Using Technology in Science Tasks: Reducing Language Barriers for Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Education
Abstract
Lebanon has absorbed over half a million registered school-aged Syrian refugees in its unequipped state schools since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2011; however, the foreign language of instruction of maths and science has disengaged young Syrian migrants, hampering their progression. The poor proficiency of Syrian migrants in English or French, the media of maths and science instruction in Lebanon, has pushed many to drop out from schools and join the labour force at a very young age. Indeed, the foreign language of maths and science instruction is already controversial in Lebanon as it also marginalises underprivileged Lebanese youth and incites many to leave school before completing compulsory education.
In this project, I will collaborate with two Lebanese NGOs, Lebanese Alternative Learning (LAL) and Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT)-Lebanon, who work directly with Syrian refugees in state schools to provide interactive tasks in maths and science in three languages (English, French and Arabic) through an existing online platform called Tabshoura. I will engage in knowledge exchange with both NGOs by applying a framework based on my DPhil and more recent research to evaluate the quality of translation and design of existing Year 6 to 9 science tasks and offer guidance for material improvement. Moreover, a sample of Year 6 students will be interviewed using elicitation techniques to investigate translation and design issues of the online interactive tasks. Findings will inform the construction of improved exemplar tasks that the NGO could adopt as models for the development of new material. In return, the invaluable experience of the NGOs in using technology to meet the education needs of underprivileged youth in Lebanon will be essential for me to gain a deep understanding of the context and achieve impact. Moreover, I will contribute to capacity building in schools by offering workshops for practitioners focusing on task design and raising their awareness to specific language issues in task development. Insight and findings of this project will be disseminated through conference presentations, a comprehensive report and a sole-authored journal article as well as a policy dialogue in Beirut and a seminar in Oxford.
This ESRC GCRF fellowship will be an excellent opportunity to promote my academic profile by disseminating my DPhil research in seminars and conferences to a wide academic and non-academic audience; expanding my publication record and developing a sole-authored peer-reviewed journal article; consolidating my research portfolio by acquiring new qualitative techniques; and broadening my international network to include the Arabic speaking world. More importantly, this fellowship will allow me to apply my DPhil and more recent research in a new context and engage with non-academic users such as students, practitioners, schools, teachers and national and international NGOs to achieve a wider impact in the provision of quality education to Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
In this project, I will collaborate with two Lebanese NGOs, Lebanese Alternative Learning (LAL) and Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT)-Lebanon, who work directly with Syrian refugees in state schools to provide interactive tasks in maths and science in three languages (English, French and Arabic) through an existing online platform called Tabshoura. I will engage in knowledge exchange with both NGOs by applying a framework based on my DPhil and more recent research to evaluate the quality of translation and design of existing Year 6 to 9 science tasks and offer guidance for material improvement. Moreover, a sample of Year 6 students will be interviewed using elicitation techniques to investigate translation and design issues of the online interactive tasks. Findings will inform the construction of improved exemplar tasks that the NGO could adopt as models for the development of new material. In return, the invaluable experience of the NGOs in using technology to meet the education needs of underprivileged youth in Lebanon will be essential for me to gain a deep understanding of the context and achieve impact. Moreover, I will contribute to capacity building in schools by offering workshops for practitioners focusing on task design and raising their awareness to specific language issues in task development. Insight and findings of this project will be disseminated through conference presentations, a comprehensive report and a sole-authored journal article as well as a policy dialogue in Beirut and a seminar in Oxford.
This ESRC GCRF fellowship will be an excellent opportunity to promote my academic profile by disseminating my DPhil research in seminars and conferences to a wide academic and non-academic audience; expanding my publication record and developing a sole-authored peer-reviewed journal article; consolidating my research portfolio by acquiring new qualitative techniques; and broadening my international network to include the Arabic speaking world. More importantly, this fellowship will allow me to apply my DPhil and more recent research in a new context and engage with non-academic users such as students, practitioners, schools, teachers and national and international NGOs to achieve a wider impact in the provision of quality education to Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
Publications
El Masri Y
(2020)
The Trade-Off between Model Fit, Invariance, and Validity: The Case of PISA Science Assessments
in Applied Measurement in Education
El Masri, Y. H.
(2018)
ASE Science Guide of Secondary Science
El Masri, Y.H.
