English Department Activities and Events for March and April, 2023

 

• Curriculum Reform Meeting at Garmian University

The head of English Department (Dr. Rawshan Ibrahim Tahir) attended a meeting held at Garmian Unviersity on the 1^st of March, 2023 organized by the Curriculum Development and Reform Committee of Colleges of Education of  Universities in Kurdistan. 

 

• Second Stage Students’ Field Trip to Teenage and Elderly Care Home

A group of Second Stage students, supervised by Lecturer Yasir Bakir Garib, visited the Office of Teenage and Elderly Care Home in Erbil on Thursday 2^nd of March, 2023.

                    

• English Department Spring Outings to Shekh Turab Resort

A group of teachers and students of English Department went on an outing to Shekh Turab Resort in Erbil on the 5^th of March, 2023. The outing involved several organized recreational activities.

 

• Second Stage Poster Day

On Monday 6^th of March, 2023 the Second Stage students, supervised and facilitated by Dr. Asma Abbas Brime,  presented their posters in the college cafeteria to in their Academic Debate course. The poster fair was attended by the dean of college Dr. Saeed Omer Ibrahim, the dean assistant Dr. Samir Jawdat Bilal, head of English Department Dr. Rawshan Ibrahim Tahir and  other teachers of English Department. The posters, also, were evaluated and graded by three faculty members, whose names are given below.  The students afterwards organized an elaborate banquet for the faculty members and teachers.

Dr. Dilovan Saifuldin Ghafoory

Dr. Asma Abbas Brime

Lecturer Shirin Kamal Ahmed

• English Department Breakfast

A group of English Department faculty members arranged a breakfast at the college cafeteria for the teaching staff on Monday 13^th of March, 2023.

 Weekly Presentation by Asst. Lecturer Baraat Ismael FaqeAbdullah

 A weekly presentation was given by (Asst. Lecturer Baraat Ismael FaqeAbdullah) on Monday 13^th of March, 2023 at English Department for the teaching staff on (Content and Technique in Teaching). An brief account of the presentation is given below.

The metaphor of language as cake emphasizes the need to take good content and make it presentable using proper techniques. Techniques that help you make meaning clear to students are essential. In order to have a good content, teachers need to think about the sweet spot for their students. Zone of proximal development and input plus one are the theories that show how to choose proper content for learners. In order to present content, body language and teacher talk are important techniques for teachers. After making a balance between content and technique, it is necessary for teachers to use scaffolding principle in the class or introduce concepts from basic to complex.

• English Department Spring Outings to Shekh Turab Resort with evening students

A group of teachers and evening students of English Department went on an outing to Shekh Turab Resort in Erbil on the 14^th of March, 2023. The outing involved several organized recreational activities.

• Masters Dissertation Viva at Abdullah Haddad Convention Hall/ College of Education

1	Prof. Dr. Hamdi Hameed Al-Duri	Chairman	Literature	Tikrit University/ College of Education
2	Asst. Prof. Dr. Khadija Saeed Ismael	Member	Literature	SUE/ College of Education
3	Asst. Prof. Dr. Shaima Fadhil	Member	Literature	University of Koya / Languages
4	Asst. Prof. Dr. Shireen Saadullah Rashid	Member and Supervisor	Literature	SUE/ College of Education

On Sunday 26^th of March, 2023 an English Department Postgraduate MA student (Hero Ali Omer) defended her dissertation entitled (The Curse of Technology in Modern Society: A Study of Ray Bradbeury and Suzanne Collins). The examination committee members and their affiliations are listed below.

• English Department Second Semester Mid-Term Exams

On Sunday 26^th of March, 2023 the central mid-term exams for all the four stages started that lasted one week, ending on the 1^st of April, 2023. The students were distributed in the department lecture halls proctored each by two teachers. The Second and Fourth stage exams ran at 9.00-10.30, and the First and Third stage exams at 11.00 – 12.30.

• Weekly Presentation by Dr. Bandar Abdulqahar Muhammad

 A weekly presentation was given by (Dr. Bandar Abdulqahar Muhammad) on Monday 3^rd of April, 2023 at English Department for the teaching staff on (Gagne’s Instructional Design).

Gagne’s instructional design is a practical model for lesson planning and syllabus design to ensure successful transfer of information and retention. It is derived from principles of information processing and internal/external conditions of learning. The steps are:

1. Gaining attention
2. Informing the learner of the objective
3. Stimulating recall of prerequisite learning
4. Presenting the stimulus material
5. Providing learning guidance
6. Eliciting the performance
7. Providing feedback
8. Assessing the performance
9. Enhancing retention and transfer

Following these steps in the class can save time and guarantee transference of stimuli (information) effectively, and can increase the chance of the information been remembered and not forgotten.

• Final Fourth Stage Graduation Research Discussion

 The final discussion of the Fourth Stage graduation project started at English Department between Monday 10^th and Wednesday 12^th of April, 2023. The Department’s best project was selected afterwards to participate in the Fourth Stage Final Project Competition on the College level. Graduating students also presented posters for their graduation projects which were graded by the Department teachers. The best poster was later chosen by a committee of three teachers to participate in the 12^th Scientific Conference on the college’s level. The committee members included:

Prof. Dr. Anjuman Muhammad Sabir

Asst. Prof. Dr. Shirin Saadulla Rashid

Asst. Prof. Dr. Nada Jabbar Abbas

• English Department Participation in the 12^th Scientific Conference of College of Education

English Department participated in the 12^th Scientific Conference of College of Education on Tuesday 18^th of April, 2023 at Abdullah Haddad Conventions Hall at College of Education with two Fourth Stage graduation projects and a First Stage poster presentation. Details of the projects and the poster are given below.

