ELTWeekly Vol. 3 Issue#108 | December 19 | ISSN 0975-3036

Aliteracy, the condition of being able to read but not doing so, is a problematic fact in education, with particular repercussions in the teaching of language, literature, linguistics and translation studies. This lack of reading, with the attendant problem of delayed acquisition of necessary vocabulary impedes understanding of course content across programs. How then do we transfer knowledge to students who simply don’t read? How do we accommodate aliteracy within an academic setting that depends on reading? Reading is a laborious process in a second language – how does that affect students? How can students acquire research skills in an age of effortless access to information? How do we teach students how to separate the wheat from the electronic chaff? How do we engage students without compromising quality and competition? Connected to this is the equally troublesome emergence of electronic epistemology, where knowledge is cut and pasted from web sources like Wikipedia. What are the consequences of a process-free access to knowledge? Instead of lamenting these facts, this conference is aimed at finding ways to impart knowledge in an increasingly aliterate age, recognizing the often difficult transition from oral-based transmission of knowledge to literary-based transmission.

The University of Nizwa is an emerging institution of 8,000 students dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in higher education in the Sultanate of Oman. This conference is centered on Foreign Language Learning, Arabic Language Studies, English Literature, Linguistics and Translation Studies, but is not exclusive to these areas and disciplines. (more…)