(2020)
The trade-off between model fit, invariance, and validity: the case of PISA science assessments
in Applied Measurement in Education
| Description | Significant new knowledge generated The main research findings relate to the pilot study of the ten Tabshoura tasks with teachers and students in schools and learning centres serving deprived communities including Syrian refugees. Four key findings were reported to the NGO; these informed the refinement and development of new tasks. • Level of engagement Teachers and students found the use of on-screen interactive tasks to learn science engaging. In particular, the use of explanatory videos was highly supported by teachers and students reported finding videos helpful. • Language demands Teachers found no particular issues with the language demands of the tasks, as the language used in the platform was aligned with Lebanese curriculum language demands. Nevertheless, interviews carried out with students suggested that the language used in the tasks was challenging for most participants. Students struggled to understand the instructions and the feedback. Some Syrian refugees struggled with understanding terms such as 'when'. Despite the challenges faced, many students reported that the questions were easy and expressed a higher level of preference for completing tasks on the computers. In addition, the observation of some students identified the use of some ad-hoc coping strategies to overcome the language barrier (e.g. using Google Translate to translate some questions from English to Arabic). • Quality of the photos and videos Teachers provided invaluable feedback on the photos and videos included. They for instance advised the task developer who is also the pedagogic coordinator of the collaborating NGO to use laboratory equipment rather than kitchen utensils when creating a video to show the change of state of water from solid to liquid to gas. According to the teachers, the kitchen environment might be confusing for students. They also pointed to a problem relating to the angle from which a photo was taken in one of the tasks that could be misleading for students. Students also faced challenges with some photos. For instance, students found photos showing the conservation of volume across different recipients ambiguous because the graduation on the recipient was unclear. • Type of questions In many instances, teachers provided alternative ways of asking particular questions, sometimes suggesting changing questions from multiple choice questions to open-ended questions. Observation of students suggested that students often guessed answers to multiple choice questions with students with poorer English language proficiency clicking randomly at responses. Particularly noteworthy new research networks/collaborations/partnerships Through the various public engagement activities, in particular the Educational Forum at the American University of Beirut and the Stakeholder Dialogue event at the end of the project allowed me to forge strong connections with different types of stakeholders: researchers, NGOs, the government and schools. This is particularly important as this lays down good foundation for future collaboration. Indeed, I am currently in the process of discussing some opportunities with one of the major stakeholders in Lebanon. Increased research capability generated from training delivered in specialist skills; During this fellowship, I participated in many training sessions. Many were offered internally (i.e. University of Oxford) while others were offered in other institutions or overseas. University of Oxford: (1) ESRC impact training, (2) Preparation for safe and effective fieldwork, (3) CUREC ethical training, (4) safeguarding training (online), (5) Risk assessment and (6) vicarious/secondary trauma training. University of Southampton: National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) - Cognitive Interviewing for Testing Survey Questions University of Manchester: GCRF Event: Next step in Research Leadership |
| Exploitation Route | In addition to publishing findings in journal articles and presenting at national and international academic conferences, sharing the reports from the engagement activities, namely the stakeholder dialogue and OUCEA Symposium with the participants as well as with the wider audience by making them available online as open access OUCEA reports, and advertising them through Twitter and other social media may allow e-learning software developers, educators and NGOs take findings on-board and build on them for greater impact. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Other |
| Description | Despite a limited time frame for the project (one year in total with a three-month period of secondment), impact has been reported on various levels, with capacity building and knowledge exchange being the most prominent. (1) Capacity building: a. Raising teachers' awareness of features that make science questions and tasks more difficult Teachers who have participated in the capacity building workshops 'Designing tasks and writing questions in science' reported finding the workshops very helpful to their professional development. Most teachers reported being already aware of the challenges that high reading load, complex vocabulary and command verbs placed on students when solving science questions; nevertheless, some teachers reported appreciating reviewing what they already knew in a more structured format. Half of participating teachers reported not being aware of the issues associated with the types of questions or the potential ambiguity of some figures, graphs and tables that often accompany questions prior to the workshops. They reported finding these parts of the workshops particularly helpful and informative. b. Teachers' capacity to identify and reduce potential demands of science questions, including language demands Most teachers reported aiming to change their practice by ensuring that the presentation and format of tasks they provide to students, especially in assessment contexts, are conducive to promoting students' learning (i.e. avoid crowding pages with information and prioritizing clarity). In addition, teachers expressed a greater commitment to reducing the language complexity of questions and exposing students to a wider range of question types. They reported that the workshop provided them with some tips to change their current practice. c. Developing teachers' reflective practice All participating teachers reported finding the discussions during the workshop very helpful for their teaching. They particularly appreciated being provided with the rare opportunity of discussing features of questions with peers who may have experienced similar or different challenges in writing questions. They reported finding the exercise of placing themselves in the students' shoes and examining questions from different perspectives very helpful as they had never had a similar opportunity to engage in such activities before. Some teachers found the