Cultivating Cultural and Linguistic Inclusion in Emirati Online Classrooms During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Reframing Digital and Multimodal Literacies and Rethinking Online Learning

Abstract

This paper shares empirical data from a phenomenological case study investigating female Emirati university students’ (n=69) perspectives on the use of video cameras and microphones during the Covid-19 pandemic period of emergency remote teaching and learning. Students’ reflective writing and researcher observations in Fall 2020 revealed discomfort using video cameras and microphones due to Islamic beliefs relating to modesty, home as a gendered space, noise and privacy considerations, and linguistic struggles in their English-medium university. Data are analyzed thematically drawing on Goffman’s theories of everyday interaction, stigma and relative deprivation with the aim of exploring complexities in learner identities. Practical suggestions are made on ways to adapt online learning to better suit the cultural and sociolinguistic realities of periphery contexts.

Author

• Sarah Hopkyns, Zayed University