning of Grade 3, while others
preferred to do it half way through, and others at the end.
Dutch was experienced as a passive language, since a real-life context for
its teaching was missing. P11 noticed when teaching that students were
forced to learn in a language that was not reinforced in their daily lives.
P12 confirmed this, saying that you did not really speak a lot of Dutch at
school. In her case, she mostly learned Dutch among the Dutch and
Surinamese in St. Maarten. For P3, it was logical that students could not
master Dutch, unless you are being bombarded all day with Dutch, it is
very difficult for you to express yourself sufficiently in Dutch. Children do
watch Dutch television. Their key figures their play figures (Batman
and so on) are not Dutch.
In 1986, the then minister of education signed a protocol that each island
territory could determine the language of instruction in elementary
education. At that time, Saba decided to go completely for English as the
language of instruction. In St. Maarten, where the MAC had already
started with English education, increasingly more schools switched to
English as the language of instruction.
Towards2000, P11 indicated that the reasons in favor of Dutch were (and
continue to be) practical rather than ideological. When you look at the
reasons why people want Dutch to be the language of instruction, you
[84]
will see that it is because parents do not have the means to send their
children to college or university in the USA. If their children speak Dutch
well enough, they can flow into the Dutch system where they are eligible
for the Dutch study financing. P4, too, spoke of the added-value of
Dutch as the language of instruction. When students want to continue
their education, higher education in Holland is one third of what it costs
in the USA. Holland also has an obligation to make room for the children
we send. For instance, my daughter, she did medicine there. Holland
ensures them a place. After that, our students have to prove themselves
in their studies. For many it was summed up as: The language issue, is
not consider an issue anymore. It has been discussed so often. If you
want your child to study, Holland is far cheaper.
In Europe, we may not think much of the parents practical
considerations to adopt a foreign language as language of instruction,
however, people, who are aware of the limitations living on a small
island brings, do not take pragmatic reasons lightly. P7 voiced this very
clearly: Ive always believed that we are born Dutch. There are also
many children, who cannot follow the Dutch stream. I think people
should be given a choice. You will always have kids who are not good in
something. No matter what you do, you dont want to lose that Dutch
passport. With that passport you can go anywhere in the world without
hassle. You can jump in a plane and go to USA. We are aware of the
problems Jamaicans and Dominicanos have. No matter what they tell
youyes, you want to have a lot of freedombut when you become a
little island, you are nothing. The world is growing together. The
problem is that the government has chosen English, but they have not
changed the system.
As P11 pointed out, however, recognizing the parental right to
language as a criterion for choosing their childrens school does
bring the debate on the language of instruction to a close. Hence,
asks: Is there a need to have so many schools with Dutch as
language of instruction?
[85]
use
not
she
the
[88]
could use it for different languages. Have you ever seen a language lab at
MPC [Milton Peters College]?
P4 mentioned another educational variable why language learning was
not as successful as it could have been: Most books were from Holland,
transplanted here. All the texts and pictures were from and about
Holland. And the teaching was in Dutch. So from the beginning in the
First Grade, English was a subject, but the teaching was in Dutch. In the
end, we had a rather good result in Dutch, but bad ones in their own
language, whose negative consequences I can see now. Trying to adapt
the material to the island called for a lot of extra work on the part of the
teachers.
The European Dutch influence was not the only one. The Antillean
federal system, centered around Curaao as it was, did not help St.
Maarten education. P8 compared St. Maarten and Curaao students and
concluded that it was clear that a St. Maarten 2nd grade class was
better than their Curaao counterparts precisely because in St. Maarten,
they studied in English (mother tongue) and in Curaao in Dutch (NT2).
P11 reinforced this idea, saying that she became convinced in 1995 that
Dutch was not the right choice. It was not a language that was
reinforced: there were no newspapers, no TV, etc. It was a language
spoken at school and in some well-educated families. Furthermore,
Dutch was taught as if it was their mother tongue and English was
taught as if it was a foreign language. Furthermore, Standard English
might not have been the same as St. Maarten English, but it should not
have been taught as a foreign language. The English exams came from
Curaao, which is Papiamentu based, and were therefore far too easy for
St. Maarten students. So besides the question which should be the
language of instruction, they also needed to look how a language should
be taught: as a first language, a second language or a foreign language.
In the 1980s, nobody was talking about that, except in the MAC schools
elementary educational program, where they had decided to use
English.
[89]
For P12, some of the gaps that existed in education before the 1980s had
to do with the fact that the majority of the Sisters were not from the
Island, not even from the region. Their lifestyle meant that they
belonged to a different class within society. Furthermore, most Dutch
teachers, who came to teach on St. Maarten, did not integrate in the
local community, sometimes because they returned to the Netherlands
before they could really find their niche on the Island. This situation
entailed that they were transferring knowledge. They could not look
into the minds of the local persons. They could not say this is what local
persons are going to need at the end of the 20th Century and at the
beginning of the 21st Century. They could never say that because that is
what they knew. I think that it would be unfair to judge them, because
they did not know. Nonetheless, at another level, Buncamper still finds
that if you had to look back now, I would say Yes, because they should
have done it. They should have had that knowledge. If they didnt do it, it
is dependent on a number of factors. Thats the bottom line.
From our interviews, some conclusions are self-evident.
The Netherlands, as a country, did not influence St. Maartens education
directly. The Dutch Sisters and teachers did. The fact that some teachers
went to pursue their teacher education in the Netherlands also played an
indirect role.
Curaao, the seat of the Dutch Antillean federal government, exerted
both a structural and practical influence on St. Maartens education:
firstly, because the inspectorate was federal; secondly, because
textbooks used in Curaao were also used in St. Maarten; thirdly,
because some of the teachers did their secondary and/or teacher
education in Curaao.
Some of the teachers were born and/or educated in Aruba or Curaao,
which also influenced their linguistic background (whether their first
language was St. Maarten English or Papiamento, and whether they had
been seriously acquainted with Dutch).
[90]
[91]
[93]
Between the above positions, there has also been a middle stance, which
was defended, for instance, by P5. He pleaded for a compromise on the
issue of the language of instruction in St. Maarten. He would like to see
both languages being used, albeit in unequal degrees. I personally think
that it should be English with a strong composition of Dutch. I dont
think that Dutch should be eliminated at all. Our ties with the Dutch
tradition (the Kingdom, the government), a lot of our official documents
are still in the Dutch language. I think that if you want to really have that
needed power, it would be beneficial to first master the English
language and Dutch at a level where you can also actually bargain with it.
I am not sure whether we have come to that stage yet of accepting that
that is possible. Unlike the rest of the Caribbean, we seem to be
struggling with what our language of instruction should be and whether
we should be bi-lingual or multi-lingual or pluri-lingual as is mentioned as
well. Most of the rest of the Caribbean and even the USA would wish
that they would have the opportunities that we do in the Netherlands
Antilles to be able to communicate in more than one language. But I
think that it is something that we should not forget. We should try and
capitalize on it, use it to our advantage. I see that St. Maarten can almost
become a sort of, I dont want to use the word trading post, but more
of a center in the Caribbean for language development, where people
can come and actually learn how we are able to instruct students to the
extent that they are able to survive or manage in more than one
language. But I think that it calls for some refinement of what we are
able to do at the moment.
However, given the considerable influx of immigrants since the
beginning of the 1970s, this resulted in having other first languages next
to St. Maarten English. The question is now whether schools should
embrace multilingual education. This comes at a time when the
importance of multilingual education is being corroborated by studies
conducted in the business world. English is used in written and oral
communication as well as for internal and external contacts. Spanish is
used in oral communication with colleagues and clients. The use of Dutch
is highly limited to certain areas such as oral contacts with clients and the
reading of instructions in Dutch. English, Spanish and Dutch are
[94]
[96]
CONCLUSION
Our presentation of the legal and linguistic complexities of St. Maarten
indicates that the issue of the language of instruction in St. Maarten
could be seen as a hub on which different elements converge: policy,
vision of education, teaching practice, identity and the questions raised
by the future.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands could be described as negligent in
relation to the Dutch Antilles and, especially, with respect to the three
English-speaking islands (Saba, St. Maarten andStatia). Furthermore,
the federal Dutch Antillean government did not seem to be more
[97]
[98]
Wattman, F., (1974), Language and education in the Leeward Netherlands Antilles, in
Caribbean Studies (13: 3), pp. 111-117.
[99]
Abstract
[100]
INTRODUCTION
The formal education in Uganda began with the Christian Missionaries,
who soon after their arrival established schools. Up until 1925, the
missionaries received no or little help from the Colonial Government. 5
The mission schools enhanced literacy and numeracy in the country. The
missionaries considered literacy as an important tool for the success of
their objective in evangelization. The first need they saw was to teach
the people how to read and write. Fafunwa, A.B of Nigeria, observed
that being able to read and write, the missionaries foresaw that the
converts would be able to read the Bible and understand the word of
God.6 In view of this, the ability to communicate orally and in writing was
considered essential for being a good Christian. Such ability enhanced
accessibility to the available religious material. On the other hand, Ado
noted that children were not only taught reading and writing, but were
also taught that Ugandan customs and traditions were wrong and
unacceptable to the new God.7
It is worth noting that before the arrival of the missionaries there was a
traditional educational system. Uganda was comprised of various ethnic
communities each with specific social and cultural educational features,
which were passed on to future generations. This was a process of
education that went on throughout life and was not limited to a
particular time or place.8 In this regard, Coleman pointed out that the
missionary was regarded as a revolutionary because to preach and plant
Christianity meant to make a frontal attack on the beliefs, the customs
and, particularly, the social structures of the primitive society.9 The
missionaries saw Ugandan traditional education and culture as
5
Ssekamwa, J.C. (1997). History and development of education in Uganda. Kampala: Fountain
Press, pp. 36-37.
Fafunwa, A.B. (1974). A history of education in Nigeria. London, Boston & Sydney: George Allen &
Unwin, p. 81
Ado, K. T. (1998). Missionary teachers as agent of colonialism in Uganda. Kampala: Fountain
publisher, p. 35.
Ocitt, J.P. (1975). An introduction to indigenous education in East Africa, Nairobi, East African
Publisher, 1975, p. 45.
Coleman, J. (1958). Nigerian background to nationalism. California: University of California Press,
p.97.
[101]
10
Brian, S. (1990). The Bible and flag: Protestant Missions &British imperialism in Nineteenth &
Twentieth Centuries. Journal of Religion in Africa, 22(3), 269-271.
[102]
11
Semakula, M.S K. (1977). A history of Buganda: From the foundation of the Kingdom to
1900.London: Longman, p.155.
12
Madeira, I.A (2005). Portuguese, French and British discourse on colonial education: Church State
relations, school expansion and missionary competition in Africa, 1890-1930. Paedagogica
Historica, 41 (1), pp.31-60. London: Routledge
Robinson, R., & Gallagher, J. (eds.). (1983). African and Victorians: the official mind of the
imperialism. London: Macmillan Press, p.47.
13
[103]
15
16
17
P.G. Okoth, the creation of dependent culture, in J.A Mangan (ed.), imperial curriculum: racial
images and education in the British colonial experience, London, Routledge, 1993, pp.134 -145.
Ssekamwa, J.C. (1997). History and development of education, p.25.
Brian, S. (1990). The Bible and flag: Protestant Missions &British imperialism in Nineteenth &
Twentieth Centuries. Journal of Religion in Africa, 22(3) 269-271. Also, Mackenzie, C. G. (1993).
Demythologising the missionaries: A reassessment of functions & relationship of Christian
missionary education under colonialism. Comparative Education, 29 (1) 145-166.
Ado K. T. (1998). Missionary teachers as agents of colonialism, p.34.
[104]
[105]
20
21
22
23
24
McCulloch, G. & Lowe, R. (2003). Networks, space & geography in the history of education. History
of Education, 32 (5), 457-594.
Madeira, A.I. (2005). Portuguese, French and British discourses on colonial education: Church
State relations, school expansion and missionary competition in Africa, 1890- 1930. Paedagogical
Historica, 41 (1&2), pp.31-60..