workshops' usefulness extending beyond writing questions and designing tasks by having the potential to promote better learning and assessment of students. d. NGO's capacity to develop science tasks while minimising demands that are not related to target concepts The Pedagogic Coordinator and the Head of LAL NGO were both present at the capacity building workshops. They reported finding the content of the workshops very helpful in developing new LAL material. The Pedagogic Coordinator who oversees the development of science tasks found the sessions on reading load and types of questions particularly helpful. (2) Knowledge exchange: The knowledge exchange was across three groups: researcher, NGO and teachers. a. The researcher The researcher provided her knowledge and expertise in task design and assessment not only to build the capacity of the NGO and teachers to evaluate science tasks, but also to refine existing Tabshoura tasks and develop new ones. b. The teachers The teachers used what they learned in the workshops to reflect on the pilot tasks and provide feedback using their expertise and knowledge of the students in the target communities. This feedback was instrumental in informing the researcher's and the NGO's efforts in refining the tasks. c. The NGO (LAL) The NGO incorporated the feedback of teachers, the student pilot and the researcher to modify the ten pilot tasks and refine them. The feedback also informed the development of new tasks (e.g. reducing the reading load, simplifying the language, providing a more diverse range of questions, modifying figures and videos in line with teachers' feedback). LAL's pedagogic coordinator also took part in the Stakeholder Dialogue led by the researcher. The NGO representative was made aware of the language challenges students in Lebanon have in learning science because of the foreign language of instruction issue and the limitations of using technology in science classrooms in the Lebanese context. LAL's pedagogic coordinator also took part in the Oxford Symposium and gave a presentation to an audience of researchers, the British Council, NGOs and English examination boards about the collaboration and some challenges the NGO was facing at the time. LAL's representative was provided with advice on how to improve their online platform: namely by developing new material while engaging users (e.g. participatory action research) and by ensuring that the home language of students is made available as a resource within the platform (e.g. provide dialogue boxes or audio files in Arabic). (3) Promoting access to education for youth in deprived communities, including Syrian refugees The language of science instruction is a major barrier for science learning in Lebanon because students, including Syrian refugees, learn science in a language that is not their native (home) language. The issue is more pronounced in deprived communities in Lebanon where resources are limited and proficiency in the language of instruction is typically poor. Such deprived communities have been the main hosts of Syrian refugees in Lebanon since 2014. Lebanese alternative learning has been committed to widening access to education for these communities by making high quality educational material available online. If students from deprived communities had a wider access to education, they would be less likely to drop out from schools and more likely to earn qualifications that enable them to take part in the job market. This in turn will not only make them better off financially; this will eventually contribute to improving the socio-economic circumstances of their community. The project aimed to support LAL's endeavour to make their science material more accessible by reducing the language barrier and minimising construct-irrelevant demands for under-privileged students by engaging teachers and students as well as researchers in the process of refining and developing new materials. In addition, the project aimed to build teachers' capacity in schools serving deprived communities to identify challenges in science tasks in order to support students in addressing them. |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic |
| Description | Placement at Lebanese Alternative Learning |
| Organisation | Lebanese Alternative Learning |
| Country | Lebanon |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | A substantial part of this Fellowship consisted of a placement at an NGO in Beirut, Lebanese Alternative Learning (LAL). LAL is working with different partners in Lebanon and overseas (e.g. DOT-Lebanon, Thaki, World Vision, Their World etc.) to create a computer-based solution to address issues of access to quality education for deprived youth in Lebanon including Syrian refugees. The NGO has developed an educational platform, Tabshoura, with content for early childhood (Tabshoura KG) and lower secondary school (Tabshoura Middle School) that is aligned with the Lebanese school curriculum. The rationale behind this is to offer young people the opportunity to learn from wherever they are located so long as they have access to computers. Given that the medium of instruction of science and mathematics in Lebanon is either English or French, the NGO developed its computer-based activities in those languages with a small number of modules also available in Arabic. Between March and May, I worked closely with Tabshoura's Project Coordinator, the E-Learning Coordinator and the Pedagogical Coordinator. My role was described as 'Pedagogic Advisor' and I provided support in the design of science tasks specifically by pointing out features that made science tasks harder to read or understand. In early March, at the beginning of my placement, I met with the team and we agreed on a plan of action for the three months. Their main need was to pilot the new approach they recently adopted to develop new material by gathering input from teachers and students. Hence, together with the team, we developed ten on-screen science tasks (referred to as the pilot tasks). I was involved in reviewing the design of the tasks and worked closely with the task developer to refine the tasks based on research that has previously identified sources of construct-irrelevant challenges for the students (e.g. ambiguous instructions, unclear diagrams, complex language, etc.). In April, I led two capacity building and knowledge exchange workshops with secondary science school teachers teaching in schools serving deprived communities including Syrian refugees. The workshops aimed to build practitioners' ability to: 1) Identify features that make science tasks easier or more difficult 2) Identify issues when science tasks are translated 3) Analyze the design of science tasks and questions 4) Improve the design of existing science tasks To maximise the outreach, the workshops were delivered in Arabic with the material available in English and French in line with the language of science instruction in Lebanon. The first workshop focused on building teachers' capacity to