Who’s Steering: Technology or Pedagogy? Analyzing an Arabic Immersion Experience

Authors

  • Ali Hechemi Raddaoui Alef Education - Abu Dhabi Financial Group, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Keywords:

Immersion, Web 2.0, Technology, Pedagogy

Abstract

With reflective practice as framework, this paper ponders whether the ICT tools used during an Arabic language immersion course run by the National US StarTalk program at the University of Wyoming are subservient to pedagogy or whether pedagogy has primacy over these tools. In Part One, I introduce the context for this immersion initiative. In Part Two, I examine two paradoxes: (i) the disjuncture between teaching and pedagogy, and (ii) the conflicting representations of the net-gen. In Part Three, I analyze the Arabic StarTalk curriculum to determine whether its objectives were served or enslaved by the available technologies. I conclude with a call for rethinking this binary technology/pedagogy theorization toward a position suggesting instead a rapport of interdependence, convergence and symbiosis.

Author Biography

Ali Hechemi Raddaoui, Alef Education - Abu Dhabi Financial Group, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Ali Hechemi Raddaoui, Fulbright Scholar, 1984-1988; Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Indiana University in Bloomington. Currently, Ali is working as an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at Dhofar University's College of Arts and Applied Sciences. His teaching experience spans Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Britain, the USA, and Oman. Ali’s research interests include learning and teaching best practice, e-learning in formal contexts and beyond, language and education policies in the Arab world, translation and creative writing. Email: araddaoui@gmail.com

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Published

2017-10-24

How to Cite

Raddaoui, A. H. (2017). Who’s Steering: Technology or Pedagogy? Analyzing an Arabic Immersion Experience. Asian Journal of Education and E-Learning, 5(5). Retrieved from https://www.ajouronline.com/index.php/AJEEL/article/view/4070