Spoken Register and Iraqi Students in an English for Academic Purposes Program

Scaffolding English and Academic Skills for Iraqi English as Additional Language (EAL) Learners

“…Interestingly, when compared with other studies of a similar cohort (e.g. Al Hamdany & Picard, 2013), there were more female respondents than males (60% and 40% respectively). However, there was no significant difference in the data from the other questions between male and female respondents and between older and younger respondents.…”

“…English as a foreign language is taught to children from year 3 onwards and is an important subject at the secondary school level where students learn English for four to five 45-minute periods a week (Iraqi Ministry of Education, 2018). At the university level, English is viewed as essential for both undergraduate and postgraduate studies in most Science, Technology Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) disciplines where some subjects are even taught through the medium of English, (Al Hamdany & Picard, 2013). However, there are still various pedagogical and practical challenges such as an absence of English native speakers to communicate with (Al Hamdany & Picard, 2014) and outdated teacher-centered teaching methods (Alseady, 2017).…”