Biographical Statement

Christine Coombe has a Ph.D in Foreign/Second Language Education from The Ohio State University and is an Associate Professor of General Studies at Dubai Men's College, Higher Colleges of Technology in the UAE.  Christine has co-authored/edited 60 volumes on assessment/testing, research, teacher effectiveness, leadership and task-based teaching and learning.  Dr Coombe served as TESOL International Association President (2011-2012) and as a member of the Board of Directors (2005-2007; 2010-2013).  Christine received the British Council’s International Assessment Award for 2013.  Her most recent honors were being named to TESOL’s 50@50 which “recognizes professionals who have made significant contributions to the TESOL profession within the past 50 years.” In 2018 she received the Alatis Award for exemplary service to TESOL. She was named to the US Department of State’s 30@30 list which recognizes the top 30 English Language Specialists over the past 30 years. Most recently, Christine was elected to serve on the Board of Trustees of TIRF and as President of the English Language Testing Society. 

Research Education and Literacy for Educators in Times of Change

It has been said that education will never go back to what it was before the pandemic and as such higher educational institutions are in dire need to re-skill their educators to prepare for a different type of educational experience. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) actively seek out professional development opportunities that propose to equip faculty with the knowledge, skills and competencies required to achieve institutional Key Performance Indicators and Strategic Directions. This is not enough anymore. In more recent times there has been global recognition that faculty research directly impacts the value of a HEI in terms of QS rankings of students locally and globally. These rankings are now important for a different reason; how institutions are able to prepare for several futures of education. In the heart of this is the educator who should be able to prepare for the future through high quality research. Research literacy (RL) has become a critical topic in many educational fields. Unfortunately, this is mainly due to the fact that so many university level teachers are not research literate. In other words, these teachers lack the knowledge and skills to conduct research with their students in their classrooms or understand how the research of others effects their teaching and their students’ learning. However, the vast majority of professional development related to faculty research activities does not substantively support academics in the research literacy, writing and publication process. This session seeks to bridge the divide between professional development opportunities and critical support mechanisms required for research-ready faculty. More specifically this session is intended to increase the knowledge, skills, and competencies in faculty in higher education through the development of activities and resources specially designed for increased teacher research literacy in times of change. Several resources that have already been developed through a 2-year research project will be showcased.