Cohen, C. (1993).The Natives must first become good workmen: formal educational provision in
German South West &East Africa Compared. Journal of Southern Africa studies 19 (1), pp. 115134.
Boyle, P.M. (1995). School wars: Church, State & death of Congo. Journal of Modern African
Studies, 33 (3), 451-468. .
Shorter, A. (2006). Cross and flag in Africa: The White Fathers during the colonial scrumble (18921914). New York: Orbis, p. 208.
[106]
26
27
Mowat, C.L. (1968). (ed). The new Cambridge modern history: The shifting balance of world forces
1898-1945. Cambridge: University Press, pp. 242-244.
Lewis, L.J. (1962). Phelps-Stokes, reports on education in Africa.London: Oxford University Press,
p.56.
Jones, J.T. (1924). Education in East Africa, p. 164.
[107]
29
30
31
Watson, K. (1985). Colonialism and education development. In Watson, K. (ed), education in the
third World. pp. 1-37. Groome Helm: London & Sydney.
Seppo, S. (1995). White Collar or hoe handle? African education under British colonial policy
1920-1945. Helsinki: Suomen Historillnen Seura;p.45.
Shilling, D.G. (1972). British Policy for African education in Kenya 1895-1939. A Phd Thesis
University of Wisconsin. United States of America.
Colonial Office. (1925). Education Policy in British Tropical Africa: Memorandum submitted to
Secretary of State for Colonies by Advisory Committee on Native Education in British Africa
dependencies. London: His Majestys Stationary Office. (HMSO) Cmd 2374.
[108]
Colonies and Protectorate in East, West Africa and Central Africa, that
this Advisory Committee of 1923 came up with varied findings, which
became the basis of a published memorandum of 1925 on the
educational policy for the British Colonies in Africa, known as White
paper.32It should however, be noted in passing that the overall British
policies, like those of any other colonial power globally, were for the
purpose of expanding their colonial interests.
In 1925 the British Colonial administration, took up an active role in
education. They formed a partnership with the missionaries and adopted
the policy of running schools through the missions. In the same year, the
Department of Education was established in order to coordinate and
provide financial support for the churches educational activities whilst
increasing state control over education. They further supported the
missionaries work whilst seeking to change the focus of education:
primary schools were to emphasize technical training over literacy
education in order to serve economic interests.33 In the same year, the
British developed a document education policy in British tropical Africa.
Its aim was to adapt education to the local environment to strengthen
the feeling of responsibility among tribal communities and to raise moral
standards.34This view originated in 1847 during the British Privy Councils
Committee on education regarding colored people, which stated the
need for securing better conditions of life and development of the
African as a peasant on the land and to make local schools as a means of
improving conditions of peasantryto give them practical training in
cultivation of cottage garden, as well as those common handcrafts by
which labour can improve his domestic comfort.35In general terms, this
meant manual work. This does not imply that the training to be given
32
33
34
35
Ibid, p.11.
Ssekamwa, (1997). History and development of education, p. 27.
Colonial Office, (1925). Education policy in British tropical Africa: memorandum submitted to
Secretary of State for Colonies by Advisory Committee on Native Education in British Africa
dependencies, London, His Majestys Stationary Office. (HMSO), Cmd 2374.
Brief practical suggestion on the mode of organising &conducting day schools of industry, model
farm schools, & normal schools, as part of the system of education for the coloured races of the
British colonies. Foreign and Commonwealth Office Collection (1887), University of Manchester,
The John Rylands University Library.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/60232102, accessed on 20.
Dec 2014.
[109]
was not regarded as education in itself, but this new knowledge was
narrowly confined to practical skills. The concept of adapted education
was not only visible in the philosophy of British education for the
colored, but was also in the curriculum, textbooks, content and methods
of teaching in all the subjects, especially history, geography and
agriculture.36 In this way, by focusing on agricultural and manual training,
adapted education resulted in preventing Ugandans from pursuing life
outside their rural environment. This makes it clear that with the
emergence of the colonial administration in the field of education, the
Ugandan graduates were not suitably trained to address Ugandan
challenges to the development and improvement of their citizens
welfare.
In addition to creating the ideals for a perfect government, the Colonial
Government was committed to offering grants in aid for voluntary
agencies to improve the standards of training for the native teachers. It
is however, worth noting that although, these aims were expressed with
optimism, the British did lay interest on a small class of literate Ugandans
to fill the administrative posts, and educational policy was that they did
not seek to go beyond this rank. For example they supported the
education of the sons of kings and chiefs, who were groomed for
leadership positions in their areas.37 Bishop Streichers, a White fathers
educational report of 30th June, 1910, indicated that Lubaga School was
founded for the sons of chiefs and other promising Catholic boys to
prepare candidates for chieftainship and clerical work within the
administration.38 Kumar observed that such a school system mirrored
the British schools based on the 18th Century English political ideas,
which consisted of Bourgeois individuality, equality and security of
property.39 The implication was that by controlling the educational
36
37
38
39
Madeira, A.I. (2005). Portuguese, French and British discourses on colonial education: Church
State relations, school expansion and missionary competition in Africa 1890-1930.Paedagogical
Historica, 41 (1&2), pp.31-60.
Lugumba, S.M.E. & Ssekamwa, J.C. (2002).A history of education in East Africa, Kampala,
Fountain Publishers, p.25.
Henri Streicher, educational report, 30th June, 1910.WFA, C.13 (White Fathers Archives), Rome
Krishna,K. (2005).Political agenda of education a study of colonialists and nationalist ideas, New
Delhi, Sage Publication, p.23.
[110]
system the traditional ruling class had been able to preserve its power.
This similar view was reflected in other colonial colonies, in French Africa
in North-Senegal, Upper Volta and the Ivory Coast; schools were geared
towards the recruitment of the sons of chiefs. Also the pupils were
chosen with great care.40 This selective nature of education was not only
discriminative, but it also hampered and disorganized the local
indigenous system in communities. Oginga Odinga of Kenya observed
that such a Western education created tensions in creating classes, and
for undermining the power of the local leadership he categorically
stated:
The church created other rifts within the African society. The schools
were originally built mainly for the sons of the chiefs, and to train new
generation of chiefs and headmen. This meant that much of the
flexibility that the Luo society provided in the selection of the leadership
by prowess and the consensus of the tribal opinion was destroyed by a
system that monopolized leadership for the educated chief clan, usurped
the function of the clan elders, and made chiefs prone to bribery and
other pressures.41
This indicated that education was minimal in the sense that the number
of those who attended was small and selected. In fact, opening the
world of knowledge to Africans was highly suspect to many Europeans.
This was demonstrated in early correspondent of Rhodesia Herald who
wrote: I do not consider it right that we should educate the native in
any way that will make him unfit for the service. He is and should always
be a hewer of wood and a drawer of water for his master. 42 This
remark manifested that deep in the psychology of the colonial officials
their primary purpose for the colonization of Uganda, like any other
African territories, was to secure raw materials to meet demands for
their industrial revolution. For this purpose, they needed to give a form
of training, which could resonate with the demands of the colonial
interest. As such, one of the objectives of colonial education in Uganda
Madeira, A.I (2005). Portuguese, Britain and French discourse, p.31-60.
Odinga, O. (1967). Not yet Uhuru: Nairobi: Heinemann, p.64
42 Parker, F. (1957). Development and education in Southern Rhodesia. The University of Texas,
Kappa Delta Publication, p.72.
40
41
[111]
may have been to divide and weaken the subjects, by making them
subordinate to their rulers. Indeed Widel noted that the British Colonial
Government did not want to impart too much literary education to the
natives, which would reap a rebellious class of youth who would easily
be dissatisfied with its colonial rule.43 Based on such an education, John
K.M concluded that the educational adaptation was an educational
paradigm designed by colonialists and their collaborator to keep the
Africans in subservient position culturally, politically and economically.44
This mode of education was not exercised in Uganda alone, but was
widespread in other British colonies in Africa. Berman E.H noted that
institutions such as Jeans schools in Kenya, the Bo Government School in
Sierra-Leone, Malangali in Tanzania, Fort Hare in South Africa and
Achimota in Ghana were all built around the concept of educational
adaptation.45
A new program for the provision of grants in aid re-emerged through the
educational ordinance of 1926/27 and the 1942 Ordinance respectively.
This new regulation determined the new criteria for financial grants to all
the voluntary agencies in Uganda. This support was not only confined to
finance, but also in kind for example, land was donated to missions,
taxes were exempted, higher institutions established. All these policies
were fully initiated after 1925.46 However, Aaron argued that by virtue of
the missionaries acceptance of government aid, it meant a marked end
of the missions policies on the schools and self-reliance.47 This further
suggested that the grants in aid was provided to the mission schools in
return for the assurance that school lessons would focus on fitting
Ugandans with technical knowledge needed to work as artisans for the
43
Widel, A. (2008). British colonial education in Africa: policy and practice in the era of trusteeship.
History Compass, 7(1), 1-21.
44
Karefah, J.M. (1987). Educational adaptation & Pan-Africanism: Developmental trends in Africa.
Journal of Black Studies 17(4), 460-481.
Berman, E.H. (1972). Tuskegee-in-Africa. Journal of Negro Education, 41(2), pp.99-112. Published
by Journal of Negro Education.
Ssekamwa, J.C. (1997). History and development of education, p.49.
Beck, A. (1966). Colonial Policy and Education in East Africa 1900-1950. Journal of British
Studies, 5 (.2),pp.115-138.
45
46
47
[112]
Education report of the year ended 31st Dec 1940.WFA, C.13, (White Fathers Archives), Rome
49
King, J.K. (1969). Africa and Southern State of U.S.A: Notes on J.H Oldham and American Negro
Education for Africans, pp. 659-677.
Widel, A. (2008). British colonial education in Africa: policy and practice in the era of trusteeship.
History Compass, 7(1), 1-21.
50
[113]
[114]
54
55
56
Hussey Eric, Minutes of meeting held on 10, Feb.1924, on future educational policy for Uganda
Protectorate, Rubaga Archives, Kampala. also see minutes of 23 rd Feb, from Husseys report of
educational findings
Ssekamwa, J.C.(1997). History and development of education, p.125
Ado, T.K. (1998). Missionary as agents of colonialism, p. 47.
Ssekamwa, J.C. (1997). History and development of education, p.123
[115]
[116]
60
61
62
63
[117]
[118]
Elgon School offering courses for carpenters, builders and mechanics all
lasting for four years, and that of tailoring lasting for three years. By 1935
about fifty men qualified from the government schools.66 On the part of
the missionary, technical schools were influenced more by the internal
needs of individual missions for buildings and technical work and the
difficulty in finding the trained personnel necessary to serve these needs.
By 1923, the White Fathers were running two technical establishments in
Uganda; one side by side with St. Marys Kisubi and the other near their
seminary at Bukalasa. These establishments were comprised of
departments for blacksmithing, woodworking, shoemaking, roof
molding, the manufacture of floor tiles, brick-making, bookbinding and
drawing.67 However, critics like Ann Julia Cooper, whose advocacy held
the broader notion of education argued that elementary students should
not be relegated/limited to a prescribed and narrow curriculum that
focused on a utilitarian motive with an overemphasis on technical
efficiency, and specialized functions.68 This suggested that this education
did nothing to improve the status of the African society; instead it held
the attitude of submissiveness.
Throughout this period, the Education Department was still persistent in
its attempt to make agricultural education effective. Consequently, in
1929 Eric Staple was appointed as the Agricultural Superintendent. Also
the archival material from Rubaga indicated that the conference of
Directors of Education held in 1929, observed that the collaboration of
the agricultural department was essential for the purpose of Teacher
Training. Thus, it was considered highly desirable that the training of
teachers should include agricultural instruction, not only during their
course in the training schools, but also during the period spent at the
end of their professional training.69 Similar courses were provided and
introduced at the government agricultural schools at Bukalasa in the
66
67
68
69
Felice, C. (1969). Education in Uganda 1894-1945. Kampala: Makerere University Press, p.241.
