Houda Olabi

Postgraduate Researcher

www.birmingham.ac.uk/houda-olabi

Current Status

First year/full time

Research Topic

Exploring the efficacy and relevance of English for Academic Purposes courses from Arab students’ perspectives

Research Summary

In my research, I am exploring the efficacy and relevance of presessional English for Academic Purposes courses from Arab learners’ perspectives. My qualitative research will be divided into two main distinctive phases. In the first phase, I will observe my participants in their classroom context and I will interview them on regular basis during their English course to record their perceptions and feedback on the efficacy of the course for them so far. Later on, in the second phase of the study, I will follow them up to their schools and again interview them on regular basis to know how far they think what they have learnt in their English courses is relevant to their current degree study.

Research Interests

  • Teaching English as a foreign/second language 
  • English for specific purposes
  • English for academic purposes

Research Supervisor

Dr Maggie Kubanyiova

Funding

Higher Institute of Languages, Aleppo, Syria; Syrian Ministry of Higher Education