EAP Teachers as Curriculum Developers

With respect to the current role of EAP teachers in curriculum, the analysis of the findings signifies a limited implementation of the curriculum. In their response to (item 25) of the questionnaire, 85% of the participants either strongly agreed or agreed that EAP teachers can make a valuable contribution in the context of EAP curriculum development. A similar view was also evident in the analysis of item (17) to which a significant majority of the participants of about 80.3% either strongly agreed or agreed that EAP teachers should be encouraged to work in collaborative teams to solve various curriculum elements. A number of instances in the data supported the view that teachers can contribute in the development of the EAP curriculum. Bradly (Male, American, 1 year) commented:

“I think that you will find that teachers are quite willing to get involved in curriculum review, perhaps designing curriculum as well. At some point the ministry should either be trusting us, or sending representatives, either one is OK but I think that people who are making the decisions aren’t seeing firsthand how those decisions are being played out in the classroom”

Bradly’s view on the importance of teachers’ involvement in reviewing the current curriculum is true. It depicts the reality of the context in which teachers are not involved in designing the EAP curriculum and therefore the curriculum reviewing process does not seem to be happening. Teachers’ views should be considered because they can provide an accurate assessment of the curriculum and the students. Abdul Aziz (Male, Omani, 5 years in CAS) denoted to the role of teachers as curriculum reviewers in his comment:

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“See probably you can judge based on the past experience of teaching the same level, what else can be improved, what do we want extra? And then we move on the how; how can we do that? I’m sure the how is going to generate a lot of results”

In the previous excerpt, Abdul Aziz highlighted how teachers should play the biggest role in the process of reviewing the current curriculum because they are aware of the curriculum issues which hinder curriculum development in EAP courses. In order to make the reviewing process successful, decision makers should attend to the feedback provided by teachers because this will be the first step towards curriculum development. Abdul Aziz explained further:

“I think if teachers have been given the chance to contribute to curriculum development, it will be very successful. We are talking about someone who is in the field, who knows what it is like to teach. I don’t want someone in an office somewhere giving me decisions and directions to do something when he isn’t aware of what it is like in the actual field. I think they are the right people to provide judgment and any sort of change should be taken after consulting with them and after taking their feedback prior to the implementation”

As discussed earlier in this chapter, all the EAP curriculum challenges addressed throughout the analysis were provided by EAP teachers. Throughout their teaching experience in EAP, teachers at CAS have acquired sufficient knowledge on the context and the various curriculum challenges they had to face. Thus, they are the ones who can provide sound judgments with regards to curricular issues. Sheikha (Female, Omani, 6 years in CAS) provided a thoughtful reflection on the role she perceived should be played by teachers to develop the current EAP curriculum. She commented:

“They can play a very important role because they know the reality and they know the students’ level and they have this experience of students’ level first of all, the linguistic level I mean, they are aware of the current

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textbooks and what are good things within that and what are the weaknesses of these textbooks. They are also aware of the assessment area and how we can evaluate or assess the students according to what we want them to achieve. I think they can play a very important role in developing the curriculum especially that we have different nationalities here, different people, different types of experiences, coming from different places so each teacher is going to tackle the issue from a different point of view and we might reach a valuable curriculum”

Sheikha alluded to a very significant factor which relates to the role of EAP teachers in curriculum development which is establishing a collaborative teaching community at CAS colleges. It is through maintaining collaborative meetings among EAP teachers oriented for the discussion of curriculum issues as a team, curriculum development can become a reality. Utilizing the experiences of the multi-cultural perspectives of EAP teachers can enrich the process of curriculum development if those teachers were actively involved in the curriculum. Bradly (Male, American, 3 years in CAS) stressed the significance related to the contribution of teachers in curriculum development through establishing collaborative teams of Omani teachers as well as expat teachers. He stated:

“The domestic teachers have the advantage of knowing more of the existing systems that are in place (…) An Omani teacher will know because they have grown up in that system. There are some advantages for that. The expat teacher on the other hand brings the ability to think outside the box a little bit. When you put someone who thinks inside the box together with someone who thinks outside the box, you have the opportunity of some very good synergy to be happening, some very good dialogue”

The point referred to by Bradly with respect to having a dialogue among both Omani and expat teachers can be seen as one of the ways by which EAP teachers can contribute in the development of the curriculum. Regarding the context of the current research, teachers should be more involved in curriculum