Faisal Al-Maamari

Characteristics of a Good EFL Teacher: Omani EFL Teacher and Student Perspectives

Researchers have long been interested in the characteristics associated with “good” teaching. However, most relevant studies have been conducted in Western contexts. As cultural background has a strong influence on the way good teaching is perceived, it was considered important to explore this issue in the Arab Gulf. The current study sought to compare Omani school students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the characteristics of good English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in the Omani context. To achieve this, 171 Omani students and 233 English teachers responded to a seven-category, 68-item questionnaire utilizing a 4-point Likert-type response key. Descriptive statistics and t tests were used to determine perceptions of good teacher characteristics and differences between students’ and teachers’ responses. Results indicate that Omani students and teachers generally agree about the importance of all characteristic categories, with those related to English language proficiency and treating students equally being of special importance. Participants also agreed that knowledge of Western culture/s and the use of technology were relatively unimportant. Implications of these findings for EFL teaching in Oman are discussed.

Omani Parents’ Involvement in Their Children’s English Education:

High levels of parental/guardian involvement in their children’s education are often associated with a number of educational, social, and even psychological benefits. These include higher rates of school attendance, greater communication with the school or education provider, better social adjustment, and higher levels of academic achievement including in the development of literacy skills. However, despite this, research from the Arab world on the relationship between parental involvement and children’s development of English language literacy skills has tended to report mixed results, with this also being the case in the Sultanate of Oman. To explore this issue within the Omani context, the current study examined the potential benefits, challenges, and practices of Omani parents as these relate to their children’s English language studies. A two-section Likert-type response scale questionnaire was administered to 391 parents of students in the country’s public school system. The first questionnaire section related to participants’ attitudes about parental involvement in their children’s English studies while the second explored the frequency with which parents engaged in activities related to their children’s English classes. Results indicate that Omani parents are generally aware of the importance of their involvement in their children’s development and believe that they should be involved in a number of home- and school-based activities. However, despite this, their actual level of involvement in their children’s English language studies was somewhat limited.

Student Evaluation of Their English Language Teachers in Omani Basic Education Schools

This research addresses the qualities of English language teachers in Omani schools from the perspective of school students. Using a self-report questionnaire designed to measure teacher’s various knowledge bases (i.e. content and pedagogical knowledge about teaching and learning, classroom management, teacher knowledge about both themselves and their students), the study specifically investigated the perceptions of 171 grade 9–12 school students of the qualities of their current English language teachers. The findings suggest that (1) the students perceived their teachers positively in all investigated qualities, (2) the students perceived teachers to be stronger in the affective domain (e.g. enthusiasm for teaching and fairness between students) than in the academic or cognitive domains (e.g. content and pedagogy) and (3) despite the absence of a gender effect, a significant academic achievement effect was detected. The final results suggest that teachers in grades 9 and 10 were perceived to possess more positive qualities by their students compared to teachers in grades 11 and 12. The study concludes by highlighting the importance of context in the education of English language teachers.