evaluate the design of science tasks and provide targeted feedback on features that could unintentionally place higher cognitive and language demands on students. In the second workshop, practitioners could apply the skills and knowledge acquired in the first workshop to provide targeted feedback on the ten Tabshoura pilot tasks. The teachers also provided guidelines of what they considered as best practice in developing and designing science tasks that are well aligned with the Lebanese science curriculum of lower secondary school. In April and May and following ethical clearance approval, I led the pilot study with Year 6 students in schools serving deprived communities including Syrian refugees and at a learning centre receiving Syrian refugee children (Sonbola NGO). The English and French versions of the tasks were piloted. I collected data from around 50 students in total and interviewed a sample of them. The data collection process provided an opportunity to collaborate with Sonbola NGO. Following discussions with the teachers and volunteers at the NGO, as well as the co-Founder and the Head of the Organisation, we identified a need for teacher capacity building in task design and providing an awareness session of the language issues that the young Syrian refugees could face when solving tasks. The workshop was a one-day event delivered in Arabic on 16th November 2017 and included all teachers and volunteers at Sonbola. The feedback of teachers and students from schools and learning centres was communicated to LAL and subsequently used to refine the ten pilot tasks and inform the development of other tasks. In addition to capacity building and knowledge exchange events carried out in partnership with LAL and Sonbola, in November 2017, I filmed a short clip to disseminate the collaboration with LAL and made sure the clip provided them with the opportunity to promote their NGO. The film also featured Sonbola and the workshops carried out with the teachers. On 24th November 2017, I provided LAL and Sonbola with a platform by inviting them to participate in an a Stakeholder Dialogue event which I convened. The event gathered science education researchers, science teachers, policy makers and NGOs to discuss issues related to the language of instruction in Lebanon and the potential role of technology in reducing the language barrier in science education in Lebanon. On 8th December 2017, I led a Symposium in Oxford and invited LAL and Sonbola to be key speakers and discuss their work with learning technology experts as well as applied linguists and second language acquisition researchers. The exchange was extremely helpful for both NGOs. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The collaboration would have not succeeded if it was not for the dedication of the teams I was working with at LAL and Sonbola NGO. LAL NGO hosted me for three months and provided me with a working space in their headquarters in Beirut. Moreover, LAL worked tirelessly to develop the pilot material in English and translate it into French and responded positively to the feedback I provided on the initial design. In addition to providing stationary for the workshops and pilot study, the team used their network in the country to send invitations to the target schools and teachers and connect me with the Educational Technology Centre (Edutek) that hosted both workshops. They also provided IT support during the pilot studies in the schools and occasionally secured my transport to the schools. Similarly, Sonbola NGO welcomed me and LAL NGO at their premises, accepted to take part in the pilot study and supported us in accessing Syrian refugee children. They also hosted the capacity building workshops in November and made themselves available for follow up conversations. In November, LAL's pedagogic coordinator as well as Sonbola's Education Coordinator agreed to take part in the filming of a clip that provided an overview of the collaboration. Both NGOs welcomed me and the filming crew at their premises where most of the filiming took place. |
| Impact | The project is multidisciplinary in nature as it is at a crossroad between educational assessment, science education, applied linguistics, second language acquisition and learning technologies. Outcomes included: - Teachers' capacity building and knowledge exchange workshops + workshop materials in English and French (22nd and 29th April 2017, Edutek Chtaura Lebanon) - Teachers' capacity building and knowledge exchange workshops + workshop materials in Arabic (16th November, 2017; Sonbola NGO, Anjar Lebanon) - Ten pilot tasks (English and French versions) - Teachers' guidance on task design - Teachers' feedback on pilot tasks - Students' feedback on pilot tasks - Flyer: Reducing the language barrier in Lebanese science education through technology: Opportunities and challenges. Available at: http://oucea.education.ox.ac.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Flyer_Stakeholder-Dialogue-1.pdf - Joint presentation at the Pro-Language Conference: Addressing the language barrier in education using technology: The Tabshoura Project, 30th October, 2017, Beirut, Lebanon - Presentation at the AEA-Europe annual conference: Crossing assessment cultures and overcoming the language barrier: The case of Syrian refugees and vulnerable youths in Lebanon, 10th November 2017, Prague, Czech Republic. - Stakeholder Dialogue: Reducing the language barrier in Lebanese science education through technology: Opportunities and challenges, 24th November 2017, Beirut Lebanon - OUCEA Symposium: Technology and the Language Barrier in Education: From Lebanon to the UK, 8th December 2017, Oxford, UK - Roads to Inclusion video. Available at: https://media.podcasts.ox.ac.uk/education/general/roadstoinclusion-720p.mp4 - Project website: Available at: http://oucea.education.ox.ac.uk/research/recent-research-projects/using-technology-in-science-tasks-reducing-language-barriers-for-syrian-refugees-in-lebanon/ |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | AUB Education Forum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | I was invited speaker to give a presentation on Monday 27th March at the American University of Beirut's (AUB) Education Forum, a public seminar that is attended by researchers, practitioners, policy makers and students. In this Forum, I presented my research on the effects of language on students' learning and teaching and the repercussions that language could have on their performance in national and international educational assessments with a particular focus on science. The event was attended by a wide audience of academics from various universities in Beirut, including AUB and Université Saint Joseph, representatives of the government-funded Centre for Educational Research and Developments (CERD), representatives of local non-profit organisations (e.g. Lebanese Association for Educational Studies, Lebanese Alternative Learning) and international NGOs (UNICEF) as well as practitioners and university students. Dr