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Radhika Iyer -O’Sullivan The British University in Dubai

“I can’t say it any better”: Critical Reading as a Threshold Concept in helping postgraduate Arab students become critical and original writers. Radhika Iyer -O’Sullivan The British University in Dubai. Global phenomenon. Onus on universities: Learner support, academic literacy skills, EAP .

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Radhika Iyer -O’Sullivan The British University in Dubai

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  1. “I can’t say it any better”: Critical Reading as a Threshold Concept in helping postgraduate Arab students become critical and original writers. RadhikaIyer-O’Sullivan The British University in Dubai

  2. Global phenomenon Onus on universities: Learner support, academic literacy skills, EAP

  3. Academic Writing

  4. Anecdotes from academics that students lacked criticality in their writing. • Assumption that Arab students are not capable of critical thought • Students’ own educational backgrounds: exam-oriented; no experience/learning of academic writing • Students’ language: ESL/EFL; IELTS-mode The BUiD Problem

  5. Measures • Depart from genre-based teaching of academic writing • Include ‘deconstruction of rubric’ so students learn how to demystify tasks. • Teach critical thinking via critical thinking workshops.

  6. The reality….. • Academics : Students were still struggling with being critical in their writing • Drafts/samples at Writing Centre: little improvement in criticality • Students’ attitudes about reading began to emerge • Reverence for readings: “I can’t say it any better” “How can we criticize experts?” “Our opinion might be wrong!”

  7. Arab Students…. Perhaps…. But…. Arab education systems - memorisation Teaching of writing – abstracted, depersonalized and product-oriented Erosion of rich educational tradition Passive knowledge recipients BUiD Academics: Arab students can discuss critically Al Yahya (2011): no different from US students Daniel (2003): Past intellectual effervescence

  8. Threshold concept: Critical reading • What is a threshold concept? …transformed way of understanding or interpreting or viewing without which the learner cannot progress (Meyer and Land 2006) The important feature of a threshold concept is that it alters the way in which you think about a subject. (Atherton 2011)

  9. Critical Reading as a threshold concept

  10. Methodology

  11. Results

  12. Comments from students • “I just read and regurgitated, I didn’t think about what I read” • “For me, it was important only to understand all vocabulary and general content of text, only now I know how to question what I read” • “I always only saw the writers as experts, now I know I am expert too in different ways” • “I had some opinions but I thought they were not ‘academic’ enough, that’s why I only used opinions of others in my work. • “I thought my opinion should only be to the point what I agree and disagree with. Only now I have learnt to support my agreements and disagreements with opinions of others and then re-evaluate those opinions. • “I liked the idea of pretending that the authors were in the room and we could engage in a debate with them. This helped me to form arguments using my own words. • “I liked interacting with the text rather absorbing than content like a sponge.”

  13. Recommendations

  14. Sources: • Al Yahya, K. (2011). ‘‘Focus: Democracy in the Arab World’. Gulf News [online]. 14 April. [Accessed 8 March 2012]. Available at: http://gulfnews.com/opinions/speakyourmind/focus-democracy-in-arab-world-1.792545 • Atherton, J. S. (2011). Doceo; Introduction to Threshold Concepts [Online]. [Accessed 27 September 2011]. Available at: http://www.doceo.co.uk/tools/threshold_3.htm • Badley, G. (2009). Academic Writing as shaping and re-shaping. Teaching in Higher Education, vol. 14 (2), pp. 209-219. • Chanock, K. (2002). From Mystery to Mastery. Proceedings of the Language and Academic Skills Conference (CD-Rom).University of Wollongong. 29-30 November 2011. • Daniel, J. (2003). Education for all in the Arab World: Past, present and future. Meeting of Arab Education Ministers on Education for All [online]. Beirut, 19-23 January. [Accessed 5 March 2012]. Available at: http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=28052&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html • Johnson, A. & Clerehan, R. (2005). A Rheme of One’s Own: How ‘Original’ Do we Expect Students to be? Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, vol. 2 (3), pp. 36-47. • Meyer & Land (2003). Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising Within the Disciplines. Occasional Report 4: Enhancing Teaching-Learning Environments in Undergraduate Courses Project. Leeds University.

  15. THANK YOU! radhika.osullivan@buid.ac.ae

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