The weekly column

Article 105, July 2002

Approaches for Teaching English for Defense Military Intelligence

By Christine Canning-Wilson
Abu Dhabi Men's College, Higher Colleges of Technology

1.0 Introduction

Research reflecting educational assessment and teaching within other cultures, especially the Gulf region, has been scant. Arabic speakers in adult learning contexts are only recently being studied, with little to no emphasis on the military learner, who may or may not have a degree in his native language.

This paper focuses on motivating adult learners to improve their English language skills, especially those enrolled in Defense Military Programs and/or Intelligence Classes in the United Arab Emirates and Gulf Region. Special considerations and adaptations often must be made in order to meet the needs of the program, learner and UAE Military. Influences such as cultural differences in terms of behavior, attendance, motivation and learning can cause friction between the learner, the program and the expatriate practitioner. Therefore, it is necessary for practitioners, to often come up with new methods and approaches to materials and curriculum used in the classroom, as well as to further develop and improve testing practices in order to make learning/assessment more meaningful for the UAE soldier.

2.0 Background of Military Students Involved in Cost Recovery

This paper describes our experience with a large-scale military program with a foreign contractor (LSMP) in conjunction with the Higher Colleges of Technology. It further includes teaching the students both specialized and general English for both academic and military purposes.

In the Fall of 2001, 30 radar specialists were enrolled in the LSM in conjunction with sub-contracted English courses with Abu Dhabi Men's College (ADMC) at the Higher Colleges of Technology. 29 Candidates successfully passed the program and were sent on to the United Kingdom to further their studies in radar technology. The students will be labeled as Defense Military Institute (DMI) candidates for the purposes of this paper. The successful graduation of DMI students from Groups 3 & 4 was a significant accomplishment for the UAE Military Forces.

The UAE Nationals involved in the program are described in this paper as being from the Northern Emirates of Ras Al Khamiah and Fujairah, who for various reasons work in Abu Dhabi for the UAE Armed Forces. Their ages ranged between 20-40 years and most were supporting families. For example, one student was supporting two wives and eleven children, whilst taking on a full-time military position and furthering his studies. Courses ran over thirty two-week period of time. Courses consisted of an average of 25 hours a week of Intensive English with American and Canadian teachers, plus specialized radar modules taught by ex- French and British specialists flown in from Europe with expertise in various aspects of radar defense.

It is important to examine the background of military students as adult learners in the Gulf Region and especially in the United Arab Emirates. As Canning-Wilson and Bornstein (2002) point out in the United Arab Emirates prior schooling, age and economic status do not need to always influence a national student's chances for furthering his or her education as an adult learner. Many students in adult learning courses may not have a high school degree or be completely literate in their own language. They further state that UAE ministries are very generous to their employees enrolled in adult education classes. Quite often they release them for work-study related programs at full pay. When courses are finished or degrees are granted, adult learners are often sent abroad, promoted and/or given incentives for their academic progress. Moreover, the employer in most cases picks up other fees and costs for the student as not to burden them with further financial obligations. This holds true for many Emirati learners employed by the UAE Armed Forces, who are given specialized classes and language training at the government's expense.

English for Military Programs, like all other HCT based programs, offer courses and modules that are academically credible, pedagogically sound and theoretically based. CERT, ADMC and the HCT have rigorous standards of educational qualifications that teachers must meet before being considered for employment. Additionally, standards for the college are set by Academic Council, which makes policies, procedures and expectations clear, concise and helps the learners reach obtainable goals. Thus, because of the excellent administrative guidelines and a cooperative team approach with LSM, teachers want to teach and military students want to learn.

Quality assurance reporting is actively used for evaluating learner progress in an adult education context. A learner's ability to detect, demonstrate, describe and express the language through the construction of various applications of evaluation practices allows the adult learner to draw on work experience and life knowledge, thus benefiting military learners with developing English skills. Therefore, assessment in military cost recovery programs is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving learning.

As Canning and Bornstein (2001) state, "In the Arab world the approach design is aimed to help teachers find out what students are learning/have learned. It involves making adult learning and contact course expectations explicit and public". Furthermore, it includes setting appropriate criteria and high level standards for learning quality; systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to determine how well performance matches those expectations and standards; and using the resulting information to document, explain and improve performance for military learners in cost recovery and language programs.

