MUSCAT -- The UK's Cambridge Scholars Publishing has just released a book that covers up-to date theory, practice and research on EFL (English as a Foreign Language) reading, edited by two academics from the College of Arts and Social Sciences' Department of English at SQU. The book, titled Focusing on EFL Reading: Theory and Practice, which was edited by Dr Rahma al Mahrooqi and Prof Adrian Roscoe, collates leading-edge international research on the topic from scholars in Vietnam, India, Iran, Australia, Tunisia, Japan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Canada, USA, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Armenia, Sudan and Poland. The book's wide coverage includes issues around reading and orality, vocabulary acquisition, intensive and extensive reading, self-learning, integrating reading and writing and critical thinking. Offering the best contemporary insights into this vital skill, the book will be of great value to educators and students alike.
Commenting on the importance of the book, Dr Rahma al Mahrooqi said: "Most of us see reading, when we think about it at all, as a simple matter, as ordinary as basic arithmetic or sleeping. Yet this skill, on which modern education and career success depend, is complex and multi-faceted, and a continuing challenge to first-language research. It should be no surprise that in its Anglo-Saxon roots the word "read" is bound up with mystery and magic, the casting of spells and other arcane practices. Try to investigate it and you are swiftly into neurology and psychology, lexicology and hermeneutics. If, then, the skill is synonymous with complexity even for first-language speakers, how much more is it for EFL students, who must study their specialisations in English and whose future employment depends on an advanced competence in it. Hence the importance of this book", she said.
Dr Rahma al Mahrooqi, an Associate Professor of English, has worked at SQU for 20 years, teaching such courses as academic writing, communication, Business English, research and sociolinguistics. She has published widely on English language teaching in Oman, with a major focus on TEFL, reading, literature and communication. Prof Adrian Roscoe, was educated in Britain and Canada, and previously held Chairs of English in Africa and New Zealand and a visiting professorship at the State University of New York. With interests in British and post-colonial literature, his writing includes essays, reviews and books on East, West and Central African literature.
© Oman Daily Observer 2014