El Masri's presentation 'Is Scientific Literacy more difficult than 'Culture Scientifique' or "??????? ???????" in PISA? Implications for the fairness of high-stakes examinations in Lebanon' instigated a lively discussion about Lebanon's poor performance in international assessments in light of the latest PISA 2015 and TIMSS 2015 results and the extent to which the data has been under-explored. The Educational Forum offered the opportunity for all gathered to reflect on the role of language in the Lebanese educational system, namely science instruction. It also provided a space for the audience to discuss crucial educational matters including curriculum development, teacher training and the importance of educational assessment in informing practice. Following the presentation, the Head of Secondary School Division in one of the private schools in Beirut that offers the Lebanese curriculum in English and French contacted me and stated that the school has called for a meeting to discuss test translation issues within the school. In addition, the President of the Lebanese Association for Educational Studies (LAES) approached me to discuss possible ways of supporting in the production of a report on international assessments in the MENA region. Similarly, the office of the President of the Centre for Educational Research and Development (CERD), the government-funded research institution in Lebanon, responsible for curriculum as well as the analysis of assessment data, contacted me and scheduled an appointment with the President of CERD to discuss the possibility of providing support in writing the 2016 PISA national report. My commitments at the time did not allow me to take either project on board; especially, that both LAES and CERD were looking for someone to start the work immediately. This said, all parties recognise the potential for future collaborations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://oucea.education.ox.ac.uk/education-forum-at-the-american-university-of-beirut/ |
| Description | OUCEA Symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | On Friday, 8th December 2017, I hosted a symposium at St Cross College, Oxford entitled "Technology and the Language Barrier in Education: From Lebanon to the UK". The main purpose of the event was to disseminate the findings of the project to a wide spectrum of audience from different backgrounds: researchers in applied linguistics, learning technologies, assessment, science education, exam boards, other NGOs working with refugees in UK, local authorities, etc. The diversity of the delegates was hoped to enrich discussions and debates around issues relating to technology and language challenges in Lebanon and bring the discussion back home and reflect on implications for migrants' learning and assessment in Europe and the UK more specifically. The various presentation triggered interesting discussions and language and technology experts provided direct feedback to LAL and Sonbola on how to address several challenges they raised in their presentations. For example, an applied linguistics experts suggested embedding audio files in Arabic into Tabshoura tasks to accompany questions and feedback written in English or French. Papers presented: Paper 1: Using technology to reduce the language barrier in Lebanese science education: Opportunities and challenges (Yasmine El Masri, OUCEA; Muriel Albina, Lebanese Alternative Learning; Massa Mufti, Sonbola) Paper 2: The use of technology in education in developing contexts (Niall Winters, University of Oxford) Paper 3: Role of L1 and L2 in student assessment and achievement: A case from Sub-Saharan Africa (Pauline Rea-Dickins, University of Oxford) Paper 4: An education in exile for exile? The schooling experience of refugee children in Lebanon and Germany (Maha Shuayb, Centre for Lebanese Studies) Paper 5: Migrants, education and technologies (Agnes Kukulska-Hulme, Open University) The final session consisted of a panel discussion that reflected on the papers presented and provided implications for teaching and assessment of migrants' learning in the UK. The panel included: Dr Jess Briggs, Lecturer, Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition, University of Oxford, UK Mr Mike Solly, Senior Advisor, British Council, Beirut, Lebanon Mr Ezekiel Sweiry, Senior Researcher and Test Developer, Centre for Education Research and Practice, Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), UK Ms Jenny Smith, Senior EAL Advisor, Sheffield City Council, UK Dr Oksana Afitska, Lecturer, Applied Linguistics and TESOL/EAL, University of Sheffield, UK In addition to the presenters and panel members, around 25 people attended the event from diverse backgrounds (researchers from different research areas including Linguistics, Education, Learning Technologies, Psychology), exam boards, the British Council, NGOs as well as companies providing research and logistic support (e.g. INASP) and graduate students. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014,2017 |
| URL | http://oucea.education.ox.ac.uk/oucea-symposium-technology-and-the-language-barrier-in-education-fro... |
| Description | ProLanguage Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I was invited with the collaborating NGO, Lebanese Alternative Learning (LAL), to give a joint presentation at a three-day conference (30th October to 1st November 2017) at the American University of Beirut, the ProLanguage conference. The presentation was entitled: "Addressing the language barrier in education using technology: The Tabshoura Project". The ProLanguage Project is a GCRF funded project led by the University of Reading with partners in Greece, Italy and Lebanon. Its focus is on the role of language and language policies in relation to refugees' social, physical and mental wellbeing as well as opportunities of mobility and integration. In our joint presentation, LAL NGO provided an overview of their Tabshoura platform, including some of the offline solutions they developed in order to make their educational materials accessible to a larger number of students, especially those where there is limited internet access, such as in refugee camps. I highlighted the key findings from the pilot study conducted using Tabshoura by identifying the main language challenges that Syrian refugee students face when interacting with interactive science tasks provided in English and French. Presenters discussed various approaches that could make Tabshoura more accessible to Syrian refugees (e.g. translating the tasks from English and French into Arabic, introducing specific instructions in Arabic, including a glossary of difficult terms in Arabic, etc.). The event was attended by policy-makers, researchers in many fields including education, linguistics, engineering, psychology and nutrition, local and international NGOs, the British Council and school representatives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://lal.ngo/index.php/event/the-prolanguage-project-aub-beirut-oct-2017/ |
