- Muscat, Muhafazat Masqat, Oman
Sam Sam
Sultan Qaboos University, Elt, Adjunct
The present study aims at identifying the multiple intelligences (MI) profiles of grade 12 female students in Oman in the light of Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI). It also presents an analysis of the MI profiles of the... more
The present study aims at identifying the multiple intelligences (MI) profiles of grade 12 female students in Oman in the light of Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI). It also presents an analysis of the MI profiles of the English textbooks used in grade 12 to determine the extent to which they align or misalign with the students’ profiles. The study used two instruments: 1) an MI survey addressed to 530 students in Muscat Governorate and 2) textbook analysis of grade twelve English textbooks. The results of the study pointed to the existence of misalignment between the sampled students’ intelligence profiles in comparison with the textbooks’ dominant intelligences. The study revealed that grade twelve female students ranked the intrapersonal talent as their strongest intelligence with 84.4%, followed by the bodily-kinesthetic, and the visual-spatial intelligences, whereas the textbooks were found to be heavily based on the verbal-linguistic intelligence with a 100% pre...
Research Interests:
The present study investigated the perceptions of novice Omani teachers of the kind of professional dispositions they have in the job and the influence of two variables, namely gender and teaching experience on these perceptions. The... more
The present study investigated the perceptions of novice Omani teachers of the kind of professional dispositions they have in the job and the influence of two variables, namely gender and teaching experience on these perceptions. The study employed a descriptive research design and used a five level Likert scale questionnaire that assessed the level of possession of the investigated dispositions as perceived by the participants. The questionnaire consisted of five categories of dispositions: Professional values at work, dispositions associated with personality characteristics and traits, dispositions related to cooperation and leadership, dispositions related to continuous and life-long learning and attitudes towards the teaching profession. Reliability of the questionnaire was found to be (0.95) using Cronbach Alpha. Results showed that novice teachers’ evaluation of their dispositions was “very high”. Professional values at work received the highest mean (4.59), followed by dispos...
Research Interests: Psychology and Perception
This study is aimed at investigating problems that Omani post-basic and university foundation programme students face in reading in English and identifying strategies they use to help them deal with their reading problems. The study... more
This study is aimed at investigating problems that Omani post-basic and university foundation programme students face in reading in English and identifying strategies they use to help them deal with their reading problems. The study administered a questionnaire on EFL reading problems and strategies to 1114 students from grades 11 and 12 in postbasic schools and to 317 university foundation programme students. The statistical and descriptive analyses of the results of the study indicate that students in both contexts face multiple problems with reading, especially with vocabulary. They associate their reading comprehension mainly with their ability to understand the meanings of words presented in a text feeling this is a more serious concern than other higher level processes such as inferring meanings or dealing with a text’s cohesion and coherence. The findings indicate a higher use of reading strategies by foundation programme students compared with school students; however, both ...
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This quasi experimental study aimed at investigating the effect of using Google Docs on EFL Omani college students’ writing performance and students’ perceptions of its use. The sample of the study included 81 Level 3 Foundation Program... more
This quasi experimental study aimed at investigating the effect of using Google Docs on EFL Omani college students’ writing performance and students’ perceptions of its use. The sample of the study included 81 Level 3 Foundation Program students in Nizwa College of Technology, Oman. The experimental group consisted of 39 students while the control group consisted of 42 students. The research instruments included a writing performance test that was administered as pre and post- test and a students’ perceptions questionnaire. Data analysis revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the writing performance of the experimental and control groups in favour of the experimental group. The experimental group outperformed the control group in task achievement, task organization, grammar and vocabulary. Also, the students perceived using Google Docs in EFL writing as a very beneficial tool in improving their writing and collaboration skills. In light of these findi...
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Equipping teacher candidates with values and dispositions has become an important part of the conversation about effective teaching and teacher preparation programs are increasingly expected to integrate dispositions in their agenda. The... more
Equipping teacher candidates with values and dispositions has become an important part of the conversation about effective teaching and teacher preparation programs are increasingly expected to integrate dispositions in their agenda. The purpose of the present study is two-folded. It aims at investigating the kind of dispositions of novice Omani teachers as perceived by school principals and assistant principals. It also aims to identify the type of factors that affect the shaping of novice teachers’ dispositions/values. Interviews were conducted with ten school principals and five assistant principals from various public schools in two different directorates of education in Oman. Data of the interviews were analyzed qualitatively by identifying the most emerging themes in terms of the most and least developed dispositions as well as factors shaping them. Findings revealed that dispositions related to ambition and flexibility were highly observed among novice teachers while disposit...
