Al-Jubouri, Hung Nguyen, and Mutahar Al-Murtadha - introduced by Professor of Applied Linguistics Elizabeth O’Dowd, presented their research at Saint Michael's 2009 Research Symposium held April 29. Their work was titled Investigations into Pronunciation, Reading and Assessment in English as a Foreign Language.
These three graduate students from Vietnam, Yemen, and Iraq, plan to take their expertise, gained in the MATESOL (Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) program, home to their countries in order to improve methods of English teaching and teacher training therein.
The students applied their Saint Michael’s training to their research. Hung Nguyen assessed English-speaking levels of Vietnamese university faculty. Mutahar Al-Murtadha assessed pronunciation problems of Yemeni speakers of English. And Zena Al-Jubouri studied the success rates of teaching reading in Iraqi high schools.