| Description | Project website, Twitter and Social media use |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In order to disseminate the research and engagement activities to a wider public, a webpage was created for the project. The webpage was particularly useful to point stakeholders and people showing interest to as it encompassed information about all activities in one location. In addition, news about all events was included in the Oxford's Education Department newsletter, OUCEA's newsfeed and sometimes LAL's website. To engage with the general public, events were announced using the researcher's personal Facebook page and Twitter Account. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006,2017 |
| URL | http://oucea.education.ox.ac.uk/research/recent-research-projects/using-technology-in-science-tasks-... |
| Description | Qualitative Methods Hub |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | On 19th October 2017, I gave a presentation "Lessons learnt from working with NGOs in developing contexts" to postgraduate students at the Education Department in the series of weekly talks organised by the QualHub group. The talk was attended by Master's students in the Education Department enrolled in different pathways, DPhil students, the head of the DTC at the Social Science Division as well as a Senior Research Fellow at LMH. The presentation provided a brief introduction to the ESRC GCRF project "Using Technology in Science Tasks: Reducing Language Barriers for Syrian Refugees in Lebanon". It then provided room for discussing challenges associated with collecting data in developing contexts. Abstract: Carrying out research in developing countries can be very challenging especially when the research context is highly politicised and when access to informants can be best ensured through a mediator like local or international non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Some challenges can arise from the misalignment between the investigator's research agenda and the NGO's goals and from the gap between the researcher's expertise and the NGO's practices. If not handled properly, this could lead to the difficulty in accessing data and could compromise the investigator's research plan with potentially serious funding implications. This session draws on a positive experience collaborating with a local NGO in Lebanon on a project funded by ESRC GCRF in Spring 2017. Issues relating to research quality, research ethics and diverging priorities will be highlighted and some lessons learnt from working in such a challenging context will be discussed. Key Challenges discussed: 1. Ethical considerations: Requesting consent from participants and transparency about access to participants - Feeling that the researcher is being too picky and 'by-the-book' 2. Quality data: What counts as quality data? E.g. Sample size, controlling variables, comparability across groups - Difficulty of collecting data that can lead to conclusive evidence 3. Gender power dynamics 4. Research agendas and priorities: Interest in different target groups (different expectations from funders) Lessons learnt (some based on feedback received from GCRF peers attending the ESRC event in June 2017 in Edinburgh) - Persistence/Assertiveness (especially when it comes to ethical considerations) - Anticipate issues; Have a plan B for data collection - Establish a shared understanding of what 'good research' is by building on partner/collaborating institution's perspective and filling gaps - Discuss early on the main priorities of the partner/collaborating institution and how research can contribute to its work/solve itsproblems - Agree on the objectives to achieve through the partnership i.e. Build a shared research agenda - Engage in capacity building with the NGO as part of the 'impact' part of the research, and thereby support the NGO's skill development in data collection while noting that the data collected in future, with the suggested methods, will be of higher quality quality and hence will ultimately lead to more valid and reliable conclusions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Roads to Inclusion: Making e-learning work for all |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | To disseminate the research more widely and reach a wider audience, LAL-NGO, Sonbola NGO and I filmed a 10-minute podcast entitled "Roads to Inclusion: Making e-learning work for all". The podcast provided a brief overview of the project. I presented the context of the project, the partnership with LAL-NGO, the capacity building and knowledge exchange with teachers in schools and Sonbola learning centres and the pilot study with students. I also provided a testimony of what I found most useful in the collaboration with LAL, namely the exposure to the e-learning environment and the opportunity to work with deprived communities in Lebanon, including Syrian refugees. The pedagogical coordinator of LAL-NGO described the collaboration from her perspective saying that it was "really really [sic] extremely helpful" for her as "it is very important [...] to regularly have the feedback of the teachers", the "people who have the point of view of students" and "know their strengths and weaknesses". LAL's pedagogical coordinator highlighted the benefits of receiving teachers' and students' feedback on tasks in the process of refining the content being piloted and developing new material. She gave specific examples of how teachers' comments helped her modify a video she had filmed: "I was showing in the chapter the changes of matter in a pot. The teachers pointed out that it was a little bit confusing for children to see a kitchen environment so I had to film the video again when I came back to the office and film it again with a laboratory background and laboratory tools." She also had to modify the feedback LAL has built-into their tasks to provide guidance to students for their responses. The teachers anticipated issues with the feedback and pointed out during the workshops that "the feedback was not really clear as it tackled more than two concepts at a time so they asked me to tackle just one concept especially for young students." When prompted to describe how and what she found useful in our work together, LAL's pedagogical coordinator pointed specifically to the work we have carried out together to simplify the language of the tasks. She said "I use a lot of words and long sentences so I had to lighten the texts and also the pictures I used were not always relevant or not age appropriate." Although not mentioned clearly in the podcast, it is worth noting that the feedback about pictures was also provided by teachers during the workshops and later by students' in the follow-up interviews. When asked about the extent to which she found the feedback of students useful, LAL's Pedagogical Coordinator identified the language barrier being the most significant feedback LAL received from the pilot: "We had no idea how difficult it was for the students to understand English or