English Teaching in Yemen: A Trail-Blazing Leap [Archives:2002/15/Reportage]

Murari Prasad
Faculty of Education,
Sada’h
[email protected]
The 4-day international conference on English Language Teaching (March 30-April 2), “Old Borders, Fresh Crossings: Thinking-Rethinking ELT in Arabia Felix” organized by the Department of English ,Faculty of Education, Hodeidah University concluded on last Tuesday. The first-ever conference of its kind held in the Republic of Yemen was attended by distinguished scholars from the UAE, India and Yemen as well as from Turkey, the UK and the USA. The path-breaking professional forgathering provided the local and expatriate teachers of English in Yemen a forum for productive and enriching interaction with their peers at the cutting edge of the discipline in cogent presentations followed by scintillating comments, incisive questions and immensely engaging discussions. Sure enough, the inputs yielded by fruitful disagreements as well as in the form of agreeable fruits of arguments will go a long way towards turning around the business of English teaching, and as Prof. Qassim Mohammed Berihe, president of Hodeidah University, said, creating ” a teaching community that is contemporary in its knowledge, practical in its wisdom and empathetic in its pedagogic practices”.
Among the issues discussed and deliberated within the thematic ambit of the conference included Phonetics and ELT, Teacher Education. ELT and Films as well as matters pertaining to literary translation. teaching language through literature, contemporary critical theories etc. Also, the current issues facing the discipline of English studies like expansion of the canon by decolonising and appropriately contextualising it engaged the attention of scholars and did trigger and sharpen the awareness of teachers participating in the conference.
Prof. Peter Ladefoged, UCLA Research Linguist and Professor of Phonetics Emeritus, outlined the auditory dimensions of vowel sounds and suggested that students should be trained to imitate the sounds of English vowels in relation to their own vowels. Rather than offer teaching strategies he merely adumbrated and asked the teachers to fashion the foundations of their work on their own. Prof. T. Balasubramanian, head of the department of English, Faculty of Education, Hodeidah University and conference coordinator, demonstrated the pattern of ” misplaced accent” in ‘Yemeni English’ in great detail. He showed how word accent is the phonological core of intelligibility in both English and Arabic and shared his substantial research underpinned by umpteen examples with the participants.
The keynote address given by Kathy Bird, a teacher trainer and materials designer attached to Zayed University, Dubai, traced the evolution of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) methodology from its traditional antecedents to an enlightened eclectic approach which requires a teacher to develop into a professional educator. The concept implies constant monitoring and evaluation of one’s calling and measuring up to exacting standards of professional work. The theme of teacher education was amplified by meaty presentations of Prof. Chhanda Roy and Dr. Jayashri Mukherjee of Hodeidah University and Dr. MNK Bose of Ibb University. Other components of the theme vitally valid and considerably enabling in respect of EF/ SL teachers were presented by Dr. Christine A Coombe, a faculty member at Dubai Men’s college, Ms Olha Madylus, a freelance consultant, trainer and teacher in Britain, Dr. Ali Nihat Eken who currently teaches British culture, media studies and translation at the School of Applied Languages, Bilkent University, Ankara (Turkey).In her keynote address titled” Empowering Teachers as Testers” Dr. Coombe argued that teachers should be involved in all aspects of the testing process in that assessment and feedback are central to teaching. Speaking on the pros and cons of using mother tongue in the EFL classroom , Ms Madylus suggested to the teachers to maximize exposure to the target language in the junior classroom. Contrary to the received ELT wisdom on the matter , she maintained with sumptuous body language that while adult learners may use their mother tongue to enhance their English language learning , for children their mother tongue in the English language learning class is a distraction. To make teaching materials still more interesting and user-friendly and language learning engagingly experiential Dr. Ali Nihat Eken underlined the advantages of using films in the English language classroom.
With quite a few papers ranging across the issues of literary translation, culture studies and contemporary critical theories the lang.–lit. divide was bridged in the conference. Prof. Abdelrahman A. Abdrabou, vice-rector, Hodeidah University focused on the implications of cross-linguistic differences and cross-cultural barriers in text reproduction, for instance from Arabic into English. Unfortunately, the polemical potential of the presentation couldn’t be fully shared and disseminated for want of time slotted for discussion. Almost the whole gamut of critical theories promulgated by Plato and his successors to the Postcolonial exponents was touched on with varied claims and contests which sometimes petered out into ‘minor disasters’ . Prof. P.A. Abraham from Sana’a University and Mr. Sivadasan from Ibb University interrogated Postmodernist postulates while Dr. Sridhar Rajeswaran, formerly at Hodeidah University, and Dr. M. Nagrajan, currently teaching in the Faculty of Arts in Hodeidah University , cast their net wide to embrace diverse hinge-points.
The issues facing the discipline of English language and literary studies in the EFL/ESL context were raised by Prof. Niloufer Bharucha and Dr. Khawalah K.A. Ahmed, and were further explored by no less a person (no prizes for guessing) than Prof. Damodar Thakur, chairperson, Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Sana’a University. Prof. Bharucha, a professor of English in Bombay (Mumbai)University and currently teaching at Cologne in Germany, argued that a cloned version of English literature curriculum institutionalised in Anglo-American universities and in the former British colonies is no longer vitally relevant to the realities obtaining in the Third World universities. Even L1 students and teachers of English in Britain and America are warming towards literatures in English produced in decolonised locations like India, Sri Lanka, the Caribbean and Africa as well as in settler colonies like Canada, Australia and New Zealand. While the postcolonial constellation is shining forth, British literature is down in the dumps. The Empire has struck back ; the boot is on the other foot. So , English literature is no longer the literature of England and curriculum planners in Yemen should take the staggering transformation of the canon on board. In contrast, Dr. Khawlah Kaid Nasr Ahmed, Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts , Hodeidah University , contended that teaching perspectives in Yemen entail a fresh foundational commitment to the formation of the discipline which can fit the local cultural context, fulfill the needs of Yemeni students and meet the objectives envisaged by the policy makers. What she suggested was not to dislodge the discipline but to complement English literary studies with Arabic literature translated into English.
While addressing himself to the issue with enormous passion Dr. D.Thakur unfolded alternative enterprises within the space of English studies which can productively interface ELT and English literature , as well as literatures in English. In his paper titled” Teaching Language through Literature: Problems and Principles , Dr. Thakur amply exemplified the lang-lit. pedagogical nexus which has the potential for turning out not only efficient but elegant users of the language. His unique selling points were: (i) The English language is an intrinsic part of the global communication and easily the biggest exporter of intellectual property , so it is a proper prelude to professional career; (ii) literature fosters emotional intelligence and the reading of good literature becomes an enjoyable experience; (iii) grammar can teach correctness, not vitality in the use of language ; and (iv) the English speaking world has excelled in emotive, imaginative and experiential adventures plus, its intellectual attainments have been incredibly exciting. This is why the discipline full of utilitarian potential as well as signifying transactions for the readers’ emotional wellbeing cannot be dispensed with. What we need is a methodological synergy to reap a rich reward.
Among other presentations of note were papers by Dr. Mahmood Ali Shamsher, Vice Dean , Faculty of Languages, Sana’a University. Prof. AK Sinha, Dr. CN Srinivasan , Dr. K Thiagarajan, Dr. R.P. Singh and Dr. Indu Bhushan Sharma of Hodeidah University, Dr. Indu Bhushan Sharma of Hodeidah University,as well as by Dr. Anil Prasad and Dr. Sadeq R. Mohammed of Ibb University. Interesting and quite promising attempts were also made by several students of Hodeidah University. Such offerings promise a catalytic decade ahead for the institution.
Fittingly enough, the conference had the entire cast in the business of English teaching on the stage: Mr. Adrian Chadwick, director, the British Council, Sana’a and Ms Marcia Bull , AMIDEAST , Sana’a— the occidental owners and doorkeepers of the English language as well as its influential promoters; a large number of Indian participants responsible for the teaching of English in Yemeni universities , claiming a slice of postcolonial English language and literature as their homegrown stuff, and Yemeni students hooked on to the bandwagon of globalization, both bewildered and fascinated by English lessons and manual in their hand.
In the end , the conference was a resounding success, both academically and otherwise. Kudos to Prof. Bala , his colleagues and invisible backroom boys and a quite visible helping hand– Mrs. Shanta Subramanian– and, above all, to Dr. Qassim Mohammed Berihe, Rector, Hodeidah University, Dr. Ibrahim Omer Hugari, Dean, Faculty of Education, Hodeidah University and the generous patrons who warmed towards drawing a roadmap for English studies in Yemen in the fast changing world and put in place complex logistics and marshaled all their resources at a place with modest infrastructure to make it hugely successful.

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