Contemporary research in education has placed the growing emphasis on general education principles and standards intended for empowering students and developing them as personalities with the related discussions set in different socio-cultural and geographical contexts. This paper explores how principles and standards of general education are integrated and implemented to support students’ development and enhancement of their skills in the context of the foundation program at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. In more detail, utilizing personal views and perceptions of the programs’ administrators (department heads, program coordinators and course leaders) involved in constructing and offering the English language foundation program courses, this paper explores how principles and standards of general education are integrated and implemented to support students’ development and academic growth. A qualitative research paradigm is used to provide detailed descriptions, discuss experiences, achievements, challenges, and inform future decisions. The results demonstrate that the English language foundation program courses have good potential for building solid basis for students’ skills and knowledge development, however, more efforts that include revisions in curriculum and teaching practices are required to develop students into educated, responsible and productive citizens for their own advantage and the benefit of the community.
This paper explores the concept of personal social responsibility from the teachers’ self-perceived perspective of its occurrence and understanding in the context of English language teaching and learning. It seeks to highlight the variety of constituents, qualities, and characteristics that shape it. Mixed methods research methodology is used for the analysis and interpretation of personal social responsibility taking into account teachers’ descriptions of its constituents’ level of importance, attitudinal characteristics to the chosen profession, qualities that characterize individual’s behavior towards other people, community and society, and how teaching personal social responsibility might have an impact on students’ learning and development. The participants of the study are English language educators representing the multicultural teaching community in the tertiary education institutions in the Sultanate of Oman. The findings of the study show that the concept of personal social responsibility is perceived as significantly important and meaningful; however, it yields considering approaches in the way it is provided, communicated, and taught in the English language courses. It is expected that the findings of this study may give proper guidance in forming future decisions about personal social responsibility teaching to empower students and enhance their academic and professional success.
This paper addresses the concept of the foundation program English language learner profile, its meaning and utility, and explores contextual variables that might have caused success or failure of the students enrolled in the foundation English language courses in tertiary education institutions in Oman. In more detail, it reports on the findings of the study that focuses on foundation English language program context-specific internal and external factors to highlight a variety of learner profile attributes shaping students’ personality and equip them with 21st century skills. A bilingual questionnaire in English and Arabic is used to provide detailed descriptions of the leaner profile, discuss experiences, achievements and challenges of the students of the foundation program exit level English language courses at the Centre for Preparatory Studies at Sultan Qaboos University. The results demonstrate that the analysis of the learner profile attributes can serve as a guide for informing future decisions about the foundation program English language curriculum design and implementation to enhance students’ academic success.
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