French." She also provided the specific example of the use of MCQs and how students interacted with these in the pilot study. Observations of students and subsequent interviews raised concerns about the extent to which students actually read and understood questions, rather than guessed responses randomly. As a response, LAL diversified the type of activities: "We still use MCQs but we use more drag and drop, analytical questions, questions that force the students to read the questions." One thing that the LAL's Pedagogical Coordinator would have liked to be different was the length of the placement, which was limited to three months due to various factors including resources and funding. A longer period of close collaboration would have allowed for example piloting the modified material with the same teachers and students to examine differences in anticipated demands, or piloting the same material with more schools to have more data about each task. In a short interview following a capacity building workshop, Sonbola's Education Coordinator described the relevance and benefits of the training. According to her, "the session [...] was very useful". Prompting her reaction to what she found most useful in the workshop, she says "We should always examine ways of writing questions and what best suits a student and where does a student find a challenge. We analysed extensively how to write a question, what are the challenges that we encounter in a question, such as information density, the crowdedness of presentation on the same page, or too many numbers, or similarities [...] We also determined what can be used with children that are younger, in a younger age group that will be more suitable to their thinking and capacity to learn." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://media.podcasts.ox.ac.uk/education/general/roadstoinclusion-720p.mp4 |
| Description | Stakeholder Dialogue |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | On Friday, 26th November 2017, I hosted a Stakeholder Dialogue entitled "Reducing the language barrier in Lebanese science education through technology: Opportunities and challenges" in Beirut. The main purpose of the event was to gather key stakeholders to discuss issues associated with the foreign language of science instruction in Lebanon and the extent to which technology can reduce the language barrier. The rationale for bringing together stakeholders from different backgrounds (i.e. teachers, researchers, policymakers, government and non-governmental organisations) was threefold. First, the event aimed to highlight different perspectives on the language issues of science instruction in Lebanon and provide a forum for a constructive and open dialogue about the challenges that are currently being faced in science classrooms in public and private schools as well as learning centres (e.g. Sonbola NGO, Jusoor) serving Syrian refugee communities. Second, the event aimed to incite participants to think collectively about opportunities that technology can offer to reduce the language gap, all the while acknowledging some challenges. Third, a main outcome of the event was to suggest a number of recommendations for a way forward to address the challenge of the medium of instruction in Lebanon and assess the extent to which technology can play a key part. Dr Tamer Amin (American University of Beirut) opened the morning session with a thought-provoking presentation at the beginning of the event that highlighted the importance of training teachers to cope with the challenges associated with the foreign language of science instruction in Lebanon. In the afternoon session, I gave a presentation that discussed opportunities and challenges associated with the use of technology to reduce the language barrier in science instruction and assessment. Guiding questions Session 1: (1) What is the role of language in teaching and learning? List the three functions of language in science education. (2) The language of science instruction is English or French in Lebanon. How does using a language of instruction that is NOT the students' first language affect the effective use of language in science teaching and learning? (3) The role of science teachers in reducing the challenges associated with the language of instruction is crucial. What strategies do science teachers use to address challenges related to the language of instruction? Session 2: (4) Think about the functions of language discussed in Session 1. To what extent and how can technology reduce the linguistic demands of the foreign language of instruction without diluting the scientific content? (5) Way forward: How can technology be integrated effectively in science education in Lebanon to enhance deep learning while reducing the linguistic challenges of the foreign language of instruction? Highlights of the discussions: While all groups of stakeholders agreed on the communication function of language, they varied on some of the functions that reflected a distinct use of language for education purposes. The teachers listed language functions that more classroom-related and provided specific examples of how language is used in the science classroom (understand lectures and textbooks, analyse data, provide feedback, etc.). CERD voiced a more firm position (i.e. no teaching or learning in absence of language) that possibly reflects their relative power over the curriculum. Researchers highlighted the overarching meaning making function as well as social justice and equity dimensions that language mediates. The NGO stakeholders added a different dimension to the conversation, that of modality. This concept was mentioned briefly by Dr Amin in his presentation and is particularly relevant to NGOs providing education to the most vulnerable young people including Syrian refugees. Some of these NGOs run programmes that provide young people with opportunities of expressing themselves through writing, art, drama, music etc. The participating stakeholders agreed to a certain extent that the use of foreign languages in science instruction can enrich the learning environment by providing access to additional educational resources, especially in a context where educational resources in the students' native language, in this case Arabic, are scarce. They also agreed on the impact of the poor proficiency of teachers and students in the foreign language of instruction on classroom interactions. On the one hand, teachers would be unable to effectively use the language to support students' learning. They could resort to poor translation or use terminology that could be the source of misconceptions. In response to this, CERD participants called for the need to support teachers by increasing the language proficiency of those in need and training them to effectively use language, including using Arabic strategically in the classroom. On the other hand, stakeholders also agreed on the impact of students' poor proficiency in the foreign language of instruction on their ability to participate actively