The needs of the UAE military and the Arab soldier require learning organizations to place learning first and provide educational experiences for learners anywhere, anytime, and anyplace. In order to provide this kind of flexibility at the highest standard of quality, curricular design and assessment must be synchronistic. In order to meet the ever-changing needs of the knowledge economy, ADMC cost recovery programs ensure sound instructional design, clear outcome development, and rigorous instructional standards. Clients must be involved in some part of the course development in order to make sure their needs and the students' needs are being met. Outcomes must be mutually agreed upon and assessment strategies linked to the outcomes defined for the military student and client.

The DMI candidates and their courses were evaluated through a series of different weekly instruments created by a team of practitioners measuring what has been learned from the curriculum. The assessments are not limited to traditional paper/pencil exams in traditional classrooms, adult learners must be assessed not only on their subject and discipline, but on their ability to think creatively and critically, make decisions and solve problems, communicate orally and in writing, as well as develop leadership responsibilities, and increase their social responsibility as protectors of their homeland, the United Arab Emirates. As no one evaluation is considered a high stakes test, scores reflect a more rounded profile of the military student.

3.0 Considerations for Teaching Defense Military Intelligence Classes

Before embarking on teaching, implementing and creating defense military intelligence classes using English as a medium of instruction, programs and practitioners must evaluate and carefully consider the following points:

• What materials will be used with the classes?
• Will these materials be suitable for the military learners?
• Are these materials to be commercially or in-house produced?
• Are the learners at the ability level to use the language at the level required by the program and/or by the client?
• What prior instruction in English have students been given? If the answer is none or very little, how will your program make up the deficit in the time period allocated for study?
• What types of criteria are being used to select materials?
• Has a needs analysis been given to the students? Or is the client dictating the materials to the program in order to meet future needs? How do these choices affect the military learner both in and out of the classroom?
• What type of syllabus is to be used?
• Can your teachers and program define and outline the differences between the target performance objectives and the curriculum performance objectives?
• What types of language awareness and cultural sensitivities need to be written into the curriculum in order to best suit the needs of the military learner?
• How will your program evaluate itself?
• How will your program foster the military student to become more autonomous? Or, will your program be used as a "baby sitting service" for those in the military with nowhere else to go?
• How would an outside consultant with no prior knowledge of teaching military students view your program, curriculum, materials, and teaching methodologies? How would you work to improve these areas for future courses?
• What is the purpose of your program? Are you actively involved with the input of how the program is run? Or is the program dictated to you by higher administration with little teacher input?
• What are the long-term goals and short-term goals for the program enrolling the military programs?
• What is the purpose of your lessons to train the military students using English on a whole? Do your daily lessons work towards this goal? Do your teaching team assigned to the group share the same vision on how to obtain the goal? If not, how can your program rectify the situation?
• What is the attitude of the client, the soldier, the program and the teacher? As the teacher do you question why you are teaching your subject? Is your vision clouded and attitude warped because you lack direction from administration, because your students are or are not motivated; and/or because you lack to put the effort into your courses? If this is the case how do you plan to rectify the problem for the betterment of the program and military language learner?

The LSM's success was related to the close relationship maintained between the administration, client, teachers and students. It was further developed by the dedication of the teaching staff and support from administration to work with the client to help prepare them with clear direction for their upcoming courses focusing on radar defense systems.

4.0 Recommendations and Suggestions for the Military Classroom Practitioner

Creativity and originality are highly recommended for keeping military students actively involved in lessons. Although passive learning techniques are easier to maintain classroom management, it may not always be in the best interest to the student as a language learner. Military students must be made to think critically and to use both oral and written forms of communication. Although more mature students can learn from lecture formats, other students often don't have the same concentration skills to sit for extended periods of time. Therefore, multi-tasking and activities using the lessons and materials in a variety of formats and approaches proved most useful.

The team of teachers used a series of different teaching techniques to keep student interest for up to 6 hours a day in English Language Instruction. Because of the nature of the military, classes were structured with weekly assessments; however, instruction varied based upon the experience and personality of the teacher. Students were exposed to a more eclectic approach of methods to enhance their language skills.