Fr. C. Robillard, report on the historical account of the development of education up to 1925, on
White Fathers Mission, File 22, Rubaga Archives, Kampala-Uganda
Derrick P. A. (2007). Victorianism civilization and progressivism. educational ideas of Ann Julia and
W.E.B Dubois, 1892-1940. History of Education Quarterly, 47, pp. 430-446. .
Minutes of Conference of Educationists held in Mar, 1929 at Dar-es-Salaam. Rubaga Archives,
Kampala- Uganda.
[119]
70
71
72
[120]
continue living with them, tending the cattle or cultivating the land.73
This implied that the Africans were supposed to have acquired better
skills than remaining in the village to till. However, labor was given a
very unfortunate label by the colonial powers. It was associated with
slavery and even low pay. This implies that the attitude towards work as
slavery has deep- seated roots, which perhaps need attention and
examination.
It was clear that the schools that were set up to boost the technical
education never helped the students and the parents to respect the
practical education. This was mainly because of the approach given by
the colonial officers towards this educational system, which reflected
that these schools were meant for the most average students who could
not attain a higher level of education. The failure of the initiative to
impart literary education was blamed on the Africans inability and their
low mental power. Gordon, H.L in his study of the mental capacity of
Africans observed that the African natives have been found to be inferior
to their European counterparts, not only in brain capacity, but also in
reaction to mental tests used by inquiry. 74 Marah K.J argued that
although, mental tests were no longer an inclination, the Europeans had
long held attitude that they had a superior culture, language, religion
and that they were highly intellectual. This standpoint can therefore, not
be wiped out overnight.75 Indeed Depaepe noted that the old idea and
opinion of Africans as primitive, which went from the outset, together
with European superiority complex in regard to Western culture, gave
way to further scientific discourse on the psychology of some African
communities.76 This entire attitude towards subordination reflected that
the natives were not as mentally capable as the European settlers. It was
such an attitude, which drew resistance and criticism in Uganda.
73
74
75
76
Ali, M. (1978): Political values and the educated class in Africa. Berkeley: University of California,
p. 16.
Gordon, H.L.(1887). The mental capacity of African: A paper presented Before the African Cycle.
Journal of Royal African Society, 33(132), pp.226-242.
Marah, K.J (1987). Educational Adaptation and Pan-Africanism Trends in Africa, pp.460-481.
Depaepe, M. (2008) Belgian Images of the Psycho- Pedagogical Potential of the Congolese during
the Colonial Era (1908-1960). pp. 1-18.
[121]
Also this education failed because the Ugandans had no say, or were
allowed to make decisions themselves. As R.J Masona a contemporary
observer put it: I think. A successful adaptation can be made only by
Africans themselves; an alien people, and a ruling one, however, well
intentioned they may be, can only take people so far along the road.
Thereafter, they must find their own way, seeking such guidance as they
themselves feel the need.77 The same view was expressed by H.M Grace
a missionary, educator and the principle of Kings College Budo in
Uganda, who critically on failure of the advisory boards to give the tribal
leaders a chance to express themselves on educational problems. He
felt that without the natives participation on the boards, the, selfsacrificing effort of the educational officers was incomplete.78
From the above discussion one can conclude that, education was literally
meant to reduce the financial burden, it was also meant to forestall
political movements that would threaten the colonial order.
From 1945 -1962 there was a change in attitude and tone as far as the
missions and colonial education was concerned. This was echoed in the
opening remark of Binnss Commission in 1952 as stating: We are
persuaded that Uganda is ripe for the bold advance in education and in
that belief we have not hesitated to state what we feel to be the present
needs.79 It was noted that the education had still proved insufficient to
meet the post-war demands. This implied that the recent expansion and
growth of education and the manner in which education had developed
meant that both regional and denominational differences were still a
loophole. Ssekamwa and Lugumba observed that to reinforce the
educational policies and close gaps, the British Government continued to
establish educational laws, Commissions and Committees, which were
set up from time to time to oversee the validity of education in Uganda.
These laws were meant to regulate the education system, ensure order
and standardise the education system in terms of infrastructure,
77
78
79
[122]
80
81
82
83
84
Ssekamwa J.C & Lugumba, S.M.E. (2002). A history of education in East Africa, p.67.
Ssekamwa J.C & Lugumba, S.M.E. (2002). A history of education in East Africa, p.67.
Allan, P. (1965). Educational reform in colonial Africa. African Affairs, 64 (256), pp. 210-216.
Oxford University Press.
Pearce, R. (1984). The colonial office and the planned decolonization in Africa. African Affairs, 83,
(330), 1984, pp. 77-93.
Berman, E. (1984). Foundations, philanthropy and neo-colonialism, in Gail, P.A & Gail, P.K (eds.),
Education and colonial experience, New Brunswick & London, transaction books, p.253-256.
[123]
was a lot of enthusiasm on the part of the Ugandan public, there were
nevertheless, strings attached to this educational program.
It is also, important to note that behind this renewed colonial attitude
was the fear of rising nationalistic movements, which were widespread
everywhere, an indication that African Independence was inevitable.
Arthur Creech observed that such speedy independence of Uganda was
not the dream of the white man.85 Unfortunately, forces continued to
work against the missionary hold on schools. Some of the Christians
formed a lay opposition demanding the missionaries to quit educational
administration. Ssekamwa noted one of the colonial representatives
who rebuffed the Ugandan members on the missionary hold on all
educational matters clearly stated: The missionaries have got an
honesty and self-denial and devote more time in education than lay
people could have done. The churches poured into education directly or
indirectly an amount of money which I am incapable of estimating, and
therefore an attack on the missionaries from any quarter is difficult to
support by the government.86 The Colonial Government backed up the
missions to the end, but this support was not to endure.
The 1961 Conference for African States held in Addis-Ababa on African
education came up with a different approach towards the African
education. Charged with limited resources, limited finance, a limited style
of selection of students, which created scarcity of manpower and
prevailing high illiteracy, the responsibility of education fell into the
hands of the new African leadership. As independence was nearing, the
Churches were forced to re-consider their position.87 This resulted in the
integration of missionary schools, the missions lost influence over the
evolution and central direction of their schools. A new education act
was passed, and all the grant aided schools, which belonged to religious
groups were nationalized by the state. The voluntary agencies lost their
powers in the recruitment and posting of teachers and even in the
85
86
87
Creech, A. J. (1951). British Policy with particular reference to Africa. Journal of Royal Institute of
International affairs; 27, (2), pp.176-183. Wiley & Sons.
Ssekamwa, J.C. (1997). History of education, p.127.
Beck, A. (1966). Colonial policy and education in East Africa 1900-1950. Journal of British Studies,
5 (.2), pp.115-138.
[124]
CONCLUSION
This study revealed that the planning of the Ugandan education, and its
aims were in close connection to the background event in the colonial
politics of the time. The rise of Indian Independence and other
threatening factors in international politics forced the British
government to set their educational policy straight and, in turn, to
support their political agenda in Africa. However, this study also revealed
that these threats were not only a warning to the Colonial Government
of the time, but also to the missions working in Africa.
The study unveiled that aids were granted to the mission schools in
return for the assurance that school lessons would focus on fitting
Ugandans with technical knowledge needed to work as artisans for the
settlers. It, therefore, goes without saying that though missionaries have
been critical for promoting education, with full support of the Colonial
Government regarding policy framework, this type of education did not
develop the Ugandan childs mind to conceptualize, think critically and
create alternative worldviews. Instead, the agricultural bias imposed on
Ugandans was continued in an attempt to force on them inferior forms
of education, which many Ugandans resisted.
More so, further manifestation indicated that the lack of Ugandan
participation in educational decision making drew the attention of
Ugandan leaders and reinforced their conviction that education in both
mission-colonial education and mission schools was set to perpetuate
colonial supremacy. This new nationalistic mood and attitude widened
[125]
[126]
Abstract
The number of expatriates residing in Al-Ain in United Arab
Emirates (UAE) has recently increased creating a multilingual
community. This has lead to a great need for professional
interpreters in various public service settings. In order to ensure
high quality medical services, healthcare (HC) interpreters must
be well-trained and professionalized. It should be the
responsibility of the universities and the HC institutions to
contribute significantly in preparing courses and training
programmes for students and interpreters working in hospitals.
The present paper, therefore, reviews and evaluates the
teaching of Community interpreting and the training programmes
in the UAE University. It also focuses on the analysis and
discussion of the students HC interpreting problems. The results
show that the students have various kinds of linguistic and
interpreting problems. In addition, there is a severe luck of
educational and training programmes necessary to prepare welltrained HC interpreters for UAE hospitals. Consequently,
awareness rising among the involved parties and sample
curriculums has been suggested to improve the quality of HC
interpreting services offered.
Keywords: Multicultural societies; healthcare settings; teaching
HC interpreting; training interpreters; evaluation; curriculum
design.
INTRODUCTION
The need for HC interpreters (HCIs) has sharply risen in recent years in
many countries with multicultural communities and expanding foreign[127]
based workforce. It is also expected that the demand for accurate and
professional interpreters will continue to grow. Therefore, many
universities and HC institutions have understood the vital need for
having professionally-trained interpreters in the medical field and have
designed courses to train interpreters to fill the gap of language services
in the labor market.
The UAE has continuously enlarged free movement of workers around
the Emirates more specifically in the capital Abu Dhabi (where Al-Ain city
belongs) and Dubai. As it has increasingly become a multicultural
community, properly trained interpreters working in public services
especially in medical settings is a basic need. It has been observed that
the professional and legal status of interpreters working in the HC sector
is rather vague and no endeavours have taken place to professionalize it.
Increasing levels of Emiratis and expatriates who are in need of medical
services combined with a shortage of trained interpreters have led to
many problems in HC settings (Hannouna, 2012).
So, with regard to the constantly increasing demand of professional
HCIs, interpreting courses and relevant training programmes have
become urgent to fulfil the needs of this society. Therefore, new
materials for an undergraduate community interpreting course have
been suggested. In addition, an MA programme has been proposed to
help in developing and improving the current state of HC interpreting in
the UAE. These programmes could be of use to any academic institution
around the world too.
and skill while adhering to the code of ethics and standards of practice. A
bilingual employee may provide direct services in both languages, but is
not qualified to serve as an interpreter without additional training.
This review focuses on the HCIs and student interpreters education and
training. It presents medical errors and some limitations of utilizing
family and friends and even HC providers who are untrained in
interpreting. On the other hand, it shows the effect of good practices
and training of interpreters on the quality of the services provided by the
HC institutions. In addition, it reports the issues and challenges facing a
HCI and sheds light on the content and requirements of HC interpreting
curricula and training programmes and the ideas behind them.
Although training is often regarded as the key to the provision of
adequate interpreting services (Kalina, 2002), it is still lacking or not fullydeveloped in many countries except in a few "pioneering" countries
(e.g., Australia, Canada, America and Sweden) where community
interpreting (CI ) has advanced to the state of a fully-fledged profession
(Ozolins, 1995 ; Ozolins, 2000). As Gile (2009) points out, formal training
can perform at least two functions. The first is to help professional
interpreters or translators enhance their performance to the full
realization of their potential, while the second is to help them develop
their skills more rapidly than through field experience and selfinstruction.
The scientific evidence suggests that providing patients with trained,
professional interpreters leads to optimal communication, the best
outcomes, the fewest errors with clinical consequence occur and the
highest satisfaction (Flores, 2005; Interpreter Services Working Group,
2010).Unfortunately, the literature does not use a common standard for
trained or professional. However, it is clear that using trained
interpreters generally produces higher quality results than using ad hoc
ones. Errors made by untrained bilingual staff or family serving as
interpreters include: (a) adding material, (b) omitting material, (c) false
fluency, (d) substitution, giving opinions and (e) changing messages
(Schapira, et al., 2008). Moreover, Hoen, Nielsen & Sasso (2006) identify
the issues that inhibit the development of the field of HC interpreting.
These include: (a) lack of HC interpreting employment opportunities, (b)
[129]
hand, have undergone training and are able to practice without the
formal accreditation.
