Student Biases About the Middle East: Lessons from an Experiment

Çavdar, Gamze; Yaşar, Yavuz; Fisk, Jonathan M.

doi:10.1080/15512169.2018.1456937

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…In addition, students’ inability to understand course content or relevance of the material delivered in class (Chi et al, 2017; Johnston, 2010; Ramirez et al, 2018; Sithole et al, 2017; Tierney et al, 2009), inability to understand professor (Hoeft, 2012; Retnawati et al, 2018; Roman, 2014), concentration difficulties (Goss & Sonnemann, 2017), low attendance (Çavdar et al, 2019; Nordmann et al, 2019; Sanchez et al, 2013; Seibert et al, 2017), a general lack of motivation to do well (Dişlen, 2013; Yilmaz et al, 2017), and/or ineffective study skills, in general, all influence achievement.…”

Section: Factors Influencing Student Academic Underachievementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, there is a need to identify these causes to address them appropriately to ensure that suitable remedial measures are deployed to rectify the student’s academic situation. Most of the studies that explore the causes of academic underachievement have been conducted in western higher educational institutions, with a focus on factors about the classroom alone, such as attendance (Çavdar et al, 2019; Nordmann et al, 2019; Sanchez et al, 2013; Seibert et al, 2017), in-class participation (Chi et al, 2017; Johnston, 2010; Ramirez et al, 2018; Sithole et al, 2017; Tierney et al, 2009), teaching methodologies (Hoeft, 2012; Retnawati et al, 2018; Roman, 2014), and performance in exams (Pressley et al, 1997). Limited studies have stemmed from higher educational institutions in the Middle Eastern region that explore academic underachievement causes beyond the classroom.…”

Section: Objectives Of the Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Causes of Undergraduate Students’ Underachievement in a Gulf Cooperation Council Country (GCC) University

et al. 2022

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UNESCO reports enrollment in higher education in the Arab and Gulf Cooperation Council region doubled from 5.1 million in 2000 to 10.7 million in 2015. Despite significant budgets and the world’s lowest teacher-to-student ratio, higher education in this region is plagued by student underachievement. This study identifies academic underachievement factors among undergraduate students at risk at a national university in the GCC. As part of the Intrusive Intervention Program, students were required to complete an Academic Success Plan that delineated academic, personal, social, career, and other academic underachievement reasons. Based on 5,040 students’ responses that indicated their academic underachievement causes, findings reported that students perceived academic factors as the most recurrent reason for academic underachievement. In contrast, social adjustment causes were found to be the least recurrent. Specific causes are reported under each category and discussion is provided against gender, nationality, major, and classification.

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Section: Factors Influencing Student Academic Underachievementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Objectives Of the Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causes of Undergraduate Students’ Underachievement in a Gulf Cooperation Council Country (GCC) University

et al. 2022

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“…Student imagination is ridden with stereotypes and distorted beliefs about the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This imagination and its effects are the object of inquiry in a few works that also evaluate strategies to deal with the interference of prejudice about Middle Easterners in the classroom (Abboud, 2015; Caplan et al, 2012; Çavdar et al, 2019; Kazemzadeh, 1998; Stover, 2007; Tétrault, 1996). This stream of work shares the concern that the learning process does not fall prey to simple opinion in lieu of evidence-based argumentation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The study by Çavdar et al (2019: 300–301) demonstrates that beliefs such that(1) ME societies are fundamentally and essentially different from the rest of the world; (2) that the region does not progress; (3) that Islam determines every aspect of Muslims’ lives; (4) and that culturally, the regional countries and Muslims are essentially homogeneous…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Orientalism is not my opinion: Decolonial teaching and the problem of credibility in IR courses with a MENA focus

Sanz

Prado

2021

Politics

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Teaching about the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in politics or international studies courses in ‘the West’ is challenging due to the many stereotypes that inform students’ imagination. A common pedagogical purpose is to help students recognise their biases and work through them. This often renders the classroom a controversial place and the teacher suspect of lack of objectivity. The specialised literature points at ‘cognitive dissonance’ as an intervening factor. On occasions, cognitive dissonance leads to harm on teachers’ credibility. This article evaluates the question of credibility in two activities developed in International Relations (IR) undergraduate courses with a MENA focus, where students had to identify the impact of ‘Orientalism’ in the film Argo and in analyses of the ‘Arab Spring’. The article argues that to fully grasp episodes of cognitive dissonance and attending problems of teacher credibility, the disciplinary context in which learners are socialised into needs to be considered – in this case, IR. The article advocates the articulation of a student-centred decolonial teaching pedagogy that renders subjectivity an object of learning and, at the same time, prepares students to understand the potentialities and weaknesses of different IR paradigms.

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“…This three-year research project that I led (one year for the pilot study and two years for the actual research) included 141 students in the three sections of my Introduction to Government and Politics course, taught at Colorado State University (Çavdar, Yaşar, and Fisk 2019). For two years, before I lectured on anything relating to Egypt, I administered a survey that aimed to identify what the students knew and thought about the region, and what perceptions and biases they might have.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching about Gender and Politics of the MENA: Undermining Bias and Introducing a Framework

Çavdar

2023

Pol & Gen

Self Cite

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As instructors, we are quite familiar with students coming to our classes loaded with preconceived notions. For instance, some believe that male instructors are better at math, while others think that markets, if left on their own, will produce wealth for everyone. Teaching about gender and politics of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region at an American college is no different. Students come to class rarely knowing the basic facts, history, or culture of the region, mostly because the K–12 educational curriculum in the United States does not typically cover the MENA region. However, students’ lack of formal education on the MENA region does not mean they are unexposed to its issues, which are frequent topics in American media. Unfortunately, students often hold misconceptions and deep biases about women, culture, and politics in the region, and these misconceptions impair the learning process by acting as a “psychological block” for the students. As Haddad and Schwedler (2013, 211) put it, “our years of teaching undergraduates have taught us how images of harems, pyramids, and desert warriors wielding sabers on camelback still shape many Americans’ perceptions of the region.” This essay discusses some of the challenges that instructors teaching gender and politics in the MENA region face in an American college classroom. No single course can eradicate old paradigms and prejudices. However, this piece proposes some strategies for effective teaching about gender and politics of the MENA region.

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Student Biases About the Middle East: Lessons from an Experiment

Cited by 6 publications

References 18 publications

Causes of Undergraduate Students’ Underachievement in a Gulf Cooperation Council Country (GCC) University

Causes of Undergraduate Students’ Underachievement in a Gulf Cooperation Council Country (GCC) University

Orientalism is not my opinion: Decolonial teaching and the problem of credibility in IR courses with a MENA focus

Teaching about Gender and Politics of the MENA: Undermining Bias and Introducing a Framework

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