Some of the most successful methods and activities used with military students were as follows:

• Dictations: Student pairs were asked to dictate material to a partner who wrote down what was being said. Students were asked to spell unclear words and to listen for sound patterns. Another form of dictation that proved effective was running dictations. Although, loud at times, students were sent down the hall to read a passage. They were asked to remember as much of it as possible in English and to return to their groups to report what they had read. These types of activities kept students actively involved in lessons.
• Internet Based Sites: Students were often asked to explore sites and current events involving military operations. Some effective sites with either texts or pictures for students were:

• Encryption games: In one of the courses, military students were asked to make as many English words out of the letters provided with in a three minute period of time. In the first week, military students produced basic and minimal word counts; however, by the end of the course, soldiers were increasing their lists two-fold. This later led to exploring sites such as http://www.infowar.com/. Students were able to discuss how learning codes and encryptions could help protect military secrets. Students were then asked to create encryptions and to pass them to fellow soldiers in the class to solve using words in English. Clever students enjoyed this activity; weaker students who did not wish to expand their thought process found it more difficult than their counterparts. This is not to say, they weren't able to decode. Most students enjoyed the challenge of solving the puzzles in English.
• Problem solving tasks: Students were often given problems to solve or pieces of information to a part of a puzzle to unravel. For example, students upon entry to class might be given a card with a word on it such as: battery, gsm card, mobile, lighter, petrol, can of tuna, tent, knife, gun etc.... Students were asked to group themselves into four based on the materials given to them in order to survive 3-5 days in the desert. The gsm card was worthless without the mobile, so the two soldiers had to find each other and explain why other groups should take them in. Usually there were two or three extra students in the class, they had to infiltrate groups and get others removed by selling themselves out to the enemy. This proved very interesting for students because they had to speak and justify their existence in terms of importance.
• Students were asked to play games like to tell the truth. If an enemy were to capture them, two would have to make up a story and one person in the group would have to tell the truth. It was up to the class to ask questions and determine which soldier was telling them the correct information. Soldiers learned how to mislead their enemies and how to detect people giving correct and substantial information.
• Students were often given military problems and asked to create sentences showing an offensive, defensive and diplomatic result in both oral and written communication.
• A popular activity I used was creative geography games. Soldiers were given cards and told which countries they were invading or protecting. Looking at maps and topography, they were asked to determine and explain how they were to approach and deploy the situation using English as a medium of instruction.
• Current events are commonplace in today's newspapers and television news. Students were asked to look at events and to discuss them by listening for key terms in English. Students learned how to interpret reports and to listen to different viewpoints to discuss and assess military situations.
• Students were given core vocabulary and readings associated with their field of work to help familiarize them with the terms used in radar technology. This concept can be specialized or generalized depending on the type of soldier enrolled in the cost recovery program.

5.0 Conclusion

Perception and application of a lesson or activity in the military classroom is essential to the execution of materials and dissemination of information to soldiers in the Arab world studying the English Language. It is suggested that practitioners guide away from general English texts and center more on military related materials that are relevant to the person's life and working environment. It is further recommended that practitioners in programs share techniques and collect activities to share with colleagues that help military students become even more autonomous and active learners.

References:

• Bornstein, L. L. (Speaker). (1999). Outcome development and assessment strategies. Denver, CO: University of Denver.
• Canning-Wilson, C and Bornstein, L (2002) A Case Study: Design of Adult Contract Training Courses in the UAE, pgs.57-66. In Troudi, S et al.(2002) EFL Challenges in the New Millenium, TESOL Arabia Conference 2001 Proceedings. Pages 254.
• Canning-Wilson, C (2001) "E-learning, E Teaching, E Assessment: Aspects of Course Design for On-Line Web Based Courses Used with EFL/ESL Learners. ERIC. Microfische: ED449788
• Cross, P. & Angelo, T. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Davis, J. & Davis, A. (1998). Effective training strategies: Maximize learning in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Eident, P (2000) Cross Cultural Effect on Multi National Companies in the Gulf. Lincoln School of Management, UK (Unpublished Dissertation)
• Formica, P. (1999). Knowledge, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. In P. Formica, T.
• Guefrachi, H & Troudi, S (2000) "Enhancing English Language Teaching in the UAE". In K.E. Johnson (ed.) Teacher Education: (Pp 189-204), TESOL Publication, Inc.: Virginia
• Kamali, T & J. Metzner (Eds.), Spin-offs from innovative learning environments: Doing business in the knowledge economy (pp. 9 - -50). Abu Dhabi: CERT Publishing Center.
• Senge, P. (1994). The 5th discipline. New York: Currency-Doubleday.

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