Publication plans

Last May, I submitted a proposal for a paper “English Language, Arab Students, Polish Teacher: Hybrid Identities in a Globalised Qatari Classroom” to be presented at the 4th International Adriatic-Ionian Conference, ACROSS LANGUAGES AND CULTURES, at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, 1-3 September, 2011. The proposal was accepted in June for presentation at the Intercultural Education/Cultural Identity and Globalisation session.

I was looking forward to the event (not to mention Venice!), especially that the conference coincides with my Eid al-Fitr break in Qatar, but in the meantime we encountered a rather big tax-related problem in Poland which swallowed up my Venice fund among other things. So, the sad end result is that I had to withdraw from the conference, but am left with a paper (in the final stages of revision) which I would like to offer for publication. I’ll be looking at some journals I am familiar with – such as Intercultural Education where I have published before, Perspectives (TESOL Arabia), TESOL Quarterly, and others. The links posted recently by Achilleas also seem worth investigating. Anyway, here is the abstract I initially sent to Venice.     

Abstract

As a non-native English speaking teacher of Polish national and educational background working in Qatar’s Education City, I teach English to Arab students preparing for American/British universities. Thus I operate in a third – non-English, non-Polish – cultural setting, with the content of my teaching negotiated through my students’ and my background affiliations. I find this unique situation as advantageous and inspiring as it is challenging and paradoxical. I also feel a growing need to investigate in greater depth issues related to the resulting areas of cultural dialogue and tension.

In this paper, related to my doctoral research at The University of Manchester’s School of Education, I first examine the position of English as the language of instruction in the Qatari classroom and the lingua franca of the internationally-oriented Education City, and discuss its increasingly controversial role in the local context. I then take a closer look at my students’ liquid (Bauman) cultural identities via Holliday’s typology of small classroom cultures and the host culture framework. Finally, I explore my own intercultural experience as a Polish teacher of English working for an American institution in an Arab country, identifying the consequences of this situation for my teaching approach and methodology. 

Magda