 

Student Name	Supervisor Name	Stage	Type of Project	Project or poster title
Salar Khalid Mahmood	Asst. Lecturer Nawsha Galib	Fourth	Graduation Project	Kurdish EFL Students’ Perception Towards Summative and Formative Assessment at Salahaddin University
–         Abdulqaliq Muhsin Qadir –         Bakhtiar Muhsin Abdullah	Dr. Muhammad Qadir	Fourth	Graduation Project	Language Policy and Multilingual Practices in the Family
Muhammad Ahmad Asaad	Dr. Asma Abbas Brim	First	Poster	A Robot Can Help People’s Quality of Life

 

The graduation project entitled “Kurdish EFL Students’ Perception Towards Summative and Formative Assessment at Salahaddin University” by Salar Khalid Mahmood and supervised by “Asst. Lecturer Nawsha Galib” was selected the top research among the social science research papers to participate in the conference on the university level.

 

The Abstracts of the Fourth Stage Student Participants’ Projects in the College Conference:

1. An Abstract of the project entitled “Kurdish EFL Students’ Perception Towards Summative and Formative Assessment at Salahaddin University” by Salar Khalid Mahmood.

The assessment system at Salahaddin University has been in the same form for a long time. According to the perceptions of the students at Salahaddin University, the assessment system does not help them to improve their learning process. Therefore, the assessment system should be changed.

This research aims to explore students’ perceptions of summative and formative assessment at Salahaddin University and find ways to improvise the current assessment system to better suit students’ needs and improve their learning. It further aims to identify which type of assessment has a greater impact on teaching practice and students’ learning.

A mixed-methods approach has been used to achieve the aims of the study. Quantitative data has been collected by distributing a questionnaire on 542 students from three colleges at Salahaddin University to take their perceptions about the two types of assessment. Quanlitative data has also been collected by interviewing 30 senior students majoring in English at three colleges at Salahaddin University to find solutions for the problems that they have with the current assessment system.

The results show that the students at Salahaddin University are not satisfied with the current assessment system because they believe that it damages their academic success. Therefore, they believe that the assessment system should be changed towards a more formative style since it helps them improve their learning process and prepares them for facing the labor market efficiently.

The results are beneficial for all the trustees, boards, and faculty members of Salahaddin University to improvise and elevate the assessment system, which will lead to the improvement of the education system and the quality of teaching and learning.

2. An Abstract of the project entitled “Language Policy and Multilingual Practices in the Family” by both Abdulqaliq Muhsin Qadir and Bakhtiar Muhsin Abdullah.

This study, which is entitled ‘Language Policy and Multilingual Practices in the Family’, is an effort through which one of the sensitive issues which threatens the future of Kurdish language is tackled. That is, being bilingual or multilingual is within the scope of language policy or as it is recently called language management. To deal with a generation mastering more than a language is a challenge. Accordingly, this study aims at highlighting the linguistic situation of the families having more than a member using more than a language.

• Masters Dissertation Viva at Abdullah Haddad Convention Hall/ College of Education

On Wednesday 19^th of April, 2023 an English Department Postgraduate MA student (Alia Abdullah Mahmood) defended her dissertation entitled (A Study of EFL Teachers’ Attitudes Towards the Use of Reciprocal Teaching Techniques for Improving Students’ Reading Skills). The examination committee members and their affiliations are listed below.

1	Prof. Dr. Anis Bahnam Naaum	Chairman	Applied Linguistics	Catholic University
2	Asst. Prof. Dr. Qismat Mahmood Hussein	Member	Applied Linguistics	SUE
3	Prof. Dr. Sami Abdul-Aziz Muhammad Al-Ma’amouri	Member	Applied Linguistics	University of Baghdad
4	Asst. Prof. Dr. Nada Jabbar Abbas	Member and Supervisor	Applied Linguistics	SUE

• Masters Dissertation Viva at Abdullah Haddad Convention Hall/ College of Education

 

On Sunday 30^th of April, 2023 an English Department Postgraduate MA student (Rebaz Aziz Karim) defended his dissertation entitled (Speech Acts of Offer and Request in Selected English and Kurdish Movies: A Comparative Study). The examination committee members and their affiliations are listed below.

1	Prof. Dr. Ayad H. Mahmood	Chairman		University of Diyala/ College of Education
2	Asst. Prof. Dr. Azad H. Fatah	Member		University of Saulaimani/ College of Languages
3	Prof. Dr. Anjuman Muhammad Sabir	Member		SUE/ College of Education
4	Asst. Prof. Dr. Salam N.H. Hakeem	Member and Supervisor		SUE/ College of Education

 

• Participating in the 5th Competition Conference of Students’ Research Projects and Academic Posters

A Fourth Stage student  Salar Khalid Mahmood participated in the (5th Competition Conference of Students’ Research Projects and Academic Posters) on Sunday 30^th of April, 2023 to present her graduation project entitled “Kurdish EFL Students’ Perception Towards Summative and Formative Assessment at Salahaddin University”, which was  supervised by Asst. Lecturer Nawsha Ghalib, after the project was selected as the best research among the other social science research papers in the like competition on college level (College of Education).