Said Nasser Al-Amrani's scientific contributions

Purpose Creating active learning opportunities requires building a learning culture in which the instructor plays the role of a facilitator, leaving the ultimate responsibility of learning to the student. The question, however, is whether this is happening in practice. This study aims to answer this question through instructors' perceptions of active learning in a higher education institution in Oman. Design/methodology/approach The study participants were 85 instructors working for a private university in Oman. Data were collected by surveying these instructors' perceptions of active learning practice indicators, such as active teaching strategies and student educational practices. This was followed by interviewing a random sample of the same instructors ( N = 10) to obtain a deeper understanding of their implementation of the active learning approach. Findings Data collected through the survey revealed that the shift from passive to active learning in higher education in Oman created a discrepancy between instructors' willingness to practice active learning and learners' unpreparedness to become autonomous learners. The follow-up interview findings confirmed this point, revealing instructors' negative perceptions of student participation and engagement in out-of-class activities. Originality/value This study is among the first to investigate the application of active learning in a higher education institution in Oman from the perspective of instructors.

Behind-the-screen communication can improve learners' willingness to communicate (WTC) in a foreign/second language (L2). During the Covid-19 pandemic, however, online education gave instructors ample opportunity to observe learners' communicative behaviour. The study reports observations showing that the new situation affected some learners' L2 WTC negatively, and that those unaffected have a high L2 WTC. In a group of 137 Omani English-major students, only 12 students showed WTC in online sessions, as observed by the researchers and validated by 3 instructors. Interviews with 5 of these students suggested that when students major in the L2, their WTC, influenced by different types of motivation, can develop to a predisposition to speak notwithstanding the learning situation/interlocutor types. Communication barriers are overcome by such learners through different learning strategies and the belief that L2 mistakes are acceptable and inevitable. This necessitated revisiting the concept of WTC as a personality-based predisposition from the perspective of learners majoring in the L2.

The study elaborates on MacIntyre et al.'s (1998) model of willingness to communicate (WTC) in an L2 by examining the impact of cultural context on shaping the interrelationship among variables affecting Omani students L2 WTC. In developing this mixed-design research, students (n = 204) first answered a questionnaire measuring their perceptions of the effect of various variables on their L2 WTC. Student volunteers (n = 13) were, then, invited to follow-up interviews to collect the qualitative data. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was utilized to examine a hypothesized model that integrated communication and affective constructs. SEM analysis of the model showed a good fit of the data. Self-perceived communication competence (SPCC) was the most potent variable influencing L2 WTC. However, communication anxiety positively correlated with L2 WTC, whereas motivation was indirect to L2 WTC through SPCC. Accordingly, this study adds meaningful sociocultural insights to previous work on L2 WTC.

This study examined the role of English instruction on students' willingness to communicate (WTC) in Oman's English foreign language (EFL) context. WTC in a second language (L2) is a multi-faceted construct that integrates psychological, linguistic, and communicative variables to describe, explain, and predict students' communicative behaviour in an L2. This quantitative study employed a survey to assess L2 WTC key variables of informants from Year 1 (116) and Year 4 (88) English major students in higher education. A t-test analysis revealed that Year 4 students had higher WTC in English than Year 1 students, and they also had less communication anxiety than Year 1 students. Conversely, Year 1 students had higher self-perceived communication competence and tended to communicate more frequently than Year 4 students. They also tended to be more motivated than Year 4 students and had higher positive attitudes toward their learning situation, English-speaking community, and interest in foreign language learning. Surprisingly, the data revealed no significant differences in all those variables between Year 1 and Year 4 students.

This paper provides a critical review of the willingness to communicate (WTC) model in a second language (L2) within an Arab culture context based on Arab socio-cultural norms. Hofstede's (1980) 5-D model and conceptualisation of L2 WTC in other contexts were used to explain the relationship between culture, language learning, and L2 WTC in an Arab English foreign language (EFL) setting in Oman.

This study aims to describe a framework to review and design courses in higher education in Oman to enhance active learning practice and achieve inclusive learning and teaching. The course review process led by a mixed-method research design which includes interviewing a program coordinator and some students, tracking students' enrollment in the course, and analyzing the course profile. The review and design processes were based on the module design framework (Donnelly & Fitzmaurice, 2005) and the blended learning framework (Medina, 2018; Wang et al., 2015). The findings indicated that no students have enrolled in the module apart from a small group of students in the first batch in the academic year 2015/2016. The module specification analysis showed that the module has significant issues with its learning outcomes, rationale, delivery method, resources, and materials and assessments. The course design process has been underpinned by effective higher education approaches and philosophies, such as constructive alignment, active learning, and blended learning. The course review process was objective and effective in improving course quality. The course has been entirely redesigned to deal with the reported issues and align it with the program learning outcomes, Sohar University postgraduate attributes, and the postgraduate descriptors of the Oman Qualifications Framework (OQF). To this end, authentic learning activities and assessments (Xiao, & Yang, 2019) and reflective teaching practice (Mathew et al., 2017) have been incorporated in the module so participants could take back to their institutions as language teachers and educators practical teaching and learning experiences, rather than merely language learning theories. A comprehensive assessment system has also been developed to balance formative and summative assessments to develop assessment literacy among participants.

The study investigates the influence of gender in language utilized in email communication among Sohar University lecturers. This study is based on Media-Richness Theory (MRT). It aims to avoid confusion or misunderstanding in cross-gender communication and enhance awareness of communication styles used among non-Omani and Omani lectures. The study focuses on three areas of linguistic features, which are abbreviation, emoticons and onomatopoetic. A qualitative method research design was employed in this study. After analyzing 40 email samples, the researcher conducted six interviews. The results indicated that abbreviations are less standard in female emails than emoticon and onomatopoetic. Unlike females, males like to use abbreviations in their emails. According to emoticons and onomatopoetic, females like to express their feelings and emotions explicitly. They are likely to be more onomatopoetic and emotional than men. The study has resulted in appreciated knowledge that practitioners may apply to everyday written communication at universities.

Online reading has become increasingly popular in English foreign language learning, and its effect upon students' comprehensive language ability and their use of reading strategies are apparent. Not mastering adequate reading strategies by some poor English foreign language (EFL) learners could lead to reading comprehension failure (Dentisk, 2010). With the aid of a web-based computer-assisted language learning tool (CALL), six students were allowed to develop their reading strategies. This paper describes the I-CARe program (Interactive Computer-Assisted Reading) and examines its effectiveness upon Arabic-speaking EFL students' reading strategies. The data was collected over an 8-week period that incorporated the qualitative tools of interviews, weekly reflections, and observations. The findings indicated that I-CARe enhanced students' abilities to effectively utilize several strategies, including rehearsing, focusing on meaning, inferencing to guess meanings, predicting outcomes, and resourcing by employing first language reference materials. However, while the results trended towards improved reading, cognitive reading strategies were more prominent amongst the students than the metacognitive and social-affective strategies. The study provides some pedagogical implications for EFL instructors to use CALL effectively to foster students' reading comprehension.