Reducing language barriers for Syrian refugees in Lebanon: Students' interviews

The data was collected in May 2017 visits to a private school and a learning centre Valley in Lebanon serving deprived communities and receiving Syrian refugee children in the Bekaa.
The data consists of transcripts of interviews carried out with 34 Lebanese and Syrian refugee Year 6 students and two Year 7 students. The interviews were carried out in English and Arabic dialect (Lebanese and Syrian).
The data was collected following the ethical guidelines of the University of Oxford and the Funder.
Interviews took place on a one-to-one basis, in pairs of students and in groups and aimed to identify particular challenges students faced when solving the questions.<p>Lebanon has absorbed over half a million registered school-aged Syrian refugees in its unequipped state schools since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2011; however, the foreign language of instruction of maths and science has disengaged young Syrian migrants, hampering their progression. The poor proficiency of Syrian migrants in English or French, the media of maths and science instruction in Lebanon, has pushed many to drop out from schools and join the labour force at a very young age. Indeed, the foreign language of maths and science instruction is already controversial in Lebanon as it also marginalises underprivileged Lebanese youth and incites many to leave school before completing compulsory education.
In this project, I will collaborate with two Lebanese NGOs, Lebanese Alternative Learning (LAL) and Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT)-Lebanon, who work directly with Syrian refugees in state schools to provide interactive tasks in maths and science in three languages (English, French and Arabic) through an existing online platform called Tabshoura. I will engage in knowledge exchange with both NGOs by applying a framework based on my DPhil and more recent research to evaluate the quality of translation and design of existing Year 6 to 9 science tasks and offer guidance for material improvement. Moreover, a sample of Year 6 students will be interviewed using elicitation techniques to investigate translation and design issues of the online interactive tasks. Findings will inform the construction of improved exemplar tasks that the NGO could adopt as models for the development of new material. In return, the invaluable experience of the NGOs in using technology to meet the education needs of underprivileged youth in Lebanon will be essential for me to gain a deep understanding of the context and achieve impact. Moreover, I will contribute to capacity building in schools by offering workshops for practitioners focusing on task design and raising their awareness to specific language issues in task development. Insight and findings of this project will be disseminated through conference presentations, a comprehensive report and a sole-authored journal article as well as a policy dialogue in Beirut and a seminar in Oxford.
This ESRC GCRF fellowship will be an excellent opportunity to promote my academic profile by disseminating my DPhil research in seminars and conferences to a wide academic and non-academic audience; expanding my publication record and developing a sole-authored peer-reviewed journal article; consolidating my research portfolio by acquiring new qualitative techniques; and broadening my international network to include the Arabic speaking world. More importantly, this fellowship will allow me to apply my DPhil and more recent research in a new context and engage with non-academic users such as students, practitioners, schools, teachers and national and international NGOs to achieve a wider impact in the provision of quality education to Syrian refugees in Lebanon.</p>

2017年5月，研究人员访问了黎巴嫩贝卡谷地一所服务于贫困社区并接收叙利亚难民儿童的私立学校及一所学习中心，期间收集了本数据集。
数据集包含对34名黎巴嫩本地学生及叙利亚难民六年级学生，以及2名七年级学生的访谈转录文本。访谈语言为英语及阿拉伯方言（黎巴嫩方言与叙利亚方言）。
数据收集遵循牛津大学及资助方的伦理准则。
访谈形式包括一对一、双人及小组访谈，旨在识别学生在解答问题过程中面临的具体挑战。<p>自2011年叙利亚内战爆发以来，黎巴嫩在其设施不足的公立学校中接收了超过50万名注册学龄叙利亚难民；然而，数学与科学课程采用外语教学的模式，导致叙利亚年轻移民学生学习积极性受挫，阻碍了他们的学业进展。叙利亚移民学生在英语或法语（黎巴嫩数学与科学课程的教学语言）方面的能力薄弱，迫使许多人早早辍学并进入劳动力市场。事实上，数学与科学的外语教学模式在黎巴嫩本土也颇具争议——它同样导致贫困黎巴嫩青年被边缘化，促使许多人在完成义务教育前便辍学。
在本项目中，我将与两家黎巴嫩非政府组织（NGO）合作——即黎巴嫩替代学习组织（Lebanese Alternative Learning，LAL）及数字机会信托基金黎巴嫩分部（Digital Opportunity Trust，DOT-Lebanon）。这两家机构直接与公立学校中的叙利亚难民学生合作，通过现有在线平台Tabshoura提供三种语言（英语、法语及阿拉伯语）的数学与科学互动任务。我将基于自身哲学博士（DPhil）研究及近期成果构建的框架，与上述NGO开展知识交流，评估现有6至9年级科学任务的翻译质量与设计，并为材料改进提供指导。此外，研究将采用启发式技术对六年级学生样本进行访谈，以调查在线互动任务的翻译及设计问题。研究结果将为优化范例任务的构建提供依据，NGO可将这些范例作为开发新材料的模板。作为回报，NGO在利用技术满足黎巴嫩贫困青年教育需求方面的宝贵经验，将助力我深入理解当地情境并实现项目影响力。同时，我将通过为教育从业者举办聚焦任务设计的工作坊，提升其对任务开发中特定语言问题的认知，从而为学校能力建设做出贡献。本项目的见解与成果将通过会议报告、综合报告、独著期刊文章、贝鲁特政策对话及牛津研讨会等形式传播。
此次英国经济与社会研究理事会（ESRC）全球挑战研究基金（GCRF）奖学金，将为我提供绝佳机遇：通过在研讨会与会议中向广泛学术及非学术受众传播我的哲学博士（DPhil）研究成果，提升学术影响力；拓展发表记录，撰写独著同行评审期刊文章；通过掌握新的定性研究技术，巩固研究组合；并扩大国际网络，将阿拉伯语世界纳入其中。更重要的是，该奖学金将使我能够在新情境中应用自身哲学博士（DPhil）研究及近期成果，并与学生、从业者、学校、教师及国内外NGO等非学术用户合作，在为黎巴嫩叙利亚难民提供优质教育方面实现更广泛的影响。