Ozolins (2000) states while CI training programmes in the pioneering
countries are fully institutionalized full-scale training, in many other
countries they take place in non-academic settings as CI has not yet
achieved the status of a profession that merits full-scale academic
training. Moreover, undergraduate or postgraduate university training
programmes are largely underrepresented in the range of existing CI
training options (e.g. Ozolins, 1995; Roat &Okahara, 1998; Ozolins, 2000;
Kalina, 2002). In addition, Roberts (2002) indicates that most training is
offered at postgraduate level or as part of continuing education
programmes. Besides, most of these university-based training
programmes do not lead to an official and internationally accepted
degree (e.g. BA, MA). Instead, they are often limited in scope, highly
diverse as regards their content and often lead to participants receiving
only a certificate at best.
Concerning the design of a training programme, a review of the relevant
literature shows that there exists a large array of highly divergent
training concepts whether at university level or outside academic
institutions (Phelan, 2001). According to Hale (2007) and Ertl &
Pllabauer (2010), they differ with respect to content (e.g. languagespecific, language-independent, theory-based, combination of theorybased and practical training, different views on interpreter roles and
'cultural mediation'), duration (e.g. short-term training to full-scale
academic programmes), teaching methods (e.g. 'traditional' vs. 'new'
teaching methods), language combinations (e.g. 'Western' languages vs.
'rare' languages) qualification certificates or 'degrees' (e.g. proof of
attendance, 'certificates,' internationally recognized academic degrees),
selection/admission criteria, testing procedures (e.g. no testing to fullscale final exams leading to accreditation), etc. Hala (2007) emphasizes
that training providers have to decide which stance will be taken on their
particular course. This needs to be communicated adequately to
students, trainers and users.
Gentile, Ozolins & Vasilakakos (1996) confirm that it will be difficult for
the state of CI to advance in the absence of compulsory formal training
[131]
In the above review, basic issues of HCIs education and training have
been identified and discussed. The next sections present an overview of
the current teaching and training reality of HC interpreting in the UAE.
REQUIREMENTS OF HC INTERPRETERS
As the present paper focuses on HC interpreting, it is worth emphasizing
that qualified professional HC interpreters need institutional support
including continuing education and quality assurance to perform their
work. Hospitals, health centres and other providers must assure quality
interpretation services to assure quality patient care. Most HC
institutions prefer their HC interpreters to have a certificate of successful
completion from a recognized educational institution or training
programme (whether through a private institution, a two-year college or
a four-year college). A certificate attesting to language proficiency in all
of the interpreter's working languages, skills testing in HC interpreting
and proof of mastery of medical terminology in all working languages
are the most essential academic qualifications. The only other typical
prerequisites are general education and experience (Explore Health
Careers, 2015).
In a previous study, Hannouna (2012) confirmed that most of the
interviewees (i.e., university teachers, HC providers and patients)
believed that the universities are the primary responsible institutions to
graduate qualified HC interpreters. Their programmes should include
effective interpreting courses and sufficient training for this purpose. In
addition, there should be a kind of cooperation and coordination
between the university and the HC institutions to continuously provide
training courses, seminars and workshop to improve the quality of HCI of
the fresh graduates and the staff of medical interpreters in these
institutions.
Many theorist and researchers have pointed out to the numerous
competencies and background knowledge that are commonly deemed
necessary for community interpreters. These include: knowledge of
professional issues, advanced language competencies, mastery of
different registers in both languages, a wide mastery of general and
specialized terminology, adequate pronunciation in both languages,
[134]
In teaching the course of CI, the researcher focused only on two areas of
CI, i.e., court interpreting and HC interpreting. These genres are
necessary for students to learn based on the needs of the job market in
the UAE (Hannouna, 2012). First, the aim was to awaken the students
awareness of the role of an interpreter within the community services.
This involves acting as a link between those citizens who either do not
know the language of the community in which they live and the public or
private services they wish to access, or who do not understand the
language of the HC providers working in the local hospitals. In the UAE,
this is due to the varieties of nationalities in this society. Therefore, a
great number of citizens require linguistic support in order to have
[138]
power point (PPT) slides along with the texts in which they occurred to
facilitate interpreting and save much of the classroom time. Lists of
terminologies, definitions and glossaries were constantly provided to the
students. As for the texts that were given to the students to interpret,
the focus was on real-life situations and dialogues like, courtroom
proceedings, crime scenes scenarios, police interviews, medical patients
reports, medical tests reports, description of diseases and symptoms,
patient-doctor / provider dialogues that the teacher downloaded from
special web sites or took from different books on these fields.
The classroom was equipped with a projector, a computer and speakers
with an amplifying system in addition to a Smart board. However, no
interpreting lab with booths, headphones and microphones was
available. These tools are necessary in the classroom for practicing
various interpreting modes and techniques and for recording the
students' performance for feedback. It had Internet connection and the
students brought their laptops / IPods, electronic dictionaries, mobile
phones and hardcover dictionaries to class. The teacher brought her own
recorder to the class for recording the students interpreting in order to
analyze their interpretation and give them the necessary feedback. It
was also used in measuring the time the students spent in interpreting a
text. Students were shown videos on court and medical interpreting.
Many other videos concerning the training of interpreting students ,
scenarios of real-life experiences showing ethical dilemmas and
solutions, the difference between professional and a bilingual
interpreters (i.e., ad hoc and non-professional interpreters) , how tests in
various community interpreting settings are given and how to practice
different interpreting modes. All the students were given the chance to
comment on certain relevant issues in an open and active class
discussion.
Group-work was encouraged and all the students were asked to
participate in various class activities and assignments. The class was
separated into small groups and students were asked to discuss how
best to interpret the texts presented into the target language. Group
interpretations were compared and students' errors were identified and
discussed. Students were given the chance to provide feedback for their
[140]
[141]
Unfortunately, there was not enough time for practice and development
of the students abilities and skills in such a short course especially it was
the only interpreting course in their academic programme. It was just
when they began to be familiar with some skills and mastered others,
the semester finished. The course, in fact, does not qualify them to be
community interpreters in medical or other fields especially they do not
have any previous interpreting background.
Nurse:
Doctor:
Nurse:
Al tabeeb:
Al Mareedh:
In this interpretation, the student did not render one of the most
important parts of the ST concerning the intensity of the pain on a scale
of one to ten. Such information was so important for the doctor to
exactly diagnose the patient's physical status. The deletions in the
student's interpretation of this example show inaccurate and unfaithful
rendition of the ST message.
When the students were asked first to restate the English text to test
their comprehension of the ST, they made many linguistic mistakes in
grammar, word choice and meaning. Inability to find the right Arabic
equivalent to the English medical terminology in addition to difficulties in
pronouncing the medical terminologies (especially the Latin and the very
long ones) were other problems. Even when they understand the
message in English SL, they were unable to convert it into the Arabic TL
adequately. As a result of low linguistic competence, the students' TL
(whether English or Arabic) texts were poorly interpreted and reflected
problems in the clarity and coherence of the message. The result of
reading comprehension given by one of the students of the following
text (after minimizing the text displayed on Smart board) illustrates
these problems:
(4) Doctor: Damien, I have put the plaster on to keep your bone in
the right position. Its very important that you do not
get the plaster wet, because then it will become soft
and the bone may move. I would also like you to come
back to hospital straight away if your fingertips feel
tingly or numb or if your fingers go pale or blue. This
would suggest that the plaster is too tight and we
would need to split it to relieve the pressure. In order
to avoid swelling within the plaster, I recommend that
you keep your hand elevated so that the swelling can
drain away. Youll need to be in the plaster for six
[145]
Patient:
Doctor:
Mareedh:
Tabeeb:
Patient:
Doctor:
students had this problem as the phoneme /p/ does not exist in Arabic. In
addition, there are examples of misinterpretation of the right tense (e.g.
You have been slightly behind the schedule was rendered into You are
behind the schedule). There were also examples of omission of
important words and parts of sentences that were not rendered into
Arabic and which affected the accuracy, fidelity and clarity of the Arabic
text (e.g., keyhole surgery, your appendices operation and complications).
Further, the repetition of certain words or expressions and the many
pauses during the interpretation process pointed out to the student's
linguistic and cognitive problems.
Another problem concerns inability to form passive constructions. In the
reading comprehension test and after the following text was minimized
(i.e., did not appear on the smart board),
(6) Patient: Yes, he was taken to the special care unit because he
was very small and he was getting cold and needed to
be given oxygen.
The student restated the text as:
Patient: He taken to the special care unit because he very
small and getting cold and
The student did not produce correct passive constructions. It was
noticeable that students did not include verb to be when forming the
passive constructions and the present or past continuous tenses in most
cases. They also had problems in using the correct forms of irregular
verbs and they shifted from the past to the present and had problems in
subject-verb agreement when they interpret sentences. In addition, they
inappropriately chose contextual meanings of words. They rendered
sentences literally following the word order of the SL text. The listening/
reading comprehension tests were so important indeed to identify the
students problems in English as they needed to interpret from Arabic to
English too.
[148]
P:
D:
P:
of breath'. Thus, the student's interpretation did not serve the same
language function of the original expression. This problem is attributed
to lack of awareness of how native speakers of English use their
language to serve certain functions in different contexts.
Another pragmatic problem concerns register. Students used the local
Emirate dialect and colloquial and informal expressions when
interpreting into Arabic and were unaware of the need to preserve the
same level of formality of the original English text in the TL text. For
instance, the students rendered the texts below in a consecutive
interpreting test using local colloquial and informal language (see, the
words and expressions in bold)
(8) Patient: I vomit in the morning starting on and off since
September. I have been tested for pregnancy. I am
nauseous most of the day. I am bipolar and have
anxiety and have a few other medical problems, i.e.
gastritis and haemorrhoids.
as:
Al Mareedh: Ana auraja' kul sabaah fee September. Wa
akhtubirtu lil hamil wa ana wa musadaa'a kul
yaum[7seconds pause]wa asha'uru bi [4
seconds pause and the student asked the teacher
about the meaning of 'bipolar'] qalaq wa aua'ni min
mashakil aukhra [2 seconds pause] .. wa batni
youa'wirni wa aua'ni mi al bwaseer.
And the following text was rendered
(9) Nurse: Good morning, Mr. Adams. How are you doing today?
Patient: Horrible! I can't eat anything! I just feel sick to my
stomach. Take the tray away.
as:
[150]
Al Mareedh:
Al Mareedh:
[153]
Here, I suggest a two year M.A academic and training programme (see,
Appendix A) to prepare professionally certified well-trained HC
interpreters who are able to produce adequate language services in HC
institutions for Al-Ain / UAE labour market. The programme
encompasses eight courses given in the first two semesters; each lasts
for four months (i.e., the programme covers minimally 384 contact
hours, i.e., classroom meetings and corresponds to 24 credit hours i.e., 3
for each course). The contact hours in the practicum course range from
288 to 480 (corresponding to 3 credit hours) depending on the training
institutions requirements, i.e., whether the students training is 3 or 5
days a week (for 6 hours per day) in four months. The third semester in
the programme is devoted to this training. It comprises contextual
knowledge about the settings and techniques for interpreting and
mediation in the medical field. The main objective of the course is to
prepare qualified HCIs who can develop the quality of language services
offered in the HC institutions and improve the quality of the training
situation as well. Finally, the students have to submit an M.A thesis (e.g.,
case study) corresponding to 3 credit hours at the end of the last
semester (i.e., the fourth semester in a period of four months).
The suggested HC Interpreting M.A programme should enable medical
interpreters to act confidently and flexibly in different settings. Students
should be offered courses specific to the medical setting. These include:
Human Anatomy and Physiology, General Psychology, Lifespan
Development and Medical Terminology. Other courses should replace
these in the curriculum depending on the course objectives and the
general course requirements. In addition to language and interpreting
skills courses typical of most programmes, courses like: Introduction to
HC Interpreter Settings, Introduction to Intercultural Communication
and Introduction to Professional Ethics are essential too. The course of
Introduction to Medical Interpreting should include real-life situational
dialogues relevant to various HC settings with the necessary vocabulary
and role-plays related to the topic. Further, modules dealing with mental
diseases and problems should consist of topics as: therapy, domestic
violence, and chemical dependency. The last course in the M.A
programme is the Practicum and interpreting training which should
[158]
CONCLUSION
Overall, this research discusses that the global movement of populations
and the resulting increase in the number of multicultural societies has set
in motion a process of CI professionalization that is being reflected in the
emergence of educational programmes, interpreters associations and
accreditation systems. Interpreting in the medical setting is a complex,
challenging and crucial task, and one that requires intensive preparation
and education.
