Emirati students encounter Western teachers tensions and identity resistance

Ibrahima Diallo (University of South Australia)

Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives

ISSN: 2077-5504

Article publication date: 1 December 2014

Issue publication date: 1 December 2014

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Abstract

This paper discusses tensions and identity resistance in a cross-cultural educational context in the United Arab Emirates. It focuses on how Emirati students, living and socialised in a conservative Arabic-Islamic society and shaped by Islamic values and epistemologies, construct their cultural identities while learning English with their Western-trained teachers, who are influenced by liberal ideologies and secular epistemologies. To understand the complex engagement between Emirati students and their Western-trained teachers this article uses both phenomenography and reflection on critical incidents to explore, investigate and interpret Emirati students’ intercultural experience with their Western-trained teachers and to highlight the tensions and identity resistance that arise from this educational encounter.

Citation

Diallo, I. (2014), "Emirati students encounter Western teachers tensions and identity resistance", Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 46-59. https://doi.org/10.18538/lthe.v11.n2.158

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014 Ibrahima Diallo

License

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode


Acknowledgements

Publisher's note: The Publisher would like to inform the reader that the article “Emirati students encounter Western teachers tensions and identity resistance” has changed pagination. Previous pagination was pp. 1-14. The updated pagination for the article is now pp. 46-59. The Publisher apologises for any inconvenience caused.

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