in classroom discussions, express their thoughts orally or in writing, ask questions, understand texts, assessment questions, etc. The low level of engagement in their own learning will at best slow it down if not impede it. Moreover, because language is an intricate part of science learning, students' low confidence in their language skills will inevitably affect their confidence in their science ability. The group of participating researchers noted the need for studies that look more closely at students' attitudes towards the use of a foreign language in science instruction, their perceived confidence in that language and their preference of language use in science learning as currently, students' voice is completely absent in the debate. CERD stakeholders attributed the use of a foreign language to an increasing socioeconomic divide between students from privileged backgrounds who tend to have a better command of the foreign language and those from underprivileged backgrounds with direct implications on opportunities of passing university entrance tests and ultimately implications on social mobility. This question prompted different levels of responses: some being based on classroom practices while others reflected a systemic dimension. The different groups of stakeholders agree that most strategies adopted by teachers to help students cope with the demands of the foreign language of instruction in learning science are intuitive and not rooted in research nor are they built into the science curriculum. There was a strong call for a better alignment of language and terminology across year levels and across the different science subjects within the science curriculum. Also there was a strong call for collaboration between teachers, CERD and researchers to develop teacher strategies and methods that can effectively address the challenges students (and teachers) face in science classrooms. The role of technology in reducing the language barrier seemed to be rather contested across the groups. The various stakeholders emphasised the importance of integrating technology within a systemic approach to science education in Lebanon. They also stressed on the importance of the quality of the software being used and the relevance and appropriateness of tasks being included in the lesson planning. The stakeholders were rather divided when it came to the extent to which technology fosters collaboration amongst students by providing opportunities for group work and hence greater chances for verbal and written interactions with peers. Others held the opposite view and were concerned about the negative role that technology could have instead in isolating people, making them more anonymous and hence less motivated to communicate their ideas and thoughts. CERD was particularly interested in the ability to use technology to collect data and monitor students' learning, an idea that was also received with some caution with some teachers being worried about the impact of overly monitoring students' work. The event was attended by 20 stakeholders and discussions were very lively. At the end of the event, a number of stakeholders (CERD representatives and teachers) approached me and provided their email address expressing interest in follow-up projects. In addition, the Acting Programme Manager at the British Council in Beirut emailed later in January asking for a copy of the final report. The event was attended by 20 stakeholders and discussions were very lively. At the end of the event, a number of stakeholders (CERD representatives and teachers) approached me and provided their email address expressing interest in follow-up projects. In addition, the Acting Programme Manager at the British Council in Beirut emailed later in January asking for a copy of the final report. I am currently in discussion with CERD about a possibility for collaboration on a project involving the use of assessment and technology as a tool for improving the learning of children from deprived communities in Lebanon, including Syrian refugees. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://oucea.education.ox.ac.uk/stakeholder-dialogue-reducing-the-language-barrier-in-lebanese-scien... |
| Description | Teachers capacity building and knowlege exchange workshops |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I facilitated a series of capacity building and knowledge exchange workshops for teachers on designing tasks and writing questions. The first two workshops were organised in collaboration with LAL NGO on the 22nd and 29thApril at Edutek e-learning centre in the Bekaa Valley and targeted science teachers in schools hosting Syrian refugees (e.g. Don Bosco in Baalbek, Malala schools in Bekaa). The workshops aimed to raise teachers' awareness of features that could increase cognitive and language demands of science tasks and develop teachers' reflective practice and their ability to critique the quality of science tasks. After a first capacity building session in which science teachers were made aware of the various features that could increase cognitive and language demands of science tasks, teachers provided feedback on Tabshoura science tasks developed by the LAL NGO and suggested a list of guidelines for improving the tasks and developing new educational material. An additional workshop was hosted on 16th November 2017 at Sonbola NGO in Anjar. Sonbola's Tamkeen project offers educational support to Syrian refugee youth, many of whom are facing significant challenges in coping with the language demands of the Lebanese curriculum. The aim of the workshop was to build upon the capacity of teachers and volunteers at Sonbola Learning Centre to critically evaluate the quality of questions, of various subjects, in relation to the cognitive demands those questions could place on their students. Such skills will enable them to better support their students. A total of 17 teachers and volunteers participated in the capacity building workshops. Based on follow up questionnaires, teachers reported gaining new insights into what makes questions difficult and specified aspects they will take into consideration when writing tasks (e.g. language used, crowdedness on paper, etc.) and being more aware of the role of language in varying the demands within tasks. In addition to capacity building, the workshops provided excellent opportunities for knowledge exchange between teachers, the NGOs and the researcher. The teachers proposed a list of guidelines for the development of new tasks. The pedagogical coordinator found the exchange very useful as many of the teachers' comments were incorporated into the piloted tasks to refine them and were taken into consideration when developing new tasks. Workshops ended with participating teachers and volunteer educators receiving Participation Certificates in recognition for their invaluable contribution. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://oucea.education.ox.ac.uk/research/completed-research-projects/using-technology-in-science-tas... |