Trained interpreters need institutional support including continuing
education and quality assurance to perform their work. Health centres
and hospitals must assure quality interpretation services to assure
quality patient care.
CI has not been given its due significance in the UAE. The Ministry of
Health has no interpreting policy and HCIs receive no training and are not
tested. Medical interpreting is performed, in most cases, by ad hoc
interpreters whose competence is unknown, and who have had no
exposure to the ethical issues inherent in this type of interpreting. In
addition, they are not members of any relevant professional
associations. As a result, this has badly affected the quality of language
[159]
[160]
[161]
[162]
[163]
Interpreting in Legal, Health, and Social Service Settings, Geneva Park, Canada,
June 1-4, 1995 (pp. 215-225).Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins.
Roat,C. E. & Okahara, L. (1998). Survey of Twenty-Three Medical Interpreter Training
Programs in the United States and Canada. Seattle, WA: Cross Cultural Health
Care Program, and Oakland, CA: Asian Health Services.
Roberts, Roda P. (2002). Community interpreting: a profession in search of its identity. In E.
Hung, (Ed.). Teaching Translation and Interpreting 4: Building bridges (pp.157175). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Roy, C. (Ed.). (2000). Training Interpreters- past, present and future. In C. Roy (Ed.),
Innovative Practices for Teaching Sign Language Interpreters (pp.1-14).
Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.
Schapira, L., Vargas, E., Hidalgo, R., Brier, M., Sanchez, L., Hobrecker, K., Lynch, T. &
Chabner, B. (2008). Lost in translation: integrating medical interpreters into the
multidisciplinary team. Oncologist ,13, 586-92.
Taibi, M. and Martin, A.(2006). Training Public Service Translators and Interpreters:
Difficulties in an Uncharted Field. In J. Kearns (Ed.). Translation Ireland. Special
Issue: New Vistas in Translator and Interpreter Training, Dublin: Irish Translators
and Interpreters Association, 17, 193-107. Utilization of Interpreters. Retrieved
January 20, 2015, fromhttp://doa.alaska.gov/vccb/pdf/interpreters.pdf
Valero Garces, C. (2003). Responding to communication needs: Current issues and
Challenges in Community Interpreting and Translation in Spain. In L. Brunette, G.
Bastin, I. Hemlin & H. (Eds.). The Critical Link 3 (pp.175-92).
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
----------------------.(2008). Hospital Interpreting Practice in the Classroom and the Workplace.
Inc. Valero Garcs and A. Martin (Eds.), Crossing Boarders in Community
Interpreting:Definitions and Dilemmas (pp.165-85).Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John
Benjamins.
[164]
APPENDIX (A)
A New Suggested curriculum for an M.A Programme in Healthcare
Interpreting
Semester
Contact
Hours
Credit
Hours
48
48
48
48
48
48
48
48
First
Third
Fourth
Master Thesis
288-480
4
months
[165]
Abstract
[166]
INTRODUCTION
The fields of organizational behavior and management have for many
years focused on performance as the primary validation touchstone for
their theories and concepts. In the twenty-first century, however, people
have begun to see a shift in focus away from measures of organizational
and managerial performance, which are often limited and subject to
short term manipulation at the expense of long term sustainability. In
the new perspective, organizations are seen as learning systems, and the
management process is viewed as a process of learning. Learning lies at
the core of the management process when learning is defined holistically
as the basic process of human adaptation. This broad definition
subsumes more specialized managerial processes, such as
entrepreneurial learning (Corbett, 2005, 2007; Poltis, 2005), strategy
formulation (Ramnarayan & Reddy, 1989; Van Der Heijden, 1996; Kolb,
Lublin, Spoth, & Baker, 1986), creativity (Brennan & Dooley, 2005; Boyle,
Geiger & Pinto, 1991;Ogot & Okudan, 2006; Potgieter, 1999), problem
solving and decision making (Donoghue, 1994; Jervis, 1983; Kolb, 1983;
Selby et. al., 2004) and leadership (Robinson, 2005; Kayes, Kayes & Kolb,
2005).
For over thirty-five years research based on experiential learning theory
(Kolb 1984; Kolb and Kolb 2007a & b) has been an advocate for and
contributor to this shift in perspective. The Experiential Learning Theory
draws on the work of prominent 20th century scholars who gave
experience a central role in their theories of human learning and
development notably John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, Jean Piaget, William
James, Carl Jung, Paulo Freire, Carl Rogers and others to develop a
dynamic, holistic model of the process of learning from experience and a
multi-linear model of adult development.
As for ELT, it is a dynamic view of learning based on a learning cycle
driven by the resolution of thedual dialectics of action/reflection and
experience/abstraction. It is a holistic theory that defines learning as the
major process of human adaptation involving the whole person. As such,
ELT is applicable not only in the formal education classroom, but also in
other areas of life. The process of learning from experience is ubiquitous,
present in human activity everywhere all the time. The holistic nature of
[167]
the learning process means that it operates at all levels of human society
from the individual, to the group, to organizations, and to society as a
whole. Research based on ELT has been conducted all around the world
supporting the cross-cultural applicability of the model.
Research on experiential learning in management has used ELT to
describe the management process as a process of learning by managers,
teams, and organizations for problem solving and decision making,
entrepreneurial opportunity seeking and strategy formulation. It has also
had a major influence on the design and conduct of educational
programs in management training and development and formal
management education. After a review of the basic concepts of
experiential learning theory, the cycle of experiential learning, learning
style and learning space will be viewed as a learning process. Research
on the use of ELT to study managerial behavior, teams, and
organizations is also reviewed. Next applications to training and
development and formal management education are described. The final
section includes a summary, evaluation of the theory, and future
directions for research and application of ELT.
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
In the twenty-first century (Friedman, 2006), educators are finding their
classrooms filled with students with different cultural backgrounds.
Many observe that these cultural differences among students have a
significant impact on the learning process. It is believed that individuals
from high uncertainty avoidance cultures can appear cautious and
systematic in their approach to problems while those from low
uncertainty avoidance cultures seem more comfortable with risk and
trial and error problem solving. Are these perceived cultural influences
on the learning/problem solving process empirically verifiable or are
these perceptions just cultural stereotypes? In the unit these questions
are addressed by examining how individuals born and currently living in
different cultures vary in their approaches to learning.
Using the framework for categorizing cultural differences from the
Global Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness (GLOBE) study
(House et al., 2004), cultures are examined by regional culture clusters,
[168]
[175]
Learning Space
on the extent to which they require action vs. reflection, experiencing vs.
thinking thereby emphasizing some stages of the learning cycle over
others.
The ELT learning space concept emphasizes that learning is not one
universal process but a map of learning territories, a frame of reference
within which many different ways of learning can flourish and
interrelate. It is a holistic framework thatorients the many different ways
of learning to one another. The process of experiential learning can be
viewed as a process of locomotion through the learning regions that is
influenced by a persons position in the learning space. Ones position in
the learning space defines their experience and thus defines their
reality.
CONCLUSION
The fields of organizational behavior and management have focused for
many years on performance as the primary validation touchstone for
their theories and concepts. In the twenty-first century, however, people
have begun to see a shift in focus away from measures of organizational
and managerial performance that are often limited and subject to short
term manipulation at the expense of long term sustainability. In the new
perspective organizations are seen as learning systems and the
management process is viewed as a process of learning. Learning lies at
the core of the management process where learning is defined
holistically as the basic process of human adaptation. Research on
experiential learning in management has used ELT to describe the
management process as a process of learning by managers, teams and
organizations for problem solving and decision making, entrepreneurial
opportunity seeking and strategy formulation. It has also had a major
influence on the design and conduct of educational programs in
management training and development and formal management
education. After a review of the basic concepts of experiential learning
theory-the cycle of experiential learning, learning style and learning
space viewed as a learning process. Research on the use of ELT to study
managerial behavior, teams, and organizations was reviewed. Next
applications to training and development and formal management
[178]
[179]
[180]
[181]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
This research paper is greatly influenced by the theoretical ideas of our
respected professor David Livingstone and his research associates.
These esteemed scholars identified the hidden bias in contemporary
"cultural capital" theory and argue that it has been largely developed
within bourgeois dominated academies, and mostly in isolation from
organized working class practices. As a result, the academic portrayal of
working class cultural practices have generally missed the creative
agency and original features of the class culture, or at best conveyed
them in disembodied and fragmented ways. Most recent contributions
to critical cultural theory by Marxist and other scholars have generally
been produced in academic settings without sustained practical
engagement with the organized working classes. Certainly strong social
[183]
METHODOLOGY
Contrary to Dr. David Livingstone and his associates who conducted their
study in Canada, we selected the context of Pakistan in order to verify
and/or acquire greater understanding of and insight into the valuable
perspective which these distinguished scholars have put forth. Besides,
we deliberately selected a different research context as it would
[185]
many. A huge gap is also apparent between the affluent and the working
classes to participate in organized job-related learning activities in form
of seminars and workshops, which are mostly meant to enhance jobrelated competence. Privileged classes have a monopoly over such
company-sponsored opportunities to acquire the latest skills which they
use to further consolidate their already privileged position.
Table: A Comparative Study of Formal and In-formal Learning Initiatives between different
Occupational Classes
Occupational Class
University
Degree
(%)
Corporate executives
Small-business
owners
Self-employed
Managers
Professionals
Service workers
Industrial workers
No of Job-related
seminars/ Workshops
Attended During Last
Year
Informal Learning
(Hrs/week)
88
40
57
43
13
11
39
40
13
100
100
9
3
49
46
19
17
14
16
11
10
[188]
[189]
them? Are these the main reasons for their plight and oppression in the
modern age, or is something else? Such kinds of questions urged the
participant to make a promise to Allah, the Prophet, and to himself to
devote his life to acquiring and disseminating Islamic knowledge to his
fellow Muslims. Hence, subsequent to realizing his religious obligations,
the participant started an informal academic journey based on learning
the correct recitation of the Quran in Arabic with the help of a local
imam. After completing the recitation and memorization of certain
selected parts of the text, the participants quest for further Islamic
knowledge directed him to explore ways of having a precise
understanding of the complex concepts contained in the Quranic verses.
He organized his informal academic activities in two domains. First, he
started to attend a series of erudite lectures of a renowned Islamic
scholar, who would explain the Quranic verses to the general audience
free of cost. In addition, he regularly attended the religious sermons,
lectures, symposiums, Manazras (religious debate), and workshops
arranged at different religious platforms. Second, his passion for learning
guided him to frequently visit public libraries and choose relevant books.
Hence, he read some outstanding volumes of religious knowledge, such
as Tafhim al-Quran , Seerat-ul-Nabi , Sahih Muslim, Sahih Al-Bukhari, and
the Rubayyat of Omar Khayyam, etc.
These classical books contain elevated knowledge and discussions and
are generally taught at the higher-levels in madaris (plural of madrassah
an Islamic school). Therefore, initially the participant had difficulty
understanding these books through independent reading. He had to
seek help from educated friends, the local imam, and religious scholars.
However, his motivation, patience, and hard work eventually helped him
understand these books and also achieve a deep-seated knowledge of
Islam as a religion and the precise application of its teachings in the
personal as well as social life. Hence, at the time of this study, the
participant was actively involved in delivering Friday sermons to share his
religious awareness with the general audience. This part-time
assignment also provided him with certain financial benefits, which he
was saving with a plan to rent a place and start his own academy, where
he could deliver real Islam to the youth. The participant perceived that
[195]
select the most suitable gadgets from a wide range of available options,
which obviously have different designs and colors. The participant
learned the art of aligning his work with customers aesthetic
requirements through extensive discussions with them and through a
method of trial and error, which is laborious and time consuming as,
sometimes, all of the gadgets are to be replaced. Therefore, to conclude,
I argue that while, for some reason, skill formation, which can be workled, informal training-led, or acquired through tacit informal ways (such
as, observing or trial and error) could not find place in Bourdieus
analysis, it is out there as an irrefutable reality in the field of workplace.
Narrative Three
This next participant, a 34-years old skilled factory worker, argues his
workplace training was more beneficial for him as compared to his
formal schooling. His education until secondary school was irrelevant to
his job needs. After being hired, he had to pass through a difficult threemonth probation period, in which different supervisors trained him to
operate the production machinery, properly handle tools, basic repairs,
and maintenance. The participant explained that some supervisors had
tough standards and would never compromise. They required every
recruited worker to follow their procedures precisely. However, he liked
the supervisors who had a more democratic orientation and encouraged
questioning and discussions. This helped him gain an in-depth
understanding of structured learning modules. During the probation
period, the mentors continuously monitored every workers efficiency,
use of proper skills and procedures, and, if they found anything lacking in
a workers professional conduct, they would attach him to a new
supervisor for further training. However, with multiple years of
experience and workplace learning, the participant is now critical of
initial workers training programs and refers to its many loopholes:
Initial workers training programs give sufficient
knowledge about mechanics and procedures to operate
machinery...but they give no insight about workplace
politics, social skills, team-work, and communication
[199]
CONCLUSION
The above narratives illustrate the working-class participants eagerness
for self-directed learning, the striking features of their reflective and
analytic capabilities, active efforts to create knowledge, and social skills
largely achieved through everyday life activities. In addition, informal
adult learning has also provided them large degrees of wisdom to
amicably handle their workplace, social and economic issues. Therefore,
we argue that if we expand the discourses that cultural capital theory
has put forth, and include informal adult learning, it would provide a
better standpoint to understand the creative cultural practices of the
working class agents. The cultural capital is context specific because its
currency can vary across different social fields where the struggle for
power and legitimization exists. Hence, in the context of Pakistan the
working class agents adult learning beyond formal schooling emphasize
an existence of cultural capital which may well be defined as nondominant cultural capital (See: Carter, 2003, p. 86).
We argue that no matter how greatly the cultural capital of the working
classes may be devalued in the job market, its existence must not be
ignored. However, the scholars who contributed to the cultural capital
theory have grossly ignored it in their analysis. Livingstone & Sawchuk
(2000) presented the reason why they did, and argued that these
scholars were mostly preoccupied with delineating the cultural
reproduction of inequality within fixed institutional forms. Thus, their
accounts remained one-dimensional, functionalist descriptions of the
status quo rather than real explanations of it. Bourdieu's and Bernstein's
[201]
[203]
Leont'ev, A.N. (1978). Activity, consciousness, and personality. Englewood Cliffs: PrenticeHall.
Prakesh, M.S. and G. Esteva. (1998). Escaping Education: Living as learning within
grassroots cultures. New York: Peter Lang.
Sawchuk, Peter H. (1999) "Workplace Learning in the Everyday: Structured participation from
an emancipatory perspective". Paper presented at the International Conference on Work and
Learning. Leeds, UK: University of Leeds.
[204]
Abstract
[205]
The present paper briefly deals with some general principles of Second
Language Acquisition (SLA), especially in the areas of the four skills and
assessment, including self-evaluation. Subsequently, it describes both
the student profile of engineering students in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) and
their curricular exposure to English both as a Second Language and as a
language for Academic and Specific Purposes. In this paper, I give two
concrete examples of how this is done in the engineering colleges in
Krishna, Guntur, and Prakasam associated to two universities of A.P.,
namely Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Kakinada (JNTUK)
and Acharya Nagarjuna University (ANU).
High-Frequency Words
These are structure and content words which are often used in written
and spoken communication. For example, the word chair is used more
frequently in an Indian college or engineering company than penguin.
Academic words
Technical Words
These words are very closely related to the topic and subject area of the
texts covering 5% of the running words in a text. However, words that
[207]
Speaking
The teaching and testing of writing and listening can similarly be broken
up into sub-skills. This can be complemented with integrated language
activities and tests (beginning with cloze exercises, for example). A subskills approach reflects the teachers intuitions that particular students
may have particular strengths. The instructor can make out areas of
strength as well as areas where help is needed (Vijaya: 2005).
The overall objective of whole skill-based teaching and evaluation is that
learners learn to steer their own learning process, i.e. that they learn to
learn continuously thoughtout their lives (Crystal, 48; Chamot, 1990;
Cook 1991). Norman summarizes this as follows,
It is strange that we expect students to learn yet seldom
teach them about learning. It is time that we made up
for this lack, time that we developed the applied
disciplines of learning, problem solving and memory. We
need to develop the general principles of how to learn,
how to remember and how to solve problems and then
to develop practical courses, and then to commence the
position of these methods in academic curriculum.
(Crystal, 97)
Consequently, the cognitive approach views learning as an active
process that occurs within the learners and which can be influenced by
the learner. Instead of viewing the outcome of learning as depending
mainly on what the teacher presents, the outcome of learning is
supposed to depend jointly on what information is presented and on
how the learner processes that information. Weinstein and Mayer state,
[209]
Language evaluation helps the instructors to find out the causes that
hinder the all-round development of SL/FL learners. A study by Sharma
revealed that objectives, learning experiences, and evaluation are
interrelated with each other. Systematic evaluation provides learners
with opportunities to express their views, increases creativity, and
develops students language skills. Moreover, this study suggested that
ongoing evaluation can become significant only when teachers and
learners become accountable for their own progress, rather than for
merely abiding by real or imagined formal external benchmarks.
It is how one evaluates that decides whether a student wants to be
evaluated. Although even the most child-centered methods of
evaluation cause anxiety, there is no question that a system of
evaluation must be put in place. It is thus a question of both how and
how much that matters. Learners participate in evaluations more
comfortably when the experience is not always a failure and the
outcomes can be seen as a legitimate and appropriate way toward the
next step in learning. Unfortunately, for most students the immediate
role played by current evaluation methods within the learning process is
not clear.
Continuous evaluation should facilitate and guide teaching by influencing
the learners existing phase of growth or attainment in order to
recognize his/her sector of proximal improvement. Since learning
attainments are results of language opportunities, learners should be
provided with longer time to express themselves in the target language,
as well as with sustained language input which reflects and supports
their growth in output through visuals and media. Teachers must avid
rigidly taught classes where the learners remain inarticulate, or produce
single words, mostly nouns, in response to prompts. Quizzes, tests,
exams and other forms of evaluation ought therefore to give teachers
[210]
District
Krishna
Guntur
Prakasam
38
37
Nil
Total
43
45
21
[214]
The curricula and course materials for English language learning are
currently being revised in in the two universities under study, namely
JNTUK and ANU. Mainly, the focus of these revisions is to enable the
students to:
Extend the vocabulary of the students in light of their future needs
Understand verbal English during lectures
Understand written English as used in the prescribed textbooks.
Use the jargon, idioms, and phrases employed in the technical
literature
Know the meaning of new words by analyzing their structure and
context
Correctly spell difficult words
Create grammatically accurate sentences
Comprehend specialized lectures in technical subjects
Practice spoken communication suited to their professional
situations, such as group discussions, board meetings, seminars, and
conferences (Kumar Raj, 89-90).
As for the curricular contents, the focus is mainly on improving the four
skills of language use in situations akin to their own lived experience in
college and in the workplace.
English is prescribed for the I B. Tech students only till the 2009-2010
batches. From 2010-2011 academic batches, English is prescribed for all
five semesters. The reason is till then the first B. Tech academic plan has
been yearly pattern. The JNTUK has revised the academic pattern for the
I B. Tech students by introducing Semesters system.
The course material for English consists of two textbooks for the four
semesters and communication practice in the fifth semester. The books
incorporates vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing exercises as a
special focus with listening and speaking integrated into the exercises in
the texts. The activities in the textbook show a strong leaning to an
interactive methodology.
[215]
Vocabulary
Sentence writing
Grammar
Reading
Reading comprehension
Writing
Letter writing,
argumentation
Situational dialogues
emails,
essays
&
ANU
Attendance 5M
Attendance 5M
Externals Exam 75
Externals Exam 75
Lab manuals are prescribed for the Engineering students to help them to
practice listening, speaking, and reading skills. The practical sessions are
introduced to remedy the two often neglected area of language skills,
namely listening and speaking. They build the confidence of the students
to use English, and help them to loosen up when the they have to speak.
The students learn the rules of pronunciation and practice different
sounds of the English language through the study of sounds, or
[217]
The practical sessions in the English lab incorporate the principles of the
communicative approach. The students learn a lot by practicing several
oral activities and thereby enhance their speaking skills. The activities are
task based and skill oriented. A range of language functions of particular
relevance to Engineering and Technology are exemplified in the manuals
for reading and listening.
Listening practice is provided in the laboratory wherein the students fill
in spaces while listening to the conversations or lectures played on the
CDs. The learners are somewhere between the beginner and the
intermediate stage. The functional approach is found in the manuals
prescribed by both the two universities under study.
The following are the main topics and activities covered in the language
lab.
Listening
Phonetics, dialogues
Speaking
Reading
Writing
Records,
exam
practice,
observation books, records
resumes,
FINAL REMARKS
Therefore, a review of the ELT situation in the Engineering colleges of
Andhra Pradesh is done to understand the conditions under which the
English teachers and the students function. English is used as the
medium of instruction. Factors like vernacular background, poor
previous training in the use of English, the age of the students and their
proficiency levels influence the vocabulary standards of the engineering
students. The curriculum of the B. Tech students in the colleges of the
two universities under study was looked into. It is evident that ample
importance is laid on the acquisition of vocabulary for the students
through their syllabus and on students real-life needs, both in college
and in their future workplace.
[219]
References
Acharya Nagarjuna University-History. Web. 4 June, 2009.
<http://www.nagarjunauniversity.ac.in/aboutus.asp>
Chamot, Anna Uhl (1990). Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Cohen, A.D. (1990). Language Learning: Insights for Learners, Teachers and Researchers.
New York: Newbury House.
Cook, Vivian (1991). Universal Grammar and Second Language Acquisition. New York:
Chapman and Hall Inc.
Crystal, David (ed) (1997). Cambridge Encyclopedia of Second Language Education. United
Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Dupay, B. and Krashen, S. (1993). Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition. Rowley: Newbury
House.
Ewer, J.R & E. Hughes-Davis (1972). Further Notes on Developing an English Programme
for Students of Science and Technology. English Language Teaching Journal, 26 (3).
JNTUK. Course Structure- R10 B.Tech. 2011. Web. 19 September, 2011.
<www.jntu.edu.in>
Kumar Raj, G. (2007). Evolving Strategies for Teaching Basic Vocabulary in L2 through
Meaningful Input: An Ethnographic Study with First Generation Learners. An M. Phil Thesis.
EFLU, Hyderabad.
Mayer, R. (1998). Learning Strategies: An overview. In Weinstein, C., E. Goetz, & P.
Alexander (Eds.), Learning and Study Strategies: Issues in Assessment, Instruction, and
Evaluation. New York: Academic Press.
Nation, I. S. P. (2009). How Large a Vocabulary is Needed for Reading and Listening? The
Canadian Modern Language Review, 63(1), (2006): 59-82. Web. 22 June. <
http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.63.1.59>
Norman, D.A. (1980). Cognitive Engineering and Education. In M.C. Witrock (Ed). Handbook
of Research on Teaching. New York: McMillan Publications.
Vijaya K.R. (2010). A Micro- Case Study of Vocabulary Acquisition among First Year
Engineering Students. In Language in India. Strength for Today and bright Hope for
Tomorrow Volume 10: 10 October. ISSN 1930-2940.n.d.
Yoshida,M. (1978). Acquisition of English Vocabulary by a Japanese Speaking Child. In
E.M. Hatch (ed). Second Language Acquisition. Rowley, M A: New Bury House.
[220]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Since the Brundtland Commissions report on the global environment
and development in 1987, the term sustainable development has
become commonplace among policy makers (Redclift, 2005). An
educational curriculum that is designed to address the issue of
sustainable development holds a great promise in creating awareness
amongst the populace, as well as fostering change towards sustainable
living.
Sustainable development can be said to be solving todays problems
without simultaneously creating future ones. Without doubt, the need to
address the problem of climate change has become an issue of great
importance to the nations of the Earth. Moreover whether or not
humans are directly the cause of global warming has been long debated
in congresses around the world. Sustainable development is made up of
three intersected entities, namely environment, society and the
economy. Although the politicl powers give greater Importance to the
economy than to the environment or the human factor, every economy
depends on one or more societies and their physical environment. Most,
if not all, human our activities are conducted on this planet. The Earth
does not depend on us; we depend on the Earth. This is why it is of
paramount importance that we all realize that our actions (understood
as part of a lifestyle) have an impact on the environment (Giddings,
Hopwood, & OBrien, 2002). Eco-friendly lifestyles are cardinal when it
comes to sustainable consumption. To this end, the well-informed
Europeans have made sustainable consumption a major attribute of their
lifestyle (Abeliotis, Koniari, & Sardianou, 2010). Black & Cherrier (2010)
examined anti-consumption practices, motivations and values within
attempts to live a more sustainable lifestyle and highlighted that this
perspective moves sustainable consumption away from a rational
information processing and environmentally motivated choice to
incorporate various subjective and individualistic needs and values.
Hence, the challenge for sustainable marketers is to position sustainable
[222]
METHODOLOGY
This research work followed the quantitative research methodology
thus, employing the positivism approach. Therefore correlational
research methodology was utilized in an attempt to answer the research
questions that form the basis of this work, and questionnaires were used
to obtain logical results. At different times other researchers also help in
carrying out this work. They are Hansol Lee, Mimi Fuanya, Charles
Solomon, Orlando Russoand Elvis Ebotson.
This research is about students in Leuven between 18 and 35 years.
Leuven is a town in Belgium popularly known as student city. The
principal purpose of undertaking this research work is to investigate the
impact of education on the life style of students in Belgium. Leuven was
selected as our sample site because Leuven is the home of KU Leuven,
the oldest Catholic university still in existence in the world, and the
largest university in Belgium. In Leuven are also a number of Vocational
Universities, such as the KH Leuven, and Group T, etc. (KUL
Internationalisation.pdf, n.d.). According to data available at the K U
Leuven website, Leuven has about 35,000 students in tertiary
institutions (Living, studying and working in Leuven KU Leuven,
[224]
n.d.). This research involves a two time survey conducted in 2011 and 831
post secondary school students took part in this survey.
In view of the fundamental roles which education for sustainable
development plays on lifestyle of young people in todays modern world,
data were collected from a number of key sources. The KU Leuven
university libraries located in Belgium, books, internet sources, journal
articles, and research reports.
The needed primary data was collected by means of questionnaires and
this task was carried out by way of survey. Thus, collecting information
via a controlled and structural questionnaire. However, the technic of
measuring by questions was employed. The focus of these questions
was on major consumption areas with great impacts on environments
and societies. These areas are mobility, food and housekeeping. Adapted
questions for this questionnaire were designed to be short, simple, clear
and directly related to our research objectives. Questions were properly
scrutinized for the purpose of social acceptability. All questions were
logical, neutral and one-dimensional (Howitt & Cramer, 2011). Following a
quantitative tradition, the closed question type were implemented.
Among the employed closed question types are the dichotomous
questions, multi choice questions, rating scales questions and ordering
questions (Toates, 2011, pp. 307 395)
In this research project we studied behaviour in a naturalistic setting.
Thus our reason for adapting the correlational research method is
because in studying the lifestyle of students in Leuven, it is not possible
to control all nuisance factors. Proportional stratified sampling
mechanism were adapted in carrying out this survey because it
minimizes the variability between the samples that could be selected
and thus maximizes efficiency (Toates, 2011, pp. 232236).
In carrying out this research project, efforts were made to adopt a
measurement type that best fits the research question. The first step
towards executing this research was to draft our research questions.
Questions on eco-friendly lifestyle were drafted with the aid of relevant
literatures and activities of United Nations Agencies such as UNDP,
UNESCO, UNEP and UNIDO. In the second step, these formulated
questions were edited to suit our target group. The third step involved
[225]
RESULTS
The results generated by our research are is summarized in the table
below.
Question
Answers
Result
You are
Female
Male
No answer
Under 18
18 23
24 29
30 35
Above 35
No answer
Yes
No
No answer
Yes
No
No answer
Below 1 year
1 - 3 years
4 - 5 years
Above 5 years
47.70%
51.88%
0.42%
1.26%
55.65%
28.03%
7.95%
6.69%
0.42%
77.82%
21.76%
0.42%
73.22%
26.36%
0.42%
12.55%
4.60%
1.26%
81.17%
A rural area
A village
A small town
A medium size town
A city
3.77%
7.11%
30.96%
31.38%
17.15%
[226]
You are...
10
A big city
A mega city
High school student
High school graduate
Undergraduate
Graduate
Post graduate
others
No answer
Business and
Economics
Development studies
Education
Engineering /
Technology
Environment /
Ecology
Health / medicines
History / Geography
Information and
Communication
Law 6.28%;
Management
Mathematics /
Statistics
Philosophy / literature
Physics / Chemistry /
Biology
Political science / Int.
relations
Sociology/Anthropolog
y/cultural studies
Urban / rural planning
Others
No answer
I am a student
I have a job
I am unemployed
Other
No answer
Alone
Parents
Grand-parents
Brothers and sisters
Other members of my
family
Friends
Partners / wife or
[227]
8.79%
0.42%
15.48%
8.37%
25.10%
28.03%
17.15%
5.44%
0.42%
17.99%
2.51%
30.54%
9.21%
1.26%
5.02%
0.42%
3.35%
2.09%
0.42%
7.53%
2.09%
4.18%
4.18%
0.84%
1.67%
0.42%
73.22%
21.76%
2.09%
2.51
0.42
25.10%
32.22%
1.26%
1.26%
3.77%
14.64%
21.34%
11
12
13
14
15
16
husband
No answer
House rent, energy
and water
Food and drink
Health, Education
Transport
Communication and
leisure
0.42%
63.03%
19.33%
8.40%
1.26%
7.98%
Reduce or Eradicate
poverty
Combat crime, prevent
conflicts
Fight environmental
degradation &
pollution
Improve economic
condition
Improve social
services
Spread democracy
and freedom
Very satisfied
Satisfied
fairly satisfied
Not satisfied
I don't know
Local supermarket
Open market
Mega Supermarket
Sustainable shops
African/Asian/other
foreign shops
Quality
Quantity
Origin
Tradition/culture
Habit
32.35%
Going to the
supermarket
Buying fresh
vegetables
Going to restaurants
Buying drinks
Buying meat
Processed food
32.05%
[228]
10.08%
17.65%
10.50%
18.07%
11.34%
34.19%
47.44%
16.67%
0.85%
0.85%
59.83%
5.13%
32.05%
1.71%
1.28%
58.55%
17.09%
5.13%
3.85%
15.38%
21.79%
28.63%
8.97%
4.70%
3.85%
17
18
19
20
21
22
Car
Bus
Subway (train, metro,
etc.)
Bike
Air
On foot
By sea
Yes
No
22.22%
15.38%
10.26%
Better
Same
Worse
58.97%
24.36%
16.67%
Yes
No
31.90%
68.10%
Yes
No
76.29%
23.71%
Protecting our
biodiversity
Afforestation
Green energy
Recycling of waste
Economic usage of
resources
27.20%
25.21%
2.14%
24.36%
0.43%
20.09%
79.91%
22.18%
62.34%
69.04%
51.05%
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
Comprising of 47.70% female and 51.88% male, the participants were to a
greater extent balanced and free of gender related biases and habits.
Participants from vast disciplines where involved in this survey.The
target group was actually captured as 72% of the participants are
students and 91.63 of them fall within the age range 18-35 years old.
Most of these students are Belgian (78%), and 82.43% of them havelived
in Belgium for more than 4 years.59% of these students are actually
dependent and lived with their parents. Over 95% of them are to a
[229]
[231]
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2001). Climate change 2001: the scientific
basis: contribution of Working Group I to the third assessment report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (J. T. Houghton, Ed.). Cambridge; New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change. (2007). Climate change 2007: The physical
science basis. Agenda, 6(07), 333.
KUL Internationalisation.pdf. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.kuleuven.be/international/internationalisation.pdf
Living, studying and working in Leuven KU Leuven. (n.d.). Retrieved December 27, 2014,
from http://www.kuleuven.be/english/living
Redclift, M. (2005). Sustainable development (1987-2005): an oxymoron comes of age.
Sustainable Development, 13(4), 212227. doi:10.1002/sd.281
Smit, B., & Pilifosova, O. (2003). Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable
development and equity. Sustainable Development, 8(9), 9.
Toates, F. M. (2011). Biological psychology (3rd ed.). Harlow, Essex; New York: Prentice
Hall/Pearson.
[232]
Abstract
This article looks into the issues of entrepreneurship,
entrepreneurship education, and the perception thereof among
post-foundation students at Al Musanna College of Technology in
the Sultanate of Oman.
[233]
INTRODUCTION
When societies or their leaders single out something as being
important, they often seek to engraft it into the curriculum. This
phenomenon is not at all strange since schools, colleges and universities
are ancillary institutions. They are not ends in themselves, but serve the
interests of other social agents and considerations. This belongs to the
socializing function of formal education. This is how anti-racist
upbringing, AIDS awareness, fluency in the national or regional
language, orthodox religious convictions, and many other items become
curricular and extra-curricular components. Right now, Entrepreneurship
Education, or EE, is the buzz concept that must be given a place and a
role in the schooling landscape (e.g. European Commission, 2006).
However, it is not clear yet what EE really entails or what it is meant to
bring about. In this paper, I shall briefly touch upon the issue of
entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial intention, and EE, and also present my
findings regarding the perception of Entrepreneurial Education among
some Omani students at the Al-Musanna College of Technology (ACT).
ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION
Weber (2012) pointed out that the research conducted in the area of
entrepreneurship has concentrated mainly on three of its dimensions. It
has tried to come up with a definition of the entrepreneur this is the
trait approach. It has also sought to elucidate the contextual factors that
make entrepreneurs this is the demographic-sociological approach.
Finally, it has recently attempted to discover why people choose to
become entrepreneurs this is the behavioral approach. In this third
approach, the entrepreneurial intention, as a research topic, features
rather prominently.
According to a number of researchers, entrepreneurial intention is a
better predictor of which students might or will become entrepreneurs
than purely psychological traits (Weber, 2012; Ajzen, 1991; Ajzen, 1991;
Fishbein and Ajzen, 2010). However, intention is not meant here as a
purely inner process involving exclusively personal variables. As Ajzen
and Fishbein pointed out, intentions involve perceptions which go
beyond the self and link it to the social realm, such as the degree of
desirability inherent in becoming an entrepreneur and the social norms
that either reward or hinder entrepreneurial activity. For example, in a
society where female entrepreneurs are considered an undesirable
(Western) phenomenon and their access to the business sector is barred
[238]
or made difficult by social and legal norms, women will be less inclined to
proactively wish to become entrepreneurs. Intention is more than a
mere wish, let alone wishful thinking. It cashes in on the assets at hand
and sets in motion the necessary mechanisms to realize ones objectives.
Therefore, intention will be understood here from a behavioral
viewpoint as the proactive resolve to pave the way to reach a desired
destination or goal. In other words, the entrepreneurial intention does
not include only the wish to become an entrepreneur, but it also implies
attempting to get there. The entrepreneurial intention thus understood
may be conditioned by personal traits or demographic and social
variables, but it requires an extra driving force or push/pull factor (see
figure below) that other people with the same traits and in similar
settings will not have.
[241]
The above passage does two things. On the one hand, it speaks of EE as
education for entrepreneurship. On the other, it expands the scope of
the adjective entrepreneurial to encompass a lifestyle rather than
business ventures. In addition, it appears that even though education is
not the only requirement for a successful business path (e.g. venture
capital is an equally important variable), Veciana has argued (2002) that
new enterprises set up by people with low levels of education fail in
almost 80% of the cases, while graduate startups account for only 20% of
the failures. This might be because, as the Consortium for
Entrepreneurship Education argues (CEE, s.d.), EE improves and upgrades
students performance and it enhances their economic competitiveness.
The recalibration of what EE is meant to be and do is already apparent in
European documents. In fact, the definition of EE adopted by the
European Union, stresses that this concept is much wider than just
training on how to start a business. Entrepreneurship is firstly a
mindset. As attitudes take shape at an early age, school education can
greatly contribute to fostering entrepreneurial mindsets, starting from
primary school to the University level (Raposo & Do Paco, 2011).
[243]
While designing my own survey, I took into account not only Varghese
Thresi and Hamadis study, but also a similar research project conducted
by Postigo & Tamborini (2002). The latter identified variables related to
demographic characteristics, entrepreneurial attitude and motivation,
perceptions of the process of business creation and entrepreneurs, and
perceptions of environmental influences. For my own project, I designed
25 questions covering the same aspects. However, since the research is
still ongoing, I shall concentrate here only on the students perceptions
of the (a) entrepreneurial intention among Omanis, (b) their own
intention to (ever) set up a business, (c) Entrepreneurial Education, and
(d) their view of General English Program and ESP in relation to
Entrepreneurship Education.
(a) Students perception of entrepreneurial intention among Omanis
The main question was why Omanis start new businesses. According to
my respondents, the pursuit of money is the main reason why Omanis
set up businesses: money in general (17%), money to supplement a first
income (14.5%), and money to prepare the way for a future without
governmental subsidies and loans (12.7%). This 44.2% can be expanded
with other money-related factors. The fear of what might happen to the
[245]
current oil and gas economy in the future would thus represent the main
reason behind 9.2% of new businesses. In addition, according to the
respondents, 9.7% of the startups would be young men wishing to
generate the necessary resources to get married, and 6.7% would be
middle-aged and older Omanis wanting to complement their pensions.
All those money-based reasons would account, in the eyes of my
respondents, for 69.8% of the new businesses set up by Omanis.
The remaining 30.2% would have to do with less materialistic reasons,
namely the pursuit of fame or status (10.8%), the wish to create jobs for
unemployed Omanis (10.3%), and the quest for independence because
they dislike working for a boss (6.7%) or because they are women
seeking for independence from their husbands (2.4%).
(b) Entrepreneurial intention among the respondents
One of the mistakes that educators can make is to think that students
have never thought about setting up a business. At ACT, 17.14% of my
respondents already possess a business of their own (albeit in many
cases, this refers to something small, like having a school bus), and 5.71%
of them share a business with a partner. In other words, 22.85% of the
respondents are already involved in a business of their own.
When asked whether they would like to set up a first or second business
in the future, 90% of the respondents said Yes.
35% Yes, if they found a partner
27% Yes, if they found an investor
Yes, if their family needed more
money
Yes, if their family told them that
10%
they are good in business
18%
Personal Factors:
20.0%
17.4%
7.8%
7.8%
4.0%
2.0%
59.0%
Contextual Factors:
9.7%
7.8%
7.7%
5.9%
5.9%
4.0%
41.0%
82.35%
Contextual Factors:
23.7%
Lack of capital
7.21%
21.6%
Lack of entrepreneurial
knowledge and skills
Lack of patience
5.15%
13.4%
9.27%
3.10%
8.24%
Lack of entrepreneurial
spirit
Lack or loss of motivation
6.14%
15.45%
[247]
Both tables show that the respondents consider personal factors to play
an important role in deciding for or against setting up businesses.
Moreover, they seem to attribute a good deal of importance to domainspecific knowledge and skills, and to their impact on the intention to
start up businesses and on ones chances of success.
(c) Entrepreneurship Education
coordinating since the start of the 2014-2015 academic year had taught
them many things.
A small group (8.8%) answered that they had not been taught much.
However, the great majority (91.2%) expressed the view that the courses
had been rich in content:
31.25
27.08
16.40
2.36
22.91
FINAL OBSERVATIONS
There is a general consensus in the literature about some of the basic
characteristics of entrepreneurs. However, the same cannot be said
about entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and, especially,
Entrepreneurship Education (EE).
At the same time, there is little doubt that the mechanisms of modern
markets act as an innovation arms race that forces entrepreneurship
(Baumol, 2005, p. 7). Therefore, I advocate a broad(er) vision of EE, more
in terms of entrepreneurial mindset than of spectacular business
startups. After all, it would be unrealistic to expect that most if not
all ACT students who take the mandatory course in Entrepreneurship
become Omani versions of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Anita Roddick.
Furthermore, in light of the survey which I conducted for this paper, I
would like to suggest that part-time entrepreneurship be given more
importance in Oman (especially in EE) than it has received in the
international literature on several accounts. First, many of our students
have already set up small businesses, which they run next to their
studies. Second, judging by our students perceptions (and my own
observations), a great many Omanis do not consider a career in business
as an exclusive life path. They aspire both to a job preferably in one of
the ministries, the police, or the armed forces and to their own
business(es) on the side.
[249]
In addition, it has transpired from the survey that ACT students seem to
attach great significance to the role played by personal factors (e.g.
entrepreneurial and business knowledge and skills) in the process
whereby Omanis decide for or against setting up businesses, and why
some of their businesses eventually collapse.
Finally, I would like to plead for a Falaj social entrepreneurship model
for Oman. In the past, Omanis preserved and shared their water
resources by means of canals, or aflaj. Now, they could similarly view the
revenues from the countrys oil and gas as the water which must be
channeled and shared so that everyone can laboriously till the ground of
their own opportunities and benefit from their own enterprises. In this
context, Omani high schools and colleges would do well to promote
types of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial mindsets that are not
exclusively intent on making profit, but also on creating social value and
protecting the environment. This could counter the current materialism
that is so noticeable among the younger generations of nationals. Both
male and female (social) entrepreneurs could be welcomed in high
schools and colleges as guest speakers to motivate students to expect
more of themselves.
In addition, although the oil crisis has presented Omanis with a preview
of the problems that they may or will face in the future, if their young
generations develop entrepreneurial mindsets, they will be equipped to
identify resources where others only see problems. To do that, a large
number of (young) Omanis will have to stop behaving as passive
consumers of endless governmental aid schemes and start producing
value. A newly recalibrated Entrepreneurship Education curriculum, also
within English programs, could encourage them to do just that.
References
Auken, H. V. (2013). Influence of a culture-based entrepreneurship program on student
interest in business ownership. In International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal,
9(2), 261272.
Chen, Su-Chang; Hsiao, Hsi-Chi et al. (2013). Can the entrepreneurship course improve the
entrepreneurial intentions of students? In International Entrepreneurship and Management
Journal. Published online on December 21, 2013. DOI 10.1007/s11365-013-0293-0
Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education [CEE] (s.d.). Entrepreneurship everywhere: The
Case for Entrepreneurship Education. Online: http://entre-ed.org/_entre/whitepaperfinal.pdf.
[250]
[251]
Sophia, Maria (Sept. 8, 2013). Omans Entrepreneur Ecosystem Needs Strong Government
Push. In Gulf Business. Online: http://gulfbusiness.com/2013/09/omans-entrepreneurecosystem-needs-strong-government-push/#.VKeI1Mk09rQ.
Souitaris, V., Zerbinati, S., & Al-Laham, A. (2007). Do entrepreneurship programmes raise
entrepreneurial intention of science and engineering students? The effect of learning,
inspiration and resources. Journal of Business Venturing, 22, 566591.
Ussman, A. & Postigo, S. (2000). O Papel da Universidade no Fomento da Funao
Empresarial. Anais Universitarios. Ciencias Sociais e Humanas. 1990-2000 Yearbook
Special Issue.
Veciana, J. M. (2002). Comments on the results of a comparative study on entrepreneurship
between East Asia and Latin America., in Kantis, H. Ishida, M & Komori, M. 2002.
Entrepreneurship in emerging economies: The Creation and Development of New Firms in
Latin America and East Asia. Inter-American Development Bank, Department of Sustainable
Development, Micro, Small and Medium Business Division.
Weber, Susanne & Funke, Sabine (2014). A research- and evidence-based
entrepreneurship education program at Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU), Munich. In S.
Weber et al., (eds.), Becoming an entrepreneur, pp. 177195. sense publishers.
[252]
INTRODUCTION TO E-LEARNING
E-Learning can be defined as learning facilitated and supported through
the use of information and communication technology. It can cover a
spectrum of activities from the use of technology to support learning as
a part of a blended approach to learning that is entirely delivered online.
The term E-Learning therefore essentially covers the use of computers
and technology as a vehicle for knowledge exchange within teaching
and learning. We need to look at the various dimensions of E-Learning to
determine how far these can find a place in our academic programs.
INTEGRATED E-LEARNING
New technologies are being developed and are becoming increasingly
popular in work settings, daily life and in education, particularly
information and communication technology in the sense of internet,
applications such as World Wide Web, e-mail, teleconferencing,
groupware for collaborative learning and learning management systems
are gaining ground in the field of higher education. First, integrated elearning always has to take pedagogical, technical and organizational
aspects into account in order to be successful. Second, it is critical to
take a systems design perspective on education. It cannot simply
replace other types of learning but should be seen as an integral part of
the larger educational system. Third, integrated e-learning should always
be student-centred in order to deal with a diverse, widely distributed set
of learners who need to learn and transfer complex skills to an
increasingly varied set of real-world contexts and settings.
[253]
FORMS OF E-LEARNING
It provides opportunities for trainers to deliver trainer materials and
sessions and for participants to have access to them, as well as to attend
course sessions. The main objective of the virtual classroom is to
improve access by allowing remote participation and to increase
collaborative mode of learning.
E-Learning: Synchronous
[254]
Asynchronous
It takes place via the web and may include text, graphics, animation,
audio, video, e-mail and testing.
M-Learning
COURSE MATERIALS
The materials like books, articles, publications, documents and online
libraries as well as multimedia are provided by the tutor. The materials
are provided electronically and can be seen online. E-libraries are
prominent for universities, colleges, schools companies and
organizations.
Video Conferencing
It helps students to create verbal communication. Some courses have
been converted to podcasts in order to make course more accessible.
[255]
FINAL EXAM
It is normally done in a form of final test project, to complete writing an
essay after reading texts or other methods.
IMPLICATIONS OF E-LEARNING
It is specifically aimed at anyone who believes that they are best at
learning on their own, at their own pace, away from a classroom
environment. E-Learning has innovative training technologies, flexible
delivery methods, engaging multimedia and live audio.
Teachers not living to strive for new ways of doing things should not
venture into online learning. To get rid of the monotony of a traditional
classroom with the excitement of new medium can prove alluring. It
needs the skills of organization, time management and a lot of selfmotivation.
they answered individual test questions and how much time they spent
in each module.
CDROM
There are many advantages of using CD ROM. It gives faster graphics
than on the web. It has good audio and video than on the web. Video can
be seen in larger windows than web-based video. CDROM has reduced
costs and it can be used by many learners and the media is cheap to
replicate.
POWERPOINT
Students can use PowerPoint for rapid learning and search the surface of
the tools available in PowerPoint; they can see its more adequate for
building great e-learning. It helps a blend of speed, ease-of-use and cost
savings.
PowerPoint is so widely used in most organizations since it is accessible
and easy to use. It is possible to convert subject matter content into an
effective e-learning course. Some people have wrong notion and
confused about using PowerPoint for e-learning. Professional designer
can use PowerPoint combined with a rapid learning tool to build enticing
and effective e-learning courses.
[257]
References
Training Delivery Methods
http://www.reference for business.com/management/Tr-Z/Training-Delivery-Methods.html
Distance Learners are happy with a mixture of old and new [online]
http://education.guardian.co.uk/tefl/story/0,5500,1150768.00.html
Macleod Donald (13/04/04) The Online Revolution Mark II [online]
http://education.co.uk/egweek/story/0.5500,1190372,00.html
Kruse, Kevin, Web For Learning
www.e-learningguru.com/articles/art 1-9.html
[258]