Addressing the Challenges of Cross-Cultural Understanding through Service Learning in Higher Education: The Oman Experience

Abstract

Globally, teachers need to expand their knowledge of other peoples and cultures. As a case in point, Oman is challenged by a problem of separation between national and expatriate populations. Expatriate students attend either international or expatriate community schools, whereas Omani children can only attend government schools or Arabic/English private schools. The teacher education program at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in Oman was able to implement a service learning project that helped students cross cultural boundaries while improving their own English language skills. Using a mixed-method approach in data analysis, this study discusses the experiences of thirty EFL student teachers involved in the experiment. Expatriate teachers and principals had expressed a need for their students to learn more about Omani culture. In response, student teachers prepared 45 cultural kits that included written reports, presentations and artefacts, which they presented to classes. Not only did expatriate teachers and K-12 students learn about Omani culture, but more importantly, student teachers developed new cultural awareness about the expatriate populations with whom they seldom have an opportunity to interact or exchange ideas and cultural values. The ‘ELT [English Language Training] Multicultural Awareness Transaction Model’ has application potential not only in teacher education, but also in EFL or ESL classes where cultural exchange is important.

Integrating Community Service Learning into University Curriculum: Perspectives from EFL Teachers and Students

“…(p. 112). Barwani et al (2010) confirm that service implies volunteering, community action, citizenship, and so on, while learning refers to the process of acquiring knowledge and skills, questioning, reasoning, thinking, reflecting, and evaluating the information gathered. In the field of L2 learning, CSL has received growing attention from administrators and language educators because it provides language learners with opportunities to contextualize the target language and thus facilitates authentic language use (Guariento & Morley, 2001).…”

“…Community members, as a recipient, are considered as the most important community partner in any service learning project (Bowie & Cassim, 2016). Barwani et al (2010) state that higher education institutions have a clear obligation to take account of society's needs, but many people feel that it is not necessary to require service-learning for students. Another challenge involves the belief that ethics and social matters can be taught within the classroom setting and managed by the university.…”

“…In the field of teaching practice, authentic knowledge and experience is vital for student teachers to deal with, and CSL classes of English are supposed to provide the students with many aspects of a real language classroom for their teaching practice (Bowie & Cassim, 2016). Opportunities to participate in CSL are available at colleges and universities in America (Liu et al, 2009), Australia (Chambers & Lavery, 2012), Myanmar, Oman, Taiwan and other countries in the world (Guo, 2013; Barwani et al, 2010;Smolen et al, 2013).…”

Learning through Serving: Service Learning as an Alternative Practicum Platform for Pre-service EFL Teachers

“…Other Sovietinfluenced societies may perceive service learning as charity emanating from superiority, or as distrustful since it comes from strangers [10]. Still, the current literature shows, in some non-Western countries, service learning gaining popularity as a strategy to strengthen and enrich the traditional curriculum in EFL teaching and learning [14], [1], [11], [17]. For example, research conducted in Sultanate of Oman, has revealed that service learning was an effective and valued method in EFL teaching.…”

“…For example, research conducted in Sultanate of Oman, has revealed that service learning was an effective and valued method in EFL teaching. It also had a great impact on student involvement in societal engagement [1]. Another study done by Sun and Fang who employed Service learning in EFL classroom found that the project enhanced EFL students' public speaking-related skills (e.g., idea and content development, and pronunciation), built their confidence in speaking English, and allowed them to develop their own learning process and strategies [13].…”