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The current study investigated the types of learning strategies used by Omani grade ten students when learning grammar. It also explored the differences between students of different proficiency levels in using grammar learning... more
The current study investigated the types of learning strategies used by Omani grade ten students when learning grammar. It also explored the differences between students of different proficiency levels in using grammar learning strategies. In order to gather data on students' grammar learning strategies, a frequency-based scale was designed and distributed to 170 students from Al Dhakeleya Governorate in Oman. The questionnaire consisted of thirty-eight items covering three types of grammar learning strategies, which were cognitive, metacognitive and socio-affective strategies. The present study revealed that grade ten Omani students used the three types of learning strategies to different extents. The study showed that Omani tenth graders used meta-cognitive strategies more frequently than cognitive and socio-affective strategies. The study also revealed that proficient students used more metacognitive strategies than less proficient students. The study makes a number of recomm...
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The purpose of this study was to explore the types of spelling errors students of grade ten make and to find out whether there were any significant differences between males and fe- males with respect to the types of spelling errors made.... more
The purpose of this study was to explore the types of spelling errors students of grade ten make and to find out whether there were any significant differences between males and fe- males with respect to the types of spelling errors made. The sample of the study included 90 grade ten students from four different schools in North Batinah. The researchers manipulated the use of a test that consisted of two questions: an oral dictation test of 70 words with a contex- tualizing sentence and a free writing task. The misspellings were classified into nine different types. The findings revealed that the most common spelling errors among Omani grade ten stu- dents were vowel substitution, then came vowel omission in the second place and consonant substitution in the third place. Male students omitted more vowels than female students while females made more true word errors than their male counterparts. In light of the findings, the study presents some recommendations and suggestions for fur...
The current quasi-experimental study investigated the effect of metacognitive reading strategies on the reading comprehension and attitudes of Omani EFL foundation-level students. The sample of the study included two intact classes (N=45)... more
The current quasi-experimental study investigated the effect of metacognitive reading strategies on the reading comprehension and attitudes of Omani EFL foundation-level students. The sample of the study included two intact classes (N=45) and was selected based on the students’ results in the midterm reading comprehension exam and their responses to the metacognitive strategies survey (MARSI). One class functioned as the experimental group, which received instruction relating to the metacognitive reading strategies. The other class was the control group which received conventional reading instruction. Two instruments were used to collect data: a pre-post reading comprehension test to measure the students’ performance in reading and an attitude questionnaire to investigate their attitudes towards metacognitive reading strategies use. The results of the study revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the learners’ reading comprehension in the experimental ...
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Using questionnaires administered to 1114 school students and 317 university foundation program students, the study aims to investigate students’ attitudes towards English as a foreign language (EFL) reading in the two educational... more
Using questionnaires administered to 1114 school students and 317 university foundation program students, the study aims to investigate students’ attitudes towards English as a foreign language (EFL) reading in the two educational contexts: post-basic schools and university foundation programs. The study also explores the extent to which students feel school has prepared them to the reading requirements of their university foundation programs. The study revealed that there were significant differences between school students and university foundation program students in the cognitive and affective dimensions of reading attitude but there were no significant differences in behavioural attitudes. Students also believed that they could not transfer the reading skills they acquired at post-basic education to the English classes at the foundation program because reading is different in the two educational contexts. The study makes a number of pedagogic and administrative recommendations ...
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Educational partnership between schools and higher education institutions has become an important tool towards enhancing students’ achievement levels in both contexts and increasing students’ college readiness level. It has also been... more
Educational partnership between schools and higher education institutions has become an important tool towards enhancing students’ achievement levels in both contexts and increasing students’ college readiness level. It has also been identified as one key element of educational reform. The present paper reviews a number of models of school-university partnership from different parts of the world. It also presents the results of a study that investigated- among other things- the views of 749 school students and 68 school teachers on the topic of school-university partnership. The paper provides a summary of participants’ suggestions on how best to create better progression between EFL syllabuses in both contexts: post-basic schools and foundation programs in Omani universities, with particular reference to the teaching/learning of EFL reading and writing. Students’ suggestions have mainly focused on three themes, which were collaboration at the administrative level, the need for orie...