Journal of Humanities and Education Development, 2019
International Muslim students have been pursuing higher education in the US for decades. They cho... more International Muslim students have been pursuing higher education in the US for decades. They choose the US for its renowned institutions of higher education and its welcoming attitude. However, today's geopolitical situation, in light of the 'travel ban' and the rhetoric (pre and post-election), has created unprecedented fear and concerns among Muslim students currently enrolled in US institutions as well as those outside the US who are debating whether to attend universities in the US. This article argues that globalization and crossing borders will persist, and there will always be Muslim students who are interested in furthering their education in the US. It also calls for more effort and support on the part of US institutions of higher education to ease Muslim students' international educational experience on their campuses as this will not only benefit these students but also their universities and the US at large.
Journal of College Teaching & Learning (TLC), 2011
Reading is a multileveled and interactive process in which readers construct a meaningful represe... more Reading is a multileveled and interactive process in which readers construct a meaningful representation of text using their schemata. While it has been known for some time that both content and formal schemata are necessary for a complete understanding of written texts in a reader’s first language (L1), and has been suspected to be true in a reader’s second language (L2), it is still an area that has been generally ignored by both researchers and classroom teachers. The purpose of this paper is threefold. The first is to give a brief overview of some of the literature that deals with schema theory as part of a reader centered psycholinguistic processing model for both native and non-native readers. The second goal is to show how familiarity with the subject matter (i.e., content schema) as one aspect of schema theory, affects L2 reading comprehension. The third goal is to discuss the implications of schema theory in L2 classrooms.
Due to the rapid spread of globalization and the attendant 'global English,' the need for English... more Due to the rapid spread of globalization and the attendant 'global English,' the need for English is often accepted without much thought being given to native languages. Indeed, this is the current situation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with English encroaching into all areas of society, and especially forcefully into the education sector, where English as a medium of instruction (EMI) is on the rise. At the same time, Arabic literacy, the ability to read and write in the language, is declining among UAE youth. Using a mixed-methods design, a study was conducted to gain insights into the use of Arabic by Emirati university students. The study examines how Emirati youth use their native language (i.e., Arabic) in their daily lives, their perception of their own reading and writing skills in Arabic vis-à-vis in English language, and the extent to which they can demonstrate their literacy skills in Arabic. Clear evidence emerged showing that while Arabic as a dialect continues to be spoken and used on a daily basis, Arabic literacy is unquestionably losing ground. This paper concludes with a call for a language policy in the UAE that will give Arabic its due in schools and wider society.
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Papers